Functions of Gender in Soca: An Historical and Lyrical Analysis of St. Lucian Soca

Ekeama S Goddard-Scovel, Purdue University

Abstract

Soca’s music history negatively impacts female soca artists, especially when taking into account each island’s differing Carnival music history. Contrary to popular assumptions, soca (as well as calypso) did not develop similarly in every Caribbean island. Soca actually exemplifies a pan-Caribbean phenomenon that is regionally as well as gender specific. St. Lucia illustrates this phenomenon as it has a markedly different calypso history from Trinidad, which has long been called the land of calypso, and more recently the land of soca. I use St. Lucia as a departure point from which to dismantle the overarching Trinidadian narrative that many, including St. Lucians, have co-opted in an effort to foster Caribbean unity and global brand recognition. Specifically, I explore the intersections of soca, women, and neoliberalism through an historical analysis of St. Lucian Carnival music history and the songs of three female soca artists. Performing this kind of analysis is especially relevant in a global moment where Trinidad-style Carnival, musicians, and Carnival products are available in most large metropolitan cities. And, although the field of Carnival musics is filled with discussions on calypso and women in calypso, few scholars explore the intersections of soca, women, and neoliberalism, with the notable exception of Canadian Jocelyne Guilbault. This silence of a scholarly group known for vibrant discussions and analysis of Caribbean life is palpable. Into this silence, I voice an intersectional conversation on soca, a genre that is rapidly becoming the sound and image of what ‘being Caribbean’ means, even as those images play into problematic stereotypes of the Black Caribbean female that traces its roots to slavery and our colonial past. In this dissertation, I contextualize critical socio-historical issues inherent in creating a St. Lucian Carnival music industry seeking to emulate Trinidad’s global brand of soca (and calypso). The unacknowledged history of St. Lucian Carnival music in the 20st century creates a complication which can only be untangled by acknowledging its impact on St. Lucian soca (and calypso). St. Lucia’s French Kwéyòl and English language disputes, as well as their more egalitarian gender power dynamics in popular music forms, made adopting Trinidad’s English and “anti-woman” song forms difficult for many St. Lucians. Trinidadian calypso (soca’s precursor) was a homosocial space where male calypsonians controlled the heterosexual narratives; and, not surprisingly, women were always culpable while men were blameless. However, Trinidadian style calypso was very popular and lucrative, and so St. Lucia’s elites sought to mimic it and its progeny, soca. Consequently, the differing assumptions about the role of women in St. Lucia and Trinidad concerning calypso narratives, as well as whether or not they could sing calypso, created issues soca inherited. In the 21st century, St. Lucian female soca artists struggle to find a place within this music genre where female soca artists are often relegated to singing about “women’s issues” or joining the accepted norms of singing music espousing the “anti-female sentiment” that is popular in instructive soca songs. And to understand how they got to this point, I first assemble a history of St. Lucian Calypso, which surprisingly relies on the St. Lucia Carnival Queen Show. I then explore the power dynamics of language and gender in St. Lucian calypso, as these eventually informed the sexual politics of soca. Next, I interrogate Carnival songs sung by St. Lucian female soca artists Agnes Lewis (Sobriquet Black Pearl), Nicole David (Sobriquet Nicole “Nicki” David) and Melissa Moses (Sobriquet Q-Pid) to demonstrate how these prominent figures respond to local, regional and global pressures linked to language, gender and finance. Lastly, I examine the Caribbean diaspora’s influence on the Caribbean woman’s more prominent role in soca’s lyrical content, stage and video performances, as well as the Caribbean woman’s increasing role as soca singer. Throughout this dissertation, I urge Caribbean identified people into a conversation on the accepted/assumed role of women in Caribbean Carnival music, as well as a long overdue conversation on the varieties of Carnival musics from different countries which make up the One Caribbean.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Lopez, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Music history|Music|Caribbean Studies|Gender studies

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