Big News for Pan Lovers! The 2026 Steelband Panorama Season is Coming In Hot
By Ananda/Sokah2Soca
in
Blog
June 21, 2025
The blog Sokah2Soca (www.sokah2soca.com) first published the content. We bring you only the best new music, while Island Vybe Radio rocks it live on the air!
Oh snap... We are in June, and Carnival 2026 in Trinidad and Tobago is making headlines! Fans of steelband music are in for a treat; the Panorama schedule has been released, and it's important to note that you'll be engrossed in Panorama events when January 2026 arrives due to a compressed and shortened season. There is a need to unhinge Carnival from the Christian calendar to better plan carnival events and maximize the financial windfall that Carnival brings to the islands.
The energy is building already—Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival 2026 is officially set for the 16th and 17th of February, and steelpan fans have even more reason to celebrate. The full Panorama Schedule for 2026 has just been released, and there’s an exciting new addition: Panorama in Tobago on October 25th, 2025, titled "PanOmega."
Of interest is the news that Tobago is hosting a Panorama competition independent of involvement from Trinidad. The love for steelband music will surely have players from Trinidad heading over to Tobago to play for one of the local bands. The outcome will be local bragging rights and it should be fun. The steelpan movement continues to evolve and expand, originating from the National Panorama competitions and the Savannah stage, and now Tobago hosts its very own Panorama competition.
Stay tuned to Sokah2Soca for updates, commentary, and spotlight features as we count down to Carnival and steelband competitions. Are you excited? Indeed, our coverage promises to provide you with unparalleled access to all the available online content.
Here is the Schedule for the steelband competition re: Carnival 2026
- October 18, 2025—Tobago Panorama—PanOmega
- October 25, 2025—Steelpan & Powder Parade—Tobago
- November 9, 2025—National Panorama 2026 Launch
- November 16-24, 2025—Single Pan Preliminaries
- November 29, 2025—Single Pan Semi-Finals
- December 6, 2025—Single Pan Finals
- December 8-17, 2025—Small Conventional Bands Preliminaries
- January 9-13, 2026—Junior Panorama Preliminaries
- January 10, 2026—Small Conventional Bands Semi-Finals
- January 17, 2026—Small Conventional Bands Finals
- January 18, 2026—Junior Panorama Finals
- January 20-24, 2026—Medium Conventional Bands Preliminaries
- January 25-28, 2026—Large Conventional Bands Preliminaries
- February 1, 2026—Medium & Large Conventional Bands Semi-Finals
- February 8, 2026—Medium Conventional Bands Finals
- February 14, 2026—Large Conventional Bands Finals
- February 16-17, 2026—Pan on the Road
- February 21, 2026—Carnival Lagniappe
Let us spread awareness of the Caribbean diaspora's culture.
Our goal is to promote Caribbean culture, musicians, and music producers. We are able to honor and promote the rich sounds and tales of the Caribbean thanks to your support. Together, we can ensure that this rich cultural legacy continues to reach a wider audience and foster creativity and connections. While you should always buy music for sale, you should avoid sharing promotional music because it denies songwriters, producers, and artists important revenue. Please be aware that all of our posts are available online via social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, and SoundCloud. We recommend exploring your favorite content on FeedSpot/RSS Feed, Threads, Bluesky, and Twitter/X, including email subscriptions. Thank you in advance.
Production Notes/Music Credits:
Panorama News: Steelband Competitions Schedule 2026
Origin: Trinidad, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago
Genre: Soca ?
Promotional Song: Steelband Music
Artist/Performed by: Mighty Sparrow
Arranged by: Earl Rodney
Music by: Sparrow's Calypso Troubadours
Sokah2Soca—Where the Rhythm Lives and CalypSoca Thrives!
? Listen. Share. Amplify. Our artists embody culture not only during Carnival but on a daily basis.
We present the music here for your listening pleasure and promotional purposes only, adhering to the "Fair Use" Musical Content Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976. Sokah2Soca/Soca Music Blog © 1990 by Santiwah is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-SA/4.0/.
♫ Please click the music player button below to listen now (small triangle in the music player/TV frame).
Don Trent Drops “Baddest Gyal” for Kadooment 2025 — And We’re Hooked!
By Ananda/Sokah2Soca
in
Blog
June 21, 2025
The content was first published on the blog Sokah2Soca (www.sokah2soca.com). We bring you only the best new music, while Island Vybe Radio rocks it live on the air!
I am impressed: De Red Boyz and Don Trent have delivered what most will call a Soca anthem. This style of soca makes me want to play the song on repeat! The vibes delivered for "Baddest Gyal" are undeniable. From the start, I was hooked, but there was a pause—that voice! The voice is smooth, rich, and unexpectedly reminiscent of one of my favorites, Damian Marvay.
Who can deny the brilliance of De Red Boyz? Their unique style is unmistakable and sweet like Caribbean sugar cane. The rhythm hits that sweet spot between groove and energy—the kind of tempo that makes you move without even realizing it.
This is the kind of soca Trinidadians love—groove soca at its best. “Baddest Gyal” isn’t just a song—it’s a full experience. From vocal tone to rhythmic detail, this one brings the heart of the festival season to life. Don Trent has been around for some time, but with this song he steps into the spotlight with confidence, charisma, and undeniable talent. We at Sokah2Soca are loving it.
Let us spread awareness of the Caribbean diaspora's culture.
Our goal is to promote Caribbean culture, musicians, and music producers. We are able to honor and promote the rich sounds and tales of the Caribbean thanks to your support. Together, we can ensure that this rich cultural legacy continues to reach a wider audience and foster creativity and connections. While you should always buy music for sale, you should avoid sharing promotional music because it denies songwriters, producers, and artists important revenue. Please be aware that all of our posts are available online via social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, and SoundCloud. We recommend exploring your favorite content on FeedSpot/RSS Feed, Threads, Bluesky, and Twitter/X, including email subscriptions. Thank you in advance.
Production Notes/Music Credits:
Song Title: Baddest Gyal
Artist/Performed by: Don Trent
Produced by: De Red Boyz
Written by Jamaal Miller of Seven Flags Creative Group, Tabari Husani Davis of EyeBarEye and Odwin “Don Trent” Trenton
Music composed by Scott Galt and Michael Hulsmeier
Guitar by Barry “Barman” Hill
Bass by: Damien “Nebby” Neblett
Backing vocals by Rochelle Griffith
Mixed by Anthony Lowhar at Commercial Music Inc.
Mastered by Alex Psaroudakis at The Work Shop
Origin: Barbados
Genre: Soca ?
Sokah2Soca—Where the Rhythm Lives and CalypSoca Thrives!
? Listen. Share. Amplify. Our artists embody culture not only during Carnival but on a daily basis.
We present the music here for your listening pleasure and promotional purposes only, adhering to the "Fair Use" Musical Content Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976. Sokah2Soca/Soca Music Blog © 1990 by Santiwah is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-SA/4.0/.
♫ Please click the music player button below to listen now (small triangle in the music player/TV frame).
Is This Chart Helping or Hurting Soca? A Deep Dive into COTT’s Weekly Rankings
By Ananda/Sokah2Soca
in
Blog
June 18, 2025
The content was first published on the blog Sokah2Soca (www.sokah2soca.com). We bring you only the best new music, while Island Vybe Radio rocks it live on the air!
Any effort to chart Soca music is a welcome step toward elevating the genre. Visibility matters, and I’m genuinely glad to see that COTT (Copyright Organization of Trinidad and Tobago) now shares a weekly Top 10 Soca chart. While I applaud the effort to chart the songs, I will boldly voice my concerns about the lack of representation and how they relate to the chart.
But let’s be honest—how a chart is compiled determines its credibility, and that’s where some real concerns arise. Since Carnival went to sleep, it appears that the same songs are changing places on the chart, with a few exceptions. Every Soca music fan should be concerned about this chart, as it does not chart any of the hundreds of songs released for upcoming Caribbean carnivals.
Then there’s the fine print at the bottom of the chart: “Countdown positions are determined by PLAY COUNT, then by Total PLAY TIME (not shown on countdown).”
COTT’s current chart is based solely on “TV & Radio Play.” While it’s understandable that play in fetes, bars, ads, concerts, and competitions is excluded, what’s troubling is that streaming platforms and digital play are also ignored. In today’s music ecosystem, that’s a major omission. Streaming is how most people discover and engage with music—especially globally. Ignoring this means failing to understand the audience's pulse.
Please clarify how those “play counts” are tracked. Does the tracking process include all radio stations? Who decides which songs get spins and how often? Is it the program director? Radio hosts? Or worse—industry politics or favors influencing airtime?
If listener call-ins drive the chart, it serves as a gauge of public interest. But transparency is key. We need to know:
- Are stations self-reporting or is there independent monitoring?
- Is there a standard protocol across all participating stations?
- How are discrepancies handled?
The Soca community deserves greater clarity from COTT regarding the compilation of this chart. Numerous uncertainties currently depend on the legitimacy of this chart, and the Soca community deserves greater clarity.
Let us spread awareness of the Caribbean diaspora's culture.
Our goal is to promote Caribbean culture, musicians, and music producers. We are able to honor and promote the rich sounds and tales of the Caribbean thanks to your support. Together, we can ensure that this rich cultural legacy continues to reach a wider audience and foster creativity and connections. While you should always buy music for sale, you should avoid sharing promotional music because it denies songwriters, producers, and artists important revenue. Please be aware that all of our posts are available online via social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, and SoundCloud. We recommend exploring your favorite content on FeedSpot/RSS Feed, Threads, Bluesky, and Twitter/X, including email subscriptions. Thank you in advance.
Production Notes/Music Credits:
Soca Charting: Top 10 Radio Plays
Period: 5th June to 11th June, 2025
Credited to: COTT
Origin: Trinidad, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago
Genre: Soca ?
Sokah2Soca—Where the Rhythm Lives and CalypSoca Thrives!
? Listen. Share. Amplify. Our artists embody culture not only during Carnival but on a daily basis.
We present the music here for your listening pleasure and promotional purposes only, adhering to the "Fair Use" Musical Content Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976. Sokah2Soca/Soca Music Blog © 1990 by Santiwah is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-SA/4.0/.
♫ Please click the music player button below to listen now (small triangle in the music player/TV frame).
Lady Lava Leads Zess Soca’s Rise on Sokah2Soca: The Queen of Trinidad’s New Sound
By Ananda/Sokah2Soca
in
Blog
June 18, 2025
The content was first published on the blog Sokah2Soca (www.sokah2soca.com). We bring you only the best new music, while Island Vybe Radio rocks it live on the air!
Sokah2Soca is expanding its presence in Trinidad and Tobago's music scene. We can't ignore the new music that kids love, even though we have the latest Soca, Steelband, and Calypso music. Indeed, we celebrate the lyrical wit of Calypso and the heartbeat of middle-class Soca, praising ourselves as a bastion of tradition. However, music, akin to culture, is a fluid entity. Like any river, our culture fluctuates over time, and the current era demands the acknowledgement of Zess Soca's music. For this post, we deliver the music of the Queen of Zess, Lady Lava. We hope you enjoy our sampling of her music, taken from Spotify's "This is Lady Lava," for your listening pleasure.
It was natural for the youth to create and thrive with this new vibe. That Rapso music has not achieved the same level of success and recognition saddens me. Rapso is remarkable music, but that is a discussion for another time. Street culture has given rise to Zess Soca, which has enjoyed success at home and is now spreading throughout the Caribbean region. Zess Soca is unapologetically raw, infectious, and undeniably vibrant. At its core is Lady Lava—bold, magnetic, and lyrically fearless. Her music transcends mere entertainment; it serves as storytelling from the perspective of a new generation.
One might wonder why Lady Lava's music is significant. Her grit and flair imbue every track she touches. While her rhythms might pulse with the carefree bravado of Zess, her wordplay and delivery echo our Calypsonian griots—just through a new lens.
We acknowledge that our initial focus was on a mature, culture-loving audience who enjoys steelband, calypso, and soca music. However, Zess is beginning to permeate our mainstream music. A prime example of this is Machel Montano's "Pepper Vine," featuring Drupatee Ramgoonai, the queen of Chutney Soca, alongside Lady Lava, the queen of Zess Soca. While many cherish the artistry of today's Soca champions, as well as the legendary works of artists like Sparrow and Kitchener, it is essential to embrace the emergence and evolution of new music. Lady Lava does not stand in opposition to our musical heritage; rather, she embodies its continuation—another fiery branch from a mighty tree.
So, are you ready to experience Lady Lava's music? We’re featuring a curated selection of Lady Lava's high-voltage tracks right here on Sokah2Soca. Turn up the volume, set aside expectations, and let the Queen of Zess usher you into the now. Sokah2Soca welcomes you to the world of Zess. Soca, if done properly, could be the future music that puts the Caribbean music scene on the global stage, embraced by the likes of Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and others... Enjoy!
Songs:
Ring Finger, Bob the Builder, No Standing Up, Bare Bounce, You Have A Gyal, Skeg Out, Bedtime Story, Make it Clap, Konsequences, Nasty, Pepper Vine, Cha Cha Cha, Flowers, Baddd B, Ms. Lucy (Alter Ego), Tight Hole, Heavy Rollers, In Deh, Love Bombing, Tail Light-Refix.
Let us spread awareness of the Caribbean diaspora's culture.
Our goal is to promote Caribbean culture, musicians, and music producers. We are able to honor and promote the rich sounds and tales of the Caribbean thanks to your support. Together, we can ensure that this rich cultural legacy continues to reach a wider audience and foster creativity and connections. While you should always buy music for sale, you should avoid sharing promotional music because it denies songwriters, producers, and artists important revenue. Please be aware that all of our posts are available online via social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, and SoundCloud. We recommend exploring your favorite content on FeedSpot/RSS Feed, Threads, Bluesky, and Twitter/X, including email subscriptions. Thank you in advance.
Production Notes/Music Credits:
Welcome Zess Soca Queen: Lady Lava's Zess Soca Rise on Sokah2Soca
Artist/Performed by: Lady Lava
Songs: 20 songs for your listening pleasure
The complete playlist of 50 songs: Spotify/This is Lady Lava
Origin: Trinidad, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago
Genre: Zess Soca ?
Sokah2Soca—Where the Rhythm Lives and CalypSoca Thrives!
? Listen. Share. Amplify. Our artists embody culture not only during Carnival but on a daily basis.
We present the music here for your listening pleasure and promotional purposes only, adhering to the "Fair Use" Musical Content Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976. Sokah2Soca/Soca Music Blog © 1990 by Santiwah is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-SA/4.0/.
♫ Please click the music player button below to listen now (small triangle in the music player/TV frame).