Case Studies
274
The Swedish Caribbeans 275
Swedish radio, becoming famous even in Trinidad where people were
surprised
by
the interest in soca in a distant country.
Crazy thought it was fun that we played his music with Swedish lyrics,
so when I
met him 1991 he thought it would be fun to do something together. So
in 1992 we
invited Crazy here and went on tour with him to four different
locations in Sweden.
The Swedish Institute funded Crazy's travel expenses. We held concerts
in Karlstad,
Norrköping, Stockholm and Gothenburg. The finale in Gothenburg was
best with a
lot of people. The venue was full. There were a lot of people outside
who wanted to
come in but there wasn't room. (Interview with Lars Hansson
M.KM970325)
The collaboration between Soca Rebels and Crazy has continued.
In recent
years Lars Hansson has run Crazy's official website on the Internet
(http://
home.swipnet.se/crazy).
Trinidad's music culture is strong locally. The lyrics of most calypso
tunes are
packed with references to local phenomena that a foreigner can
scarcely under-
stand, which is also suggested by Lars Hansson above when he says
"perhaps
you have to know Trinidad to understand it." at is why many
Trinidadians
are surprised that there is an interest in their music in a country
like Sweden.
It
is seen as unusual. The mass media have partly played a part in
inform-
ing the people of Trinidad of what happens to their music in Sweden.
When
Derek Walcott from St. Lucia in the Lesser Antilles received the Nobel
Prize for
Literature in 1992, Hot Pans played at the Nobel reception.
People in Trinidad
could see it on TV. This Swedish steelband caused great consternation
and be-
came a general topic of conversation.
Lars Hansson relates how Soca Rebels awoke interest in
Trinidad:
We've now been invited to play in Trinidad in a newly opened calypso
tent that's
called Chutney Soca Review, specially for chutney. A guy from San
Fernando runs it.
We were invited by him to play there in 1998. He discovered us through
our website
on the Internet! We've wanted a chance to play down there for a long
time, but it has
been difficult because there are so many in the group.¹
(M.KM970325)
One problem for carnival-orientated bands in Sweden has been renewing
their
repertoire. Every year new carnival tunes are created and in Trinidad
nobody
plays a tune from last year's carnival. When asked "Where do you get
your rep-
ertoire from?" Lars Hansson answers:
¹ Chutney is a special form of soca with
strong elements of Indian music. Nearly 40 of the
population in Trinidad has its origins in India. San Fernando is
Trinidad's second largest
city.