Chutney Soca: A Thread Between Bhojpuri and Calypso Music

Image Credits: East Indians on a Trinidad cocoa estate, Published in The Food of the Gods: A Popular Account of Cocoa (1903)

Chutney Soca is a genre born from the unlikely meeting of Bhojpuri folk traditions and the pulse of Caribbean Calypso and Soca. Rooted in the journey of Indian indentured labourers to Trinidad and Guyana, this session hosted by Focus Group Radio traces the cultural collision and creative fusion that gave rise to Chutney Soca—through music, documentary snippets, and stories. 

From Bhojpuri folk traditions to Carnival stages, in this session we’ll explore how two distinct worlds came together to create something entirely new, loud, and full of life.