Soca developed as a musical genre through a fusion of calypso, chutney, soul, funk, Latin influences, and traditional West African rhythms. It’s the result of a sound project started in 1970 at KH Studios, Sea Lots in Trinidad to find a way to record the complex calypso rhythm in a new multi-track era.
Soca has evolved since the 1980s primarily through musicians from various Anglophone Caribbean countries. Not only from its birthplace Trinidad and Tobago, but also from Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Lucia, U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Guyana, and Belize.
Soca has grown since its inception to incorporate elements of zouk and dance music genres and continues to blend in contemporary music styles and trends. Soca has also been experimented with in Bollywood films, Bhangra, in new Punjabi pop, and in disco music in the United States.
Freddy Harris III moved to Trinidad at the height of soca music. Having trained under his legendary father, Freddie Harris Jr, he began playing the steel pan at the age of four. Since then, he studied jazz and established a signature funk-inspired soca sound through several unique opportunities presented throughout his career.
For more information on Harris, check out Steel Pan Trap with Freddy Harris III: https://splice.com/sounds/splice-originals/so_steel_pan_trap_freddy_harris/story
The sounds in this pack were recorded on AKG C414s through an Avedis MA5, as well as on Royer Ribbon Unders, RE20s, and a Sennheiser 421.
