Soca Music - Related Genres

Related Genres

Soca music has evolved like all other music over the years, with calypsonians experimenting with other Caribbean rhythms.

Some examples are the following:

1. Rapso: Eastern Caribbean dialect hip-hop with smooth calypso melody and bold lyrics
2. Chutney soca: Original soca performed with a more chutney styled form; mainly performed by chutney musicians
3. Ragga soca: A fusion of Jamaican dancehall and soca (chutney music replaced with dancehall music) so it is dancehall and contemporary calypso, which is an uptempo calypso beat with moderate bass and electronic instruments. A Trinidadian form of performing dancehall reggae.
4. Parang soca: A combination of calypso, soca, and Latin music, Parang originated in Trinidad and is most often sung in Spanish.
5. Steelband-soca: Steel pans are types of a drum often used in soca and calypso music; it became so popular that it became its own musical genre. Steel pans are handmade, bowl-like metal drums crafted so that different drum sections produce different notes when struck. Steelbands are groups of musicians who play songs entirely on steel drums. There are many types of steel pans, each with its own set of pitches.
6. Bouyon soca:, sometimes referred to as Jump up soca, is a style of soca music. It uses more prominent elements of bouyon music.
7. Rockso: A futuristic-sounding, North American/Trinidadian 'mutant' style of calypso, focusing on a wide range of subject matter and 'flows' (delivery), song arrangements, innovative, bass-laden drum patterns, quirky sound effects, elements of 'extempo' (freestyle lyricism), and an urban music sensibility. It differs from groovy soca and rapso, in that it rarely, if ever, incorporates ragga soca or a reggae personality. It is characterized instead as a more modern update to calypso and highlights the disparate personalities of the performers. Unlike soca, it is not seasonally focused, but is geared for year-round play. Its vernacular reveals its Trinidadian and North American soil.
8. Groovy soca: Created by Robin Imamshah with his composition "Frenchman", this growing style focuses on melody in soca, partly because of criticism of soca's ubiquitous 'jump and wave'-only lyrical and musical content. It features sensual vocals over mid-tempo soca rhythms, and very often elements of zouk and ragga soca.

Soca has also been experimented with in Bollywood films, Bhangra, in new Punjabi pop, and in disco music in the United States.