Soca and Collective Memory

Abstract

Savannah Grass, a 2019 soca song, performed by Kes the Band and written by Jelani Shaw, is used as a case study to examine soca, an upbeat version of calypso, as a repository for the collective memory about time, place, people, emotions, and conflicts that characterize carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. This annual event, which culminates on the two days before Ash Wednesday, originated as a performance of cultural resistance and a celebration of freedom. It has roots in European pre-Lenten festivities along with African rituals and traditions. Documenting cultural expressions such as carnival practices using official or traditional archiving methods is challenging so this chapter proposes that soca is a repository for collective memory that archives the carnival experience in Trinidad and Tobago. Soca songs like Savannah Grass chronicle carnival as an experience of liberation and celebration, while highlighting social nuances. Sensations, imaginations, events, and energies. Soca tells stories, induces reminiscences, and attempts to assemble these fragments of self-identity. It can evoke a sense of time, place, and emotion, especially when the song is repeatedly heard, reinforcing collective memory. As one of the most popular songs of the 2019 Carnival, Savannah Grass represents these well.