Soca, calypso sets in top 10
Published:Friday | September 1, 2017 | 12:00 AM
As far as the English-speaking Caribbean goes, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are at physical extremes.
The land of reggae is under 90 minutes by direct flight from the North American mainland, while the land of the steelpan is so close to South America that in less politically charged times, there was a ferry to and from the Venezuelan coast.
However, the two often get lumped together in matters of music on the charts of those who do not make such fine distinctions, and it is no different on the iTunes ranking of top 100 albums up to early yesterday morning. Bunji Garlin's Turn Up is at number five and Calypso: The Unsung Legacy (GBMNutron) is in the number eight spot.
That is one space below Chronixx's Chronology, which is starting to drift behind from Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley's Stony Hill, which is at number three. Ahead of Jr Gong is the 'Snr Gong', with the Legend pair of the Remastered and Deluxe editions in first and second places, respectively. Completing the top five is Simple Creation's Golden Roots, at number four.
The enduring appeal of Ivanhoe Martin in film is shown by the soundtrack to The Harder They Come, being at number 20, about 45 years after the film was released. The soca/reggae synergy comes into play again with the compilations Get Soca 2017 at 22 and Reggae Gold 2017 a place behind.
There are many Marley albums on the listing - not an unusual situation, but this time around, the family has the distinction of anchoring both ends of the chart. For not only is Bob at number one, but Ky-Mani's Radio is number 100.