History of Calypso/Soca

• The Origins of Calypso date all the way back to the times of slavery where African slaves in Trinidad would communicate with other slaves in other plantations. This form of song was also created to mock the slave masters.
• Calypso has many influences from French and the Spanish, and some of the very first calypso songs were sung in Creole and in Patois.
• The French also brought together Carnival or a time of song and dance.
• Calypso seen its first recordings in 1914, and through the years many famous Calypsonians such as Roaring Lion, Atilla the Hun, Harry Belafonte, Lord Kitchener, and the Mighty Sparrow have made great contributions to the Calypso scene and to the various forms of Calyspo that would arise through the years.
• Calypso seen its first sub-form when the Mighty Sparrow made music about political problems in Trinidad. The song Jean and Dinah was a song made to celebrate the removal of U.S. troops in Trinidad, which also helped influence their independence from Great Britain in 1962. Since those times Sparrow has produced more that 90 songs. Sparrow was honored by CARICOM(Caribbean Community) for his outstanding contributions to the calypso scene.
• To this day calypso talks of political and social commentary with humorous satire on current events. Calypso serves for those who dont have a social conscious. Of course like every other genre of music there was a risk side to it.
• In the 1970s Calyspo bega to see a decline due to the rise in Reggae(JA), Disco and R&B(U.S). Just like any other genre, they began to fuse the genres. A more uptempo form of Calypso was developed called Soca. Rapso which is music with calypso lyircs and the Hip Hop beats used in the United States. To this day Calypsonians such as David Rudder has comined calypso lyrics with dance rythms.

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