An overview of the Soca contribution made by the Barbadian composer and cultural activist, Dr. Anthony 'Mighty Gabby' Carter. The video is of course missing, however the general trajectory can still be seen. This presentation was made at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Cultural Studies' department, 10th Anniversary Symposium, "Talking Culture," in 2014.

2. MIGHTY GABBY
• FOLK
• CALYPSO

3. EARLY BEGINNINGS
WITH CALYPSO
• REDIFFUSION
• EARLY INFLUENCES – YOUNG BRIGADE -
MIGHTY SPARROW, LORD MELODY, LORD
KITCHENER, MIGHTY SPOILER (ROHLEHR
332).
• LATER INFLUENCES – DUKE, BLACK STALIN,
DAVID RUDDER, GYPSY, ALL ROUNDER
(CARTER).

4. EDDY GRANT
• PRODUCER AND SINGER
• GRANT WAS A SIGNIFICANT
INFLUENCE ON GABBY.

5. GABBY ON EDDY’S INFLUENCE

6. CULTURE
• CULTURE IS ARRANGED IN THE STYLE OF THE YOUNG BRIGADE CALYPSO SOUND.
• TEXTURE - BIG BAND AND RHYTHM SECTION.
• MELODY – MAJOR AND DISCURSIVE WITH CLEAR VERSE AND CHORUS SECTIONS
• HARMONY – TONAL AND ADHERES TO MELODY.
• RHYTHM – MEDIUM SLOW TEMPO, “CULTURE” USES THE STANDARDISED CALYPSO RHYTHM (WITH
VARIATION).

7. JACK
• MELODY – MUSEMATIC, COMPARATIVELY MORE REPETITIVE THAN CULTURE. VERSE CONSISTS OF ONE
MELODIC MOTIF.
• HARMONY - UTILISES TWO CHORDS IN THE VERSE AND THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL CHORDS IN THE
CHORUS.
• TEXTURE – A DIMINISHED USE OF HORNS WITHIN THE BAND CHORUS ESPECIALLY IN COMPARISON WITH
CULTURE.
• RHYTHM – A QUICKER TEMPO IS SEEN. MORE ATTACKS WITHIN THE MELODY ALSO PRESENT.

8. GABBY ON JACK

9. WUK UP (RECORDED) TOWARDS A RHYTHM
CENTRED APPROACH
• TEXTURE – SYNTHESISED DRUMS AND SYNTH LEAD. ABSENT OF ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS.
• MELODY – MELODY OSCILLATES BETWEEN DISCURSIVE AND MUSEMATIC.
• HARMONY – HARMONIC INSTRUMENTS ARE LARGELY ABSENT. ONLY HARMONIC CHANGES IN THE VERSES
IS THE I-V MOVEMENT CHORD.
• RHYTHM – GABBY’S MELODIC ATTACK IS AGAIN DENSE. THE RHYTHMIC ACCOMPANIMENT IS BASED ON
THE RING BANG BEAT OF THE EARLY-MID 90S.

10. GABBY’S FORM OF SONIC RESISTANCE
• RHYTHMIC EMPHASIS
• RHYTHM AS A WAY TO PRACTICE AN AFRO-BARBADIAN FORM OF IDENTITY.

11. WORKS CITED
• CARTER, ANTHONY. PERSONAL INTERVIEW. 1 MARCH 2013
• ROHLEHR, GORDON. A SCUFFLING OF ISLANDS : ESSAYS ON CALYPSO. SAN JUAN, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO,
LEXICON TRINIDAD LTD, 1994.