There was a time when Christmas in Trinidad & Tobago, like much of the Caribbean, was musically dominated by carols that painted images of snow, mistletoe and pumpkin pie. The voices of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Perry Como filled the airwaves as people rushed into the hot Caribbean sun.
But T&T already had its own Christmas soundtrack in the form of parang – folk music, sung in Spanish, first brought to Trinidad by immigrant Venezuelan cocoa farmers in the 18th century. However, despite this rich cultural heritage, classics such as “White Christmas” and “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays” remained Christmas staples.
As T&T gained independence in 1962, the country sought a new national identity, much like a baby finding its foundations. Socio-economic tensions rose in this post-colonial period of insecurity, culminating in the Black Power Uprising of 1970.
This inspired a shift away from musical imports. Grown-up Christmas songs like Lennox Grey’s “Around my Christmas Tree,” Nap Hepburn’s “Listen Mama,” and Chalkdust’s “Something Salt” captured the essence of a true Trinidadian Christmas and resonated deeply with people.
Then, in 1978, the landscape of Christmas music changed forever when calypso Edwin Ayoung – affectionately known by his sobriquet Crazy and whose mother was Venezuelan – introduced a new genre, fusing parang and soca.
TheIt all started when a friend and composer, Clibert Harewood, gave Crazy a piece of paper with the opening lyrics, “I took the role of a lead singer.” Crazy, inspired by the words, he began to shake his quatro and, with the encouragement of friends, recorded the song in New York with Vincentian producer Frankie McIntosh.
The song told the story of how audiences reacted to his carnival-style version of the parang:
I got the role of the lead singer, Parangrama in Arima
The fans heard about my band parang, so thousands of people flocked to the grandstand
Dave Elcock was the MC when he introduced me
People dancing like a carnival in my interpretation of serenal
Alagata alpagata, a rum, a paratha
Mary, Mary, Mary, my heart
From Port of Spain to Fyzabad, everyone knows Crazy mad
Mary, Mary, Mary, my heart
In 1981, Singing Francine made history by publishing first full album soca parang, Christmas is Love
The song – which everyone still refers to as “Maria” – is actually titled “Parang Soca” and marked the first time the term “parang soca” entered the T&T musical lexicon. Crazy had innovatively fused traditional parang musical instruments – cuatro, guitar, shak shak – with calypso and soca rhythms (with soca itself appearing only in the early 70s), while mixing English, some Spanish … and some meaningless texts.
While the parang community initially disapproved of what they saw as the commercialization of their folk tradition — calling it the “Christmas calypso” — the song took off. So popular was “Parang Soca” that five steel bands played it at Panorama the next carnival, Crazy revealed.
Realizing he was on to something, Crazy followed up with another hit in 1979 called “Muchacha”. To date, he has produced over 60 soca parang songs. (There is also an ongoing debate in some circles about the differences between “parang soca” and “soca parang”…)
In 1979, the late singing calypsonian Francine became one of the genre’s leading voices with her song “Hurray Hurrah,” which heralded the birth of Christ—similar to births that SIDE sang in honor of the holy birth:
Because a child was born to us
Because for us a beloved son
Like a thief in the night
He shone His light
Because He did not want evil
He came to save us from condemnation
Hooray, hooray, hooray!
Hurrah, hurray! they say
Our Savior is born today!
In diapers He lies
While the shepherds weep
Because they just couldn’t believe their eyes
And when He comes a man
You know those non-Christians
Come together and hammer the nails into His hand
But on the third day, He rose again
So you see, He shed His blood for us.
In 1981, Singing Francine made history by releasing the first full-length soca parang album. Christmas is love, which included popular songs like “Ay Ay Maria” and “Foolish Man”. She would go on to produce other soca parang albums and pave the way for other women in the genre, such as Marcia Miranda (“Bring Out De Ham,” “Gimme Love”) and Susan Maicoo (“Trini Christmas is the Best “, “Where Did Daisy Go”).
The now the doors are wide open, other calypso jumped on the soca parang bandwagon. Icons such as Lord Kitchener, Relator, Swallow, Penguin and Bill Trotman contributed to the genre’s growing popularity.
As the 1980s came to a close, Irwin Reyes Johnson – a former Calypso Monarch in Trinidad, known by his sobriquet Scrunter – burst onto the scene with the unforgettable hit “Piece ah Pork” in 1988.
Drawing from his childhood in Sangre Grande, where Christmas meant sharing food and looking out for neighbors, Scrunter’s story captured the hearts of many. Subsequent releases such as “Leroy”, “Anita”, “Ma Jeffrey” and “Tribute to Daisy” became instant classics, cementing his place in the pantheon of soca parang.
The genre, which began in the 1970s and flourished in the 1980s, continues to thrive today. Artists like Crazy, Scrunter and Baron – another calypsonian who wrote his name in the soca parang history books with songs like “It’s Christmas”, “Spanish Woman” and “Come Go” – make more of their living from soca parang se calypso, performing at Christmas events locally, regionally and internationally.
While a new generation of artists—like Jerome “Rome” Priscilla and Rembunction—carry the torch for soca parang today, older songs continue to resonate with a multigenerational audience.
Like Mariah Carey’s annual revival in the United States with her timeless hit “All I Want for Christmas is You,” Trinidad & Tobago’s soca parang songs feel fresh and new every year as they reignite the festive spirit throughout the islands.
