DANCEHALL and soca, derivatives of reggae and calypso, took off in the course of the Nineteen Eighties, appealing to a new generation of music fans in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Each genres still maintain strong followings, something principals at Most Wanted Records are tapping into with their Inviting Riddim, a three-song EP.
Party Tonite by Najgee, Big Big by Razor B, and Yam Head by Delomar are songs on the fusion project.
“The rhythm is a pleasant mix of dancehall and soca; the three songs complement the rhtym we
ll,” said Dewayne Taylor, head of Most Wanted Record which is predicated in South Florida.
The Inviting Riddim was released on October 17 but its songs, in keeping with Taylor, “have been floating across the Web”. That pre-release exposure is a very good sign for Most Wanted Records and Taylor, whose releases for the reason that label launched in 2017 have targeted a dancehall audience.
He hopes to spread the corporate’s wings as wide as possible with the rhythm.
“I’m looking to achieve all of the Caribbean islands and other people worldwide who’re music lovers and love to bop and vibe to music, even in the event that they aren’t good dancers,” he said.
Dancehall and soca have merged with great success prior to now. Dancehall Soca by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires and Admiral Bailey is arguably the largest marriage of the sounds.
That song was the theme for Lee’s Jamaica Carnival in 1993.
Six years later Trinidadian soca king Machel Montano was one in all the acts on the Unda Wata dancehall rhythm alongside Buju Banton and Shaggy.
— Howard Campbell
