#IslandInsight: Jaiga Gets Candid About Carnival, Soca & Soca Monarch In T&T
Trinidad and Tobago has long been regarded as the Mecca of Carnival, the birthplace of soca, which we’re often told, preceded reggae and dancehall. Why then, have those two genres, whose roots are deeply embedded in Jamaica been able to make inroads on the global front that soca hasn’t yet been able to access?
Your Caribbean Guide took this and other questions to Terrin Callendar aka Jaiga, who has been a key player in the industry for decades. While he’s proud of the progress made, he believes that more could be done and soca music should be further ahead than it is.
“I came into the business in a time where Soca wasn’t played outside of carnival at all. Those who know, I started DJing and came from that whole era where dancehall was dominating Trinidad and Tobago, we were sound system in the sound system era but I fought to get the music rotated outside of carnival and I feel proud that that mission was accomplished. Whereas now if you go a boat ride on the weekend you must hear a Soca set from a DJ. I could take you to fifteen years ago where you go out on a Saturday you definitely not hearing no Soca outside of Carnival. Look in the background what you’re hearing, these are things that never really used to happen on a regular basis… that is a win!”
Jaiga said over the years he’s learned to appreciate the small wins. Even so, he noted that Soca music isn’t yet where it should be on the global stage.
“There are many different reasons why and people have different perceptions as to why we’re not there. One of the biggest reasons is numbers. Numbers are the textbook reason as to why we’re not recognised on that platform to say like a Grammy nomination, that’s a number-based thing. In terms of the human side of it, my personal belief is one of the reasons we’re struggling so much is because we like party and not the art form as Tribagonians. We enjoy going to a good fete, liming on a weekend but we don’t really enjoy the music. How many people would admit they pay for soca music? Like they download it regularly, they know everything about Soca? Not just in Trinidad… for me, when I say great is the art form I don’t mean just Trinidad and Tobago. I listen to Soca from every region…”
“The past five years, I’ve consistently done Soca shows year-round on different platforms where you can showcase and hear all the new music but if you as the consumer only interested in it Carnival time you can’t then come back and blame the artistes. But again, we’ve been brainwashed into believing that it’s seasonal but I have been taught earlier in my career, that Trinidad really and truly is just the dress rehearsal for the world. That’s what we do, we get ready to take what we do to the world. Trinidad Carnival is a dress rehearsal, that’s what it is. We’re preparing the world for Carnival and for all the music. This is the dress rehearsal because from the time you leave here… a real artiste leaves Trinidad and tours, starts the cycle. The circle ends in October when they come right back to Trinidad so that’s how it goes… I consider this the dress rehearsal for the world but the consumers of Soca and Carnival in Trinidad don’t know that part, they’re just interested in it from December to January or February or whenever. So that is why artistes struggle when they hear statements bout ‘allyuh not producing music’ and they’re like you’re crazy, I’ve been working all year bro…”
Jaiga told YCG a major issue that continues to plague the Soca industry is the failure to put mechanisms in place for promotion and marketing.
“…there was never any Soca label, like invested in promotion like R&B and hip hop had promotional items where you even if you’re not involved in hip hop, you saw billboards. You never drive downtown and see no Soca artistes on a billboard promoting a single. It’s never been part of our culture, so everybody just got so complacent in the waiting for January to hear what this one have and the sad part for me is that Soca for Trinidad and Tobago, we don’t promote the genre, we promote individuals so it’s never about Soca, it’s about the individual.”
He believes, that for the Soca industry to finally make as indelible a mark on the global front as dancehall and reggae, greater effort is needed to promote the genre.
“When I started saying great is the artform that was me trying to let the people and younger people understand that there is more to it than just what they’re seeing on the surface level. When I say “great is the artform,” I mean it on all aspects. If you’re in the arts in any which way and you’re passionate about it you have to continue driving and pushing that envelope.”
Jaiga’s wholehearted commitment to the art form began in 1999.
“I never had no job, this has been my job from then to now and in that timing I’ve created or been part of so many phenomenal things. I see now people talking bout oh we should have festivals, I gave people Soca 4 Summer, yuh understand, which had over 18,000 people in the middle of Summer. These things have been done before. Myself and Iwer had something called Soca Broadway, we created a venue to allow artistes and everybody, all the practitioners to have their own events in one place. They talk about mentorship, Soca Star was a mentorship program out of that,spawn the last batch of soca stars you know now- the Voice, the Sekon Sta, the Preedy, Erphaan Alves…”
The way forward, he maintains is through focused commitment to the genre and less on “self.” He believes that if the genre and by extension the industry is good, then everyone around it would be as well.
“If you remove self and think art form it’ll move way further and way faster than we’re seeing it moving now, but you cannot afford to continuously put self in front of it and that is the issue I have. A lot of people put self in front of it, if you do it for the art itself you’ll be in a much better position.”
He urged artistes to take a less selfish approach and be prepared to take one for the team.
Want to know what he meant? Watch the video for his explanation of how artistes could take one for the team, which in his estimation, will lead to further growth of the genre.
