Soca

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An energetic Caribbean dance music style from Trinidad that fuses American soul rhythms with calypso traditions
2. A high-tempo party music genre originating in Trinidad, combining soul vocals with the rhythms of calypso
3. Upbeat Trinidadian popular music that merges soul influences with calypso and is built for carnival dancing

Etymology: Soca is a blend of "soul" and "calypso," and the blend itself tells much of the story. It names a style of dance music from Trinidad and Tobago that fuses the fast, bass-heavy rhythms of calypso with the emotional, sung vocal style of soul. The name packs both sources into four letters: the "s" and "o" of soul, and the "ca" of calypso. The two parents stand for different things. Calypso, the older Trinidadian music, supplied the rhythms and the topical, socially observant lyrics, while soul, the African American genre of the 1960s and 1970s, supplied the warm vocals and the rhythmic groove that many Caribbean listeners heard on radio. Blending the two names was a compact way of describing a sound that was rooted in one tradition but drew openly on another.