Search - Various Artists :: Soca Switch 4

Chinese-Trinidadian disc jockey Chinese Laundry (a.k.a. Anthony Chow Lin On) started Trinidad and Tobago's WEFM radio station in '93 and immediately became the epicenter of controversy for his unpatriotic gesture of including a disproportionate share of reggae music on the playlist. But this series on Laundry's Chinese Laundry Music label shows that he is, in fact, a driving force in T&T music, even, as the second track proves, a viable artist in front of the mic. This compilation--featuring, among others, Barbadian groups Square One and Krosfyah, as well as T&T's indefatigable blue-eyed soca diva Denyse Plummer--gleans the most feverish tunes at the annual carnival, and the mood is definitely "everybody party, party, party!" This set also functions as a barometer of the islands' musical health, and the prognosis is excellent. For some, the coming of soca was the downfall of Calypso. T&T music has always engaged in a flirtation with stateside sounds, and the birth of soca was, to put it simplistically, Calypso giving it up to U.S. disco. These days, though, soca and reggae are moving closer to each other than to any "foreign" form, and Chinese Laundry is a prime mover in that direction. Not the least of this CD's appeal is its presentation of an indigenous pan-Caribbean sound-in-the-making. --Elena Oumano