For more on Steelpan In TnT click here
Trinidad & Tobago Panorama 2016 - HOME
sung by Anslem Douglas
music by Mark Loquan
lyrics by Gregory “GB” Ballantyne
produced by Junior “IBO” Joseph
click here for lead sheet
LYRICSVerse 1
Soca
Is not a joker
She’s a hard worker
And she doh clown
When she hold de town
Just like a magnet she very
all-inclusive
And she does wash away anything
negative
Across de social barrier
No race or class it doesn’t even
really matter
Soca, Soca
Chorus
Because is
pleasure for pain
Fire inside summer rain
Pulsating heat
As we signature every street
Speakers vibrating wid jam
Have every dancehall ram-cram
Joy overflow
Is de Soca whey have dem so
Party people, want
to leggo
Jammin’ music, from head to toe
Sun come up so dey know
Cause when we jam
Time just come and go
Show dem dat you, really gone clear
Put yuh hands high, up in de air
Nothing cannot compare
Cause when we jam
De vibes could raise yuh hair
Verse 2
Humpers
Jamming on Bumpers
While all de jumpers
Dey soaking wet
Yuh could take a bet
A conga-line go form and you in de
middle
Ya better cock back yuh bow and
extend yuh fiddle
You in de heart of bacchanal
You and yuh crew is who controlling
de Carnival
More gyal, more gyal
Chorus
_________________
Jam
_________________
Verse 3
WASA
Soca in Moka
Say Panorama
Or Army Fete
You eh call ting yet
Ah done tick off Band-Launching,
Lara and UWI
Ah have mih cooler pack and mih
juices ready
Ticket for de Boat-cruise done buy
Little money it go really have to
multiply
No lie, no lie
Chorus
|
For the 2016 Panorama season top vocalist Anslem Douglas is in fine form with Soca Have Dem So, the track featured here.
The Grammy award-winning
composer of “Who Let
The Dogs Out” - Douglas’
vocal work has also
brought alive such marquis
‘Pan Songs’ as Len “Boogsie”
Sharpe’s
Musical Vengeance,
Battle Zone and
It’s Showtime by
Edwin Pouchet, and Brian
“Bean” Griffith’s
Big In De Dance,
to name but a few over
the last several years.
The combination of Mark Loquan as composer, Gregory “GB” Ballantyne as lyricist, vocals by Anslem Douglas, with production by Junior “Ibo” Joseph follows the biographical Dr. Samaroo from 2015 to create excitement with Soca Have Dem So for Panorama 2016.
The song’s lyrics illustrates the effect soca music has on people during Carnival, Panorama, fetes with a sense of escape, drawn towards vibes to “leggo,” free-up, sometimes finding oneself in the middle of the bacchanal. The chord progressions and rhythm changes through the song create the sense of movement with the bridge/jam giving that free-up feeling.
The music
jamming, the lack of sleep, the
crowds filling the streets, the
pan music with people bringing
their coolers, going from fete
to fete, are all images conjured
up in the song. Yes it is “de
soca whey have dem so.”
Seion Gomez was born in the beautiful twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago. He started playing the steel pan at age nine and continued through the ranks.
While at secondary school, he participated successfully at the junior steel pan competitions and by age eighteen he was arranging for steel bands throughout Trinidad.
After leaving secondary school, Seion attended The University of the West Indies and Northern Illinois University where he achieved his Master’s degree. Seion is a Music Literacy Trust scholar, and has travelled to many countries as a performer, teacher and lecturer. He has also judged numerous steel pan competitions both here in Trinidad and Tobago and abroad.
Presently, Seion works with the NLCB Buccooneers Steel Orchestra of Tobago and Solo Harmonites of Trinidad. He is dedicated to helping raise the level of musicianship within the steel band fraternity of Trinidad and Tobago and promote the steel pan as an instrument throughout the world.
2016 represents the 17th year, Mark Loquan is composing for Panorama. Mark is also the Musical Director of the first steelband in Western Australia, Perth Pandemix which started in early 2013. He has produced/co-produced works such as Passion for Pan album (2000), and the pioneering products of Pan In Education (2004), and Pan in Education 2 (2011).
Mark has produced several popular songs for Panorama, which have been performed in Trinidad, and across the globe in main pan events as well as in schools and universities. Starting with songs like Glory, Passion for Pan, Fire and Steel, Identity, Frenzy, Colours Again, he has also collaborated musically with Amrit Samaroo, Edwin Pouchet, Ken “Professor” Philmore, Andy Shaefe and Seion Gomez, to produce songs like Outta De Box, Celebration Time, Hooked, Dangerous, Surrender, Calling Meh, and Vibes. He has also worked with a multitude of singers, writers, and performers and has enjoyed long term collaborations with Denyse Plummer and Destra Garcia over his musical journey.
Mark took a break
for 2014 after 15
consecutive years of
producing music for
pan, but returned
for the 2015
Panorama season, and
is right in
place for that
of 2016.
Gregory “GB” Ballantyne began composing professionally in 1986, when he collaborated with Len “Boogsie” Sharpe to pen Pan Rising and Dis Feeling Nice sung by Denise Plummer. In the ensuing years he would co-write winning Panorama selections for Desperadoes, and again for Phase II.
In Trinidad, GB’s compositions have won the National Calypso Monarch (Senior and Junior) Young King, International Humour, National Queen, Unattached Monarch, South Calypso King and East Zone Monarch. His works have placed artistes like Rikki Jai, Devon Seale, The Mystic Prowler, Aaron Duncan, to name a few, into winner’s row.
GB’s credits also include National and Regional Calypso Monarch titles in Antigua and Anguilla, as well as Chutney hits such as ‘Tassa-Man’ sung by Rooplal Gidharie and the perennial favourite ‘Ribbons’ sung by Marilyn Williams.
Leave a comment in the WST Forum