After a two-year hiatus, Machel Montano returned to performing on home soil, starting in Tobago, where he hadn’t performed in over a decade. TTT News conducted an exclusive interview with Dr Monk just hours before the Suite Soca All-Inn-Clusive event at the Comfort Inn Suites in Scarborough, Tobago.
And while the King of Soca had not graced a performance stage in Tobago in a considerable amount of time, he is surely no stranger to the island, even owning property there. His return, though, he regards as coming home and shares what he intends to present to his unwavering fans.
“We always have fans that, you know, looking forward to seeing us, so is that coming home feeling. So, we coming to share space. I mean, you know, am. All the things that are synonymous with a Machel Montano performance which is the catalogue first of all. We here to deliver songs that bring memories and times but we also here to share space with them and to feel a vibe so it’s a bit of spontaneous energy of what you meet, who you see, the faces, how we do the songs, you know?”
“The first objective is to give the fans what they’ve been missing. To give them that presence, to serve the people who serve us and, you know, gracefully allow us to go and do something else. They didn’t hang us out to dry or you know, they waited with bated breath so we coming with music. First thing is music and (and, and) a few good shows, you know, because we don’t want to be everywhere. We want to be everywhere that we are we want to be there a hundred and fifty percent in a really nice format.”
He says a major part of his vision was education informing the music and the importance of a deeper understanding of the roots of this genre that belongs to us.
“You know, we building a lot of things. Going back to school is not just going back to school to try to get a degree. It’s really to understand and chart the way forward. You know, to know where we going we have to know where we come from and stand on a solid foundation.”
“We always searching for a deeper depth or a higher height. We always searching to understand this life that we, we’ve been given, this life that we are part of. A small part of. It’s so vast, that the more you look is the more you’ll find. And, am, in terms of Soca and calypso, and you know just that spark of the soul of calypso is Soca. Our music has become definitely more calypso-esque, calypso-informed.”
An investigation into the base elements of what Soca music comprises, as Machel elaborates, is the driving force behind the next evolution of his music and the direction he aims to push the genre.
“We took a trip to Nigeria, and we started to investigate those rhythms. You know, over the year 2023 we were in 2022- 2021, we were in India, back and forth getting that beat and understanding the spirituality in music and all these things are piling up on each other to inform where we want to get to.”
There have been calls by numerous artistes and other stakeholders for more recognition for the genre of Soca music. While the push to take Soca music to the global mainstream is important, Machel questions whether awards like the Grammys really speak to the journey of the music.
“Trying to reach to the Grammys, Grammy nominations might somewhat seem like is the pinnacle but I think, our journey is very unique of where the music is. Soca was born in 1974, around there. So, is young, fifty years old. And, am, I think we have understood ourself from, through a Carnival point of view, cause Soca is the soundtrack of Carnival. It is what make people move, what carry them behind the truck. In recent times, young people been taking Soca and writing about their feelings. Their feelings in their family, their feelings in their job, their feelings in their relationships.”
Finally, Double M shares his thoughts on the approach to the music by the next generation of artistes.
“I think that will start to expand more as we have more young people getting involved with a more open sense of mind. They may not be making Soca directly connected to Carnival but they love the beat, they understand the rhythm, they understand the history of it and they could own it but still utilise it to express themselves. And, (and, and) you have to see beyond Carnival. Carnival is just one slice; an important slice but we have many more slices.”