Just so Bajan Dub become Bashment Soca???!!!!!

Crop Over, Barbados’ major festival, has not been a place of musical surprises for some time now.

However, 2016 has produced a big one for me in the complete re-definition of the Bashment Soca genre.

In a previous blog post, I identified the common use of the term in Barbadian music circles and gave musical examples for the uninitiated. For those who missed it the link is below.

https://stefanwalcott.com/2014/05/23/what-is-bashment-soca-crop-over-blog-1/

Here also is soca artist Gorg speaking on Bashment Soca back in 2011.

The conversation is about the song below.

 

From the interview, we can hear Gorg reference Bashment throughout as this was the common term used to talk about the variant of Soca heard above.

However, this is not so anymore.

This year, a Bashment Soca competition has started which has music not sounding like the above, but as below.

 

 

And below

 

The examples above I considered to be Bajan Dub, a genre that I posted about with a Top 10.

https://stefanwalcott.com/2014/02/05/top-10-bajan-dub-dancehall-records-for-beginners/

Bajan Dub  has its routes/roots planted in the early 80s and had a resurgence post 2010. But this year it seems that is ALL now BASHMENT SOCA!

What the Bashment Soca/Bajan Dub has shown therefore is that genre is a very FLUID thing. Despite what many think, one cannot proclaim a genre and expect it to stay the same. It also shows that the creation of a genre comes from different places including sponsors!!! So despite what I say here, the fact that a lucrative competition has come about means that those that said Bajan Dub before will definitely be singing Bashment Soca now.

So to answer the title:

Question: Just so Bajan Dub become Bashment Soca???!!!!

Answer: YES!!!!???!!!!!