News & Updates — soca

Happy birthday to Trinidadian composer André Tanker, the "Bob Dyan of T&T". Born in Port-of-Spain, he started playing the steelpan at 7 and as a teenager learned guitar and cuatro. He also played vibraphone and harmonica. He worked as an arranger for the Invaders Steel Orchestra, who were based in his neighborhood. His own Hilton Flamingos were a steady-working hotel band in the late '50s and early '60s. His late '60s & '70s work fused Caribbean folk music, Indian "chutney" music, jazz, Yoruba drumming, funk and black power themes, with Mongo Santamaría being a major influence. He scored the music...

The calypsonian Aldwyn Roberts became Lord Kitchener in 1945. He bumped around the Caribbean (including his native Trinidad, as well as Jamaica) before setting sail for the UK in '48, where he immediately hit with the classic "London Is The Place For Me". He was a popular and important figure in the West Indian community that was starting to move to the UK in huge numbers. Kitch caught the wave of popularity that calypso rode in the '50s, even touring Africa. In '62 he was back in his homeland and he was one of the biggest Caribbean stars in the...