Soca Chronicles
Monthly Soca Podcast - Hosts Arkayo and Sharnz explore the people, history, and unforgettable moments behind Soca music and the Carnival experience – from legendary artists and DJ's to personal stories from the road.
Soca Chronicles
Carnival Noise Ban Shakes Trinidad
A shorter than usual holiday-tinged soca catch-up with talk on a sudden venue ban in Trinidad, a sold-out Brawlin in London, and a groovy song of the month.
• Details of the Port of Spain venue ban and backlash
• Brawlin’s sell-out story and turning people away at capacity
• Bajan Independence mix curation and track selection discipline
• song of the month: Machel Montano x Tano’s Compromise in groovy season
And as Nytro says: Make sure you check out Soca Chronicles, tag a friend, tell a friend, share the podcast, let people know that this exists because it's good for the culture, it's good for the vibe, it's good for the energy, it's educational, it's fun, it's funny, it's banterful, and it's good for you to just know a little bit about the people that's making your music and the people that you're involved with listening to.
Link to DJ Jels Parang Mix: https://soundcloud.com/jelinthemix/soca-parang-mix-dj-jel-classics-vol-2
Welcome to the Soka Chronicles. Soca Chronicles with Sharns and Arkayo. Welcome to episode 51 of Soka Chronicles, the podcast that brings you everything Soka. I'm Arka Yo, and I'm digitally sitting next to the one and only Sharns. Yo ho ho Yo ho Yo Ho Ho Yeah. That is a very Christmassy yo, Sharns.
SPEAKER_02:That was the whole point.
SPEAKER_04:Because it's Christmas time.
SPEAKER_02:Well almost. We're getting there. We're getting there. It's almost time to put the Christmas tree up.
SPEAKER_04:Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, we already have it in the house, but regardless, it is Purang season. And we are, yep, and we are, you know, in the mood for some holiday season music. For the people who don't know what Purang is, I am gonna advise you to check out Digigel's new mix. It is a Perang mix version 2. Uh, and we will make sure that uh we will put the link to that mix into the description of this podcast episode. This month's episode, we do not have an interview, but rest assured there will be more interviews coming in the future in the next year. But instead, this year we're gonna this month we're gonna be talking about some drama entry in that that already is in carnival preseason, of course, so exciting. Music is dropping by the way, left and right, so be sure to keep an eye out on new songs, new mixes. Um we're gonna talk about some events that happened, uh a certain brawling event, for example, in London. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And of course, we're gonna talk music as well at some point. Starting off with some drama. This one hit me in the soul a bit, uh, Shorens. It it really like I I'm not going to training carnival, but normally any drama, I'm a bit like, eh, I'm not involved in it, so I can just laugh about it. But this one I did not see coming.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, this one was a bit of a mad thing.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, 100%. So it's basically the president has decided suddenly to ban the use of two facilities for any Soka and Carnival related event. Basically, is yeah, basically the president is saying, like, listen, there's a lot of noise complaints. Um, let's just not do that, okay, guys. Are we fine with that?
SPEAKER_02:That's crazy.
SPEAKER_04:No, we're not fine with that, of course. Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_02:That's crazy.
SPEAKER_04:Obviously, there's a lot of backlash. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Of course.
SPEAKER_04:Obviously, there's a lot of backlash too from from promoters that are talking about economy, you know, uh impact, um, people not coming anymore, party's not able to uh to and it's not just you know party, it's it's the taxis that drive people to the party. It's there's so many people impacted by not having a big event during carnival. So yeah, there's a lot of lot of backlash.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but to be fair, I think obviously if they can't you use those two venues, they would have to seek an alternative venue. So maybe that might mean that these events, instead of being in Port of Spain, they might have to be like outside of Port of Spain or something. So it just means people have to travel a bit further to get to these events, and then they might be in areas of Trinidad that aren't as safe or I don't know, there's so many implications to it, do you know what I mean? Or it could just be that they just have to change the timing of the event because they're saying that from I think it's Carnival Thursday before yeah, so from Carnival Thursday, they can use the venue, but it has to start it can't start before noon and has to be finished by 10. So I guess there's gonna be like a ton of day parties. There's not gonna be any night parties in those venues, you see what I'm saying? So yeah, it's it's gonna be it's gonna be very interesting. So I can't wait to see how it actually is yeah, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_04:And you have a good point because if there's alternative venues, that's great, but this could have been something that you know the government would also have logged into before calling this this ban all of a sudden. Yeah, they could have said, listen, you know, we've we've talked with the promoters, we've talked with uh people around uh where the the venues are, we've decided that this is not the right uh way we're doing it, but we've actually set up this in this area where we're gonna put extra police or whatever, whatever, whatever, and we're gonna facilitate it there. But instead it's just a flat out ban, so yeah, confusing.
SPEAKER_02:Definitely, but I I believe that obviously there's been a lot of backlash, people aren't happy, so I believe that there's like a high possibility that they're gonna go back on their decision and then they'll be like, Alright, we're not gonna ban it now. I reckon but we'll see, we'll see how it goes. But we will talk about this in more detail once we have more information.
SPEAKER_04:Of course, of course. This is why you listen to us. Oh yeah, but I believe that you also found some creative responses to this uh whole situation, right, Sharon's?
SPEAKER_02:I definitely did. So you know me. Well, if you don't know me, I'ma tell you about me. I love to look at like I'm I run, sprint, break my neck, and get whiplash to get to the comment section of certain things, you know what I mean? Because the comment section is normally the most entertaining part of the post. So a couple of tweets that I've seen. Um, somebody has said carnival in its truest essence is rebellion, rage baiting us so we can have the greatest one next year is nothing short of brilliant. I applaud you.
SPEAKER_04:Love that. That's so yeah, love that.
SPEAKER_02:Somebody else has uh like a a jiff, gif, I don't even know how to pronounce it, but whatever, you guys know what I'm talking about, um, of a scene from 300 with all the soldiers, and they've quoted Trinidad and Tobago, we ride at dawn away, literally, it's mad, and there's just loads of like funny tweets like that. Honestly, people are just not happy at all. But let's see. Definitely, definitely, definitely. So I'm interested to see how this pans out for sure.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, we'll be keeping taps for sure.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Well, that was some drama, but then the anti what's the opposite of drama, please?
SPEAKER_02:The opposite of drama is non-drama.
SPEAKER_04:Alright, well, peace talk about something non-drama, non-drama related event, something non-drama related. Yeah, exactly. We have to talk about a certain event that happened last weekend. Because I've seen and heard epicness, epicness, oh yeah, brawlin. Tell us what happened.
SPEAKER_02:Brawlin. Alright. Well, you guys know I love to chat, but I'm trying not to chat so much. Brawlin, guys, brawlin was an absolute movie. First of all, the event sold out, and I do believe in previous episodes I have warned that this event will sell out, and it did. It sold out. The event was on uh like last week's Saturday, and it sold out the Wednesday before, so that was like a good few days before the event. As soon as I posted the sold out, I made like a little sold out video, etc. etc. Why was my phone blowing up? Oh, are there any more tickets? Um, no, did you not just see my sold-out post?
SPEAKER_03:What do you think?
SPEAKER_02:Sold out, but no, I can fit in another hundred people. What the hell, eh? Literally, and it was just like that from the Wednesday right up until the day of the sorry, the day of the event. Even while the event was happening, people were still trying to get tickets, people were still trying to pay on the door, and I had to I've never had to turn anyone away from my door before. Never, unless they didn't have ID, but that's different. That wasn't me turning them away, that was security. But I physically had to stand it and be like, I am so sorry, you can't come in. There's no space for you. It was it the place was full, RKA. It was full, and people are like to me, Oh, I'll pay you extra, name your price, and I'm like, it's not even about the money, there's no space for you. Where am I supposed to put you on my head? What the hell? Like, honestly, it was crazy. No, honestly, it's like the demand for tickets after it sold out was crazy. It was like there was this massive buzz around brawling. I had DJs within the scene asking me if they can pull up, and the other people from the scene, photographers, etc. I had to tell all of them, no, I'm so sorry. I cannot, I can't accommodate you. There's no space, and I felt so bad because one thing about me if you're a DJ or you're somebody in the industry, I don't mind letting you into my party for free.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Do you know what I mean? Unless there's no space.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, if there's no space, you cannot fit. Like, honestly, you can't. So I don't know if people thought that I was being like, yeah, go on.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I was just gonna say, that being said, like I've seen the videos of uh the actual uh like of the last hours of the event, it didn't look as if you couldn't move, if you know what I mean. Like there was still vibes, you know?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so towards the front where the DJ booth was, there was like a bit of a bit of space, but towards like towards the back, and yeah, it was RAM. So for me trying to navigate to get through the crowd was long, like it was like, excuse me, excuse me, of course, and I've got um like accidentally pushing into people, it was crazy. So we had obviously um the person who was scanning the tickets for me when the doors closed, he texted me saying, I can't even get from where I am to get to you, because I was like on the opposite side of the club, so I was like, Alright, don't worry, I'll I'll come to you. So I had to like push through the crowd, I had to like step on the stage and kind of like shuffle past people, and yeah, it was crazy, it was crazy. So if I had let any more people in, it just it would have been stupid, like people wouldn't have been able to even dance or move or have a good time. Do you know what I mean? So and we definitely had the capacity in there for sure, for sure. So yeah, yeah, it was just it was just a case of like I thought that the DJs and stuff who I had to tell no to. I felt like maybe they'd think that I was being bad mind or you know, I was just being an an a-hole, but I swear to you, I wasn't, and I don't think that I'm prestige or think that I'm better than you because I've sold out an event. That's not what it is. I promise you, I wanted all of you in the event because I I went into that event with a point to prove. I had to prove that I can stand next to a lot of these male DJs because people overlook me and a lot of people don't rate me in the industry because they they they don't they haven't seen what I can do. Do you know what I mean? So there'll be all these other female DJs that are coming through now who they're like, Oh yeah, this DJ's bad, bad, bad, da da da. Nice. My my name's not coming up in the in the conversation. By the way, but RKO, please, I beg. My name's not coming up in the conversation, and this is just in the UK though, yeah. It's not coming up in the conversation, but I'm like, alright, cool. Clearly, I've not I'm not working hard enough for you to be able to see what I can do. So, alright, cool. Come down to Brawlin. But there were some people that I really wanted there that didn't show up, and I was so gutted.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So the people that were there, they were shocked after my set. They even during my set, they were so gassed. Like, I saw people showing all 100 of their teeth. Obviously, we don't have 100 teeth, but you get the idea. Like, people were grinning, people were vibing, they were like, Oh my god, is that Shans? One DJ Shans, my guy. So please, people do not underestimate me. I'm not saying I'm the best thing out there, but you know what I mean? I can I can play two two tunes and you know, get the crowd active. Do you see what I'm saying? And off the back of that set that I played at my party, I got a booking from a promoter who I've wanted to book me for years. Finally, was like, Yeah, shads, now I think you're good enough.
SPEAKER_04:Love that. You've proven your worth. Love that.
SPEAKER_02:That's what I'm saying. And this isn't even me being braggadocious or you know, thinking I'm better than anyone else. If anyone knows me, they know how humble I am. Like, I Arkyo, you already know what I'm like.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, this took you a lot of effort and a lot of willpower to get to this point where you are now.
SPEAKER_02:Literally, literally. So, yeah, I'm so so proud of myself. I'm proud that I sold out my first ever event. I'm proud that I played the best set of my life. Literally, I'm proud that people are finally noticing me. I'm proud that I've made new fans, uh fans in the UK. There's a guy that lives in Switzerland who happened to be at my party, um, and he was just like, Yep, any future events, I'm I'm happy to fly over for it. I'm like, wow, this is this is unreal.
SPEAKER_04:That is amazing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, like I'm so so grateful. And honestly, RKO, you have supported me from the jump. Even when I didn't believe in myself, you believed in me. There's so many other people they believed in me. Even when I told them I'm not good enough, I can't do this, I can't do that. You lot believed in me, and finally, I'm starting to gain a bit of confidence. Like, yeah, yeah, I'm ready to show people what I can do. And I even like I hosted my whole set because you know, normally I'll have someone hosting for me, normally Super Night Shall will host for me. But I said to him, Nope, I'm I'm gonna do this myself. I have not today, I have a point to be. Even when I started hosting, some um another host that was there, he went to take the microphone from me. I was like, No, no, no, no, I'm good, I'm good. And he looked at me like, sure, you sure? I'm like, Yeah, I'm good. Obviously, I'm not the best host in the world, but I tried, I tried my best. I managed to record half of my set, only half of it, because I completely forgot to press record from the beginning. So if you want to listen to it, head to my SoundCloud and it's there, it will be brawling live set. Yeah, you'll see 22nd of the 11th, 25. You'll see that there. So check it out. Let me know what you think. Yeah, so brawling was a vibe.
SPEAKER_04:And most importantly, for the people who want to experience this as well, yes, when is the next event gonna happen and how much bigger is the venue going to be?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so the next one is going to be April the 18th, and that will be the one-year anniversary, so that would be a year since you first attended Archeo. Imagine that.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, yeah, nice.
SPEAKER_02:So that one, the venue is double the capacity of the venue that I had over the weekend. So yeah, yeah. So people will have more of a chance, yeah, yeah, yeah. People you'll have more of a chance to get together. But please do not wait till the last minute to get your tickets. People get your tickets from early because they start off nice and cheap from early. Yeah, yeah. Do you know what I mean? So just grab that ticket.
SPEAKER_04:It's a financial sense decision.
SPEAKER_02:There we go. There we go. That's it. So, yeah, that's all I'm going to say about brawling. But wait, first of all, I want to say thank you so much to everybody who showed up, who bought their tickets, or who came through just to support me. I appreciate every single one of you. And this is we're on to bigger and better things, bro. That is it. Onwards and upwards for brawling. We're putting Bajan music and Barbados on the map.
SPEAKER_04:Love death. Yeah, man. Where it deserves to be, you know. There we go.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, wait, hold on. I'm forgetting. Obviously, this weekend is Beijing Independence, and of course, I've made my annual mix.
SPEAKER_04:This is true.
SPEAKER_02:It is true. The mixture is annual mix time. I love it. Yeah, yep, yep. The mix drops on Independence Day, which is the 30th of November, so Sunday. It drops, so check it out when it does drop, people. I've put in I started it off with old school Beijing Soka, and then I kind of come up new, new, new, and it's got like a little bashment soca segment in there. I didn't want to make the mix too long, so for me to try and choose the songs was so tough. Because initially I probably had about 300 songs that I wanted to play, but that would have been like yeah, that would have been too long. So I had to chop it, chop it, chop it, chop it. The mix is about 47 minutes, so yeah, listen to it, guys. Let me know what's going on. Yeah, yeah, I chopped, I missed out so many songs that I didn't want to miss out. Of course, Vanguard rhythm had to stay in there.
SPEAKER_04:Of course, it has to be.
SPEAKER_02:You know, it is the law. But yeah, check it out, people on my SoundCloud.
SPEAKER_04:Nice. Speaking of listening, I think we should head to the song of the month for now. Yes. Before we uh close out this uh month's episode.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, please.
SPEAKER_04:We have a new Marshall Montano big tune coming up as a song of the month. It is like we said, it's pre-season now for training that, so you know, we're starting to get these. This is a groovy season always, because power only starts like closer to carnival.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_04:Um, but yeah, we have Marshall Montano with Tano, which I found out is his brother, which probably makes a lot of people laugh, but yeah, I didn't know that. But I didn't know that you for time. Oh, well, here we go. Learn something new today.
SPEAKER_02:There we go.
SPEAKER_04:With our song Compromise. Let's have a listen.
SPEAKER_02:Let's go.
SPEAKER_03:This is the song of the month. It is Stoker, Stoker Chronicles.
SPEAKER_02:And that was the song of the month. Big tune. I love that little groovy number, honesty.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, man. Hundred percent. It's groovy season for sure.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, for sure. And Uber Soka Cruise was uh not long ago. I think it ended Oh yeah. Yeah, it was the same day as Brawlin that the Uber Soka Cruise docked back in Miami. It looked lit. I didn't hear of any drama. Yeah, I had a friend who was on the cruise and she said she had a time. It was her first time on a cruise as well. She had a time. Um, so at some point I do want to experience Ubisoft cruise, but it is so expensive, so expensive. Yeah, so maybe I can make it in 2035.
SPEAKER_04:Um yeah, literally. Because I remember looking at it like two years ago or something, and yeah, it's it's like I found like uh I think it's an an inside room uh shared with two other people uh for like$2,000, yeah. But then I still had to fly over there, exactly. So yeah, no, there was uh I you can have a lot of fun in uh uh on an island for two weeks for that uh for that money.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly, exactly. But at some point I will uh spend that money and experience it, same way at some point I want to experience Trinidad Carnival, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen, but I'll try to make it happen. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_04:Exactly.
SPEAKER_02:We can only do what we can do, exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_04:But I did mention this was gonna be a bit of a short episode. Uh, we have cards you up with all the drama that we know about, and we I think are ready now to wish you a very happy Christmas in advance.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_04:Our next episode will be dropping on Boxing Day, so be sure to uh hear some more prong beats behind our voices then. And uh yeah, I think we should listen to our dear friend uh Super Nitro for a couple of seconds.
SPEAKER_00:Make sure you check out Soka Chronicles, tag a friend, tell a friend, share the podcast, let people know that this exists because it's good for the culture, it's good for the vibe, it's good for the energy, it's educational, it's fun, it's funny, it's plentiful, and it's good for you to just know a little bit about the people that's making your music and the people that you're involved with listening to.
SPEAKER_04:And with that, thank you very much for listening. Thank you very much for following our journey, and we'll be back next month.
SPEAKER_02:We will, so take care of yourselves, and we will be back in December. Bye bye.
SPEAKER_04:Bye. You have been listening to the Soka Chronicles Chronicles.
