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The Caribbean, having its many definitions one of which is the islands washed by the Caribbean Sea, is one of the most diverse regions there is in many aspects such as culture, religion and race due to historical processes such as labour systems ( encomienda, indentureship etc), slavery and settlement patterns. Music is special to the Caribbean as nearly each island can boast about their own unique style ('What kinds of music come from the Caribbean") of music such as  Soca of Trinidad and Dancehall of Jamaica.

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Soca is defined by the Urban Dictionary as Calypso Music with elements of soul which is trademarked by Trinidad. Today artists such as Machel Montano, Bunji Garlin and Partice Roberts have taken over the industry from their predecessors, most notably Super Blue and Calypso Rose.

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Soca Music has gone through various stages of development in terms of beats, pace and meaning over time ("Bending the Soca beat"). However, recently, if persons listen with a close ear they would notice something strange going on with our music. Some persons even say the industry, even though it is gaining popularity is on a decline. This is due to the fact that there is massive surge of people wanting to become "Soca artists" but not necessarily having the knowledge of the Caribbean history of Soca. While some persons may grove to any music in a Soca beat for various reasons such as gym or pleasure others may refrain from listening to modern Soca music due to the lyrical content of some of this music.

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Thus there is a bubble or social group in society who do not recognize the fact that Soca is losing its original value overtime. Our beloved Soca has been altered to become "accepted" to international bodies in order to gain popularity in other parts of the world. Arguments vary across persons living outside the "Bubble" such as artist are doing this as an avenue to perform internationally to gain revenue or this is simply a next step in the evolution of Soca into Techno-Soca.

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Hip Hop which some people refer to as the backbone of "Rap" music originated from the Bronx, New York and consists of five elements: turntabling, MCing, graffity B- boying (dance style and attitude) and self consciousness ("Music and cultural movement").
Today hip hop music has spread widely throughout the world and is considered by many as the most popular music genre due to the "flashy" lifestyle of hip hop artists including cars, money, females and violence.

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Hip Hop's popularity is continuously growing and today in the twenty first century hip hop has a major influence over the Caribbean islands. This influence is seen in Soca music as the meaning, beat and overall attributes of Soca artists and thr music has changed.

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The effect of Hip hop is clear but it is up to Caribbean people to determine if this is detrimental to Caribbean culture. Persons in the field of arts and literature and of course "Trini-to-de-bone" citizens view the influence of Hip Hop on Soca music as a major contributor to the loss of the content and originality of Soca. Upcoming artists no longer stick to the groovy, positive and melodious culture of Soca but instead take American influence to their music and attire including: flashing of cars in videos, promoting having a "Barbie" which is direct from American ideology and some artists even heavily incorporate techno or EDM beats in their music and B-boying in their performing "swag".

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Music is described as being highly dynamic, that is constantly changing overtime. Even Calypso music could not escape this destiny ("Words in the Bucket").

Calypso music is one of Trinidad's oldest music genres as it existed in the early 1920's where Calypsonians performed in tents called "Calypo Tents"

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Soca is considered a fairly young genre as it has only been in existence for roughly fifty years.
Soca is an adaptation of Calypso music and the genre is famously credited to Ras Shorty-I (Garfield Blackman), grandfather of modern Soca artist Nailah Blackman. Ras Shorty-I experimented by mixing Calypso beats with East Indian rhythm, using instruments such as the tabla. Therefore Garfield Blackman succeeded in blending African and East Indian ethnicities.

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Youtube video of Ras Shorty-I (Lord Shorty) popular Soca "Indrani"

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Youtube video of Ras Shorty-I (Lord Shorty) popular Soca "Indrani"

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Over the past fifteen years there has been an increased demand for Soca music internationally, therefore Caribbean artists try to be innovative by mixing traditional soca beats with American style turntabling and EDM music. As a result of this mixing, some Soca music in fetes gives the "fist-pumping" or jumping feelings instead of the groovy chip that soca music originally gave. This new evolution of Pop-Soca aims at engaging a larger target audience.
An example of this is "Sound Bang" Major Lazer ft Machel Montano.

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It can be hard to distinguish between local artist and foreign entertainers as our Caribbean nationals have desired an international taste for brands such as Gucci, Prada, Luis Vuitton etc and they opt to drive vehicles that are promoted by the American lifestyle eg. drop top roofs, Maybach. Some of them even reside abroad gathering foreign exposure until it is Carnival time and they have to perform songs eg. Orlando Octave who resides in Canada.
Examples of this can be seen below.

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Calypso (Singing Sandra- Crying/ Voices from the ghetto)

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Calypso (Singing Sandra- Crying/ Voices from the ghetto)

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Released in 1999, this popular Calypso from Singing Sandra highlights the hardships of residing in the "ghetto".  In simple the ghetto is referring to those communities that live in poverty, high crime rates and do not have certain privileges as suburban communities eg. readily available access to food and healthcare. The daily struggles felt by those living there are sometimes undermined .

This Calypso stays true to the original purpose of Calypso by addressing social issues in the country. She won the Calypso Monarch with this in 1999.

A verse that backs up this is:
"Cupboard always bare and scanty
Ten people in a one-bedroom shanty
Forced to sell on the pavement
No vacancies, no employment
Can't tell firecracker from gunshot
Blood does flow when things get hot
Ah 'fraid to look out mih window
To hear voices from the ghetto..."

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Released in 2007, this song clearly displays the "party all day" attitude of Trinidadians and by extension other parts of the region. He used perfectly blended rhythm in this song that creates an automatic feeling to chip and "gyrate" in a "fete". Fete is a Caribbean word for party, especially around Carnival time.

A short verse that confirms the true Soca agenda to fete is:
"People inside the fete
Dancing dripping with sweat
Nobody tired yet, jam you go get
We celebrating, pure love no hating
Man jamming on woman
Gyul wining back on man
Drinks flowing down like rain
Party insane, no one can see me
Cuz this is time to party"

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Pop Soca (Major Lazer - Sound Bang ft. Machel Montano)

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Pop Soca (Major Lazer - Sound Bang ft. Machel Montano)

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Released in 2014 as an attempt of a "hybrid" soca. This is Soca mixed with techno beats. The band paired with none other than Dr. Machel Montano to create this Pop-Soca.

The song has no clear groove but instead the beat encourages fist pumping and other fast pace movements eg. Jumping.

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Major Lazer - Sound Bang (feat. Machel Montano) (Official Audio)

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Aaron St. Louis commonly referred to as "Voice" is looked at by many as one of the few Soca artist who is closest to the pure form of Trinidad Soca. The three time Soca Monarch champion has a variety of hits, all of which incorporates "douglarized" (African and Indian) rhythms for instance his latest hit "Alive and Well (2019)."

Apart from the rhythm of his songs, Aaron sings about positive messages also highlighting some social issues in his music with heavy reference to the ghetto, and success from the ghetto.
Therefore this blend of Calypso and Soca makes Voice one of the greatest Soca/ Calypso artist of this modern age.

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Education about the history of Caribbean Music in schools 

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Education about the history of Caribbean Music in schools 

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In conclusion , schools should make a greater attempt to foster Caribbean culture among the region.
Education about such topics provide the background for creative inspiration. Thus the FOUN 1101 course offered at The University of the West Indies proves to be beneficial to Caribbean culture and society.

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Below is an example of a blend of Caribbean and International dance gestures by Olatunji including hip movements, playing with the microphone and hip body gestures.

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Olatunji Yearwood of Trinidad  Tobago Original song SIMON LOVES IT AUDITIONS week 1 X Factor UK 2018