In Aaron Duncan's opinion, the growth of calypso has slowed but he intends to continue to pay respect to the artform in his music.
“Calypso is at a space now where it is known as something that was loved. I want youths and everyone else to love calypso the same way.
“In the music I do now, like Play Soca, and Back to Basics, it will always have that calypso feeling, the calypso vibe that not only the adults and the legends and old heads would love, but you could also see the youths dancing and enjoying the music. I think that is something calypso has lost over a period of time.”
The 18-year-old soca artiste, who began his career singing calypso, believes people now have a shorter attention span and traditional calypsoes may be too long for people to get into a groove.
“I think the first 30 seconds of a song should let you know if you want to listen to more of it or not. I think four verses and four choruses, seven minutes of a song, is too much. I think that plays into why calypso is not at the forefront where it should be.”
He said a lot has to be done for there to be any change in the genre. An individual can adjust their music but for the “older heads” and others in the fraternity to accept and make a change to something they have been doing for years and love, would be difficult.
For Duncan, it is easy to adjust because he grew up listening to and performing both calypso and soca. And he believes most of the recent soca has been a commentary on what is happening in TT and the world, especially his work.
For example, in his songs Back to Basics and Play Soca, he paid respect to the late Brother Resistance (Lutalo Masimba) and Super Blue (Austin Lyons) respectively.
Play Soca was released on October 4. He co-wrote the song with CollegeBoy Jesse (Jesse Stewart), produced it and directed the music video. He also contributed to Royalty Designs’ graphic design and video editing.
“The song expresses how true soca lovers are feeling right now. There’s a lot of talk about whether or not we will have a Carnival in 2022 but I’m trying to say that the Carnival spirit and energy is within us. There wouldn’t be any Carnival without us.
“Anytime we Trinidadians, Caribbean people or soca lovers hear soca, if the song is good, you’re going to see some part of us chipping, bouncing, tapping. No matter if we try to fight it, our body, our minds will always show that we are soca people. Soca is part of us.”
He said Super Blue is an icon whose presence is felt when he is on stage and he and CollegeBoy Jesse wanted to pay homage to that.
[caption id="attachment_920637" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Soca artiste Aaron Duncan searches his computer for one of his new releases at his music studio on Morne Coco Road, Petit Valley. PHOTO BY ANGELO MARCELLE - PHOTO BY ANGELO MARCELLE[/caption]
He added that people seem to like when he pays his respect to icons in song but he may not do that often because he does not want to be repetitive so as to have people expect it from him and put him in a box.
Instead,
