Ep. 3 - EV - No Soca No Life
Yé Moun La! This is Episode 3 with “No Soca No Life” (2012), a film from Trinidad and Tobago directed by Kevin Adams.
0:00 - 0:28: greetings + opening credits + film credits
0:29 - 2:50: how I came across “No Soca No Life” and how Kevin Adams gave me an improvised interview
Yé Krik Yé Krak
2:51 - 3:28: plot and a few more details
3:28 - 4:39: why I didn’t care about soca until recently + my question with this film: how does music help define our Caribbean identity?
Caribbean connection 1: A Black Girl as the lead character
4:40 - 8:30: my love for music films and TV shows such as “Fame” and Spanish show “Un Paso Adelante” + brief history of cinema and television not giving Black girls the lead role
8:30 - 10:20: how soca helps Olivia to define herself
10:21 - 12:30: a nuanced representation of a dark-skinned woman as a love interest (no colorism in this film)
12:30 - 13:36: how soca can empower women
Caribbean connection 2: soca to define Caribbean identity
13:37 - 17:10: how I came to know soca through artists who aren’t from Trinidad and Tobago + example with Zahara, the lead character in “Musical Youth” by Joanne C. Hillhouse
17:11 - 22:10: how dancehall got highjacked by international pop culture
22:11 - 23:40: how zouk is being highjacked by international pop culture
23:41 - 24:39: how cinema can make it impossible to erase the Caribbean roots of an element appropriated by other cultures
Caribbean Soundtrack
24:40 - 27:30: “Endless Vibrations” by Lord Shorty (1974)
27:31 - 28:42: the lack of representation of the Caribbean in the 60’s/70’s
28:49 - 31:20: “Ay ay ay” by Square One (1997)
31:21 - 34:55: “Dansé” by Machel Montano and Hacob Desvarieux (2019)
34:55 - 37:04: thank you’s + ending credits