News

Black-Owned Hackney Market Weekender

Black-Owned Hackney market returns this Saturday and Sunday 1-2 October 2022, from 12pm to 6pm. It is a celebration of Black History Month and...

Dunstan Creavalle - Wed 28 Sep 2022

Port Royal tastes success with ready meal range

You probably know them for their patties, but are you aware of their ready meal range? With the strapline, ‘Let Port Royal Cookin’ meals transport...

Dunstan Creavalle - Thu 22 Sep 2022

The crown passes from Queen Elizabeth II to King Charles III

Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at the age of 96 on Thursday 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Her Majesty was head of...

Stephen Spark - Sat 10 Sep 2022

Steelpan inspires Notting Hill greening scheme

The origins of steelpan in discarded oil drums have inspired an environmental improvement scheme in Notting Hill. George King Architects in collaboration with Grow2Know have...

Stephen Spark - Sat 10 Sep 2022

Hackney cancels its first physical carnival due to the death of...

Sunday 11 September was meant to mark the triumphant return to the streets of East London for Hackney Carnival. For the past two years...

Joseph Charles - Fri 09 Sep 2022

Queen Elizabeth II has died, Buckingham Palace announces

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK's longest-serving monarch, has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years. For the full story visit BBC.

Joseph Charles - Thu 08 Sep 2022

Las lap at Hackney Carnival

Get your hat on! It’s Hackey Carnival on Sunday 11 September, so it’s time to wear something extravagant and join in the fun. Many people...

Stephen Spark - Mon 05 Sep 2022

News Results

UK National Steelband Panorama 2022 results

The 2022 UK National Panorama Steelband Competition took place on Notting Hill Carnival Saturday 27 August, at the Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park in London....

Soca News Staff - Sun 04 Sep 2022

Film & Television News

Claudia Jones biopic project gets a boost

She didn’t even reach her half-century, yet Claudia Jones achieved enough to fill books, documentaries, plays… and now a film. It’s hard to write about...

Stephen Spark - Wed 31 Aug 2022

Notting Hill Carnival 2022 – Monday

Carnival Monday And so, somehow, we reach the climax of it all: Carnival Monday, the culmination of, in this case, three extraordinary, frustrating, sometimes frightening...

Stephen Spark - Mon 29 Aug 2022

Notting Hill Carnival 2022 – Sunday

Jouvert Sunday morning brings us to Jouvert. Pan, paint, powder, oil, horns, chains and who knows what? Anything can happen at Jouvert, which what makes...

Stephen Spark - Sat 27 Aug 2022

Notting Hill Carnival 2022 – Panorama

From 4pm Saturday devotees will start their pilgrimage to Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance to stand in awe before that shrine to steelpan power and glory,...

Stephen Spark - Thu 25 Aug 2022

News Review

Steelpan summer – 4 × 12 = magic!

The Saharan summer turned to autumn overnight. Fallen leaves from drought-stricken trees turned Green Park yellow and the air was far from mellow. A...

Stephen Spark - Thu 25 Aug 2022

Notting Hill Carnival 2022 – Playing Ah Dirty Mas

Dirty mas bands first started back in the early 1800s with the emancipation of slavery in the Caribbean. In recent times they have developed...

Radeya Osman - Wed 24 Aug 2022

News Soca People

Viking Ding Dong

Viking Ding Dong and a venue is all you need to get the party started! For more than 16 years Viking Ding Dong -...

Radeya Osman - Tue 23 Aug 2022

Cottons Shoreditch moves to Hoxton Square

Cottons has announced that its Shoreditch branch on Curtain Road will relocate to Hoxton Square as from Thursday 25 August. The new location is just...

Dunstan Creavalle - Tue 23 Aug 2022

Bunji Garlin and Fay-Ann Lyons feature in Apple Music’s Home Session

Soca power couple Bunji Garlin and Fay-Ann Lyons join Apple Music for its latest edition of its Home Session series. This special episode will...

Radeya Osman - Tue 23 Aug 2022

News Soca People

Fakekou

Fakekou (Sterling Callender) aka Kou is a brilliant, hardcore London-based soca artist from Marabella, South Trinidad. His passion is simply to make and perform...

Radeya Osman - Mon 22 Aug 2022

London Calypso Tent

It’s not all jump-up riddims at and around Carnival. You should take some time out to listen to the lyrics men and women at...

Stephen Spark - Mon 22 Aug 2022

Notting Hill Carnival 2022 – back on the road at last

Notting Hill Carnival is back where it belongs. That was the message that came over loud and strong at The Tabernacle on 21 July...

Stephen Spark - Sat 20 Aug 2022

Honouring the Inventor of Soca – Ras Shorty I

Multi-talented musician Garfield Blackman, better known as Ras Shorty I, was commemorated in a ceremony in San Fernando, Trinidad, on Thursday 28 July. The...

Annel Beausoleil - Fri 19 Aug 2022

My Trinishop is two years old

My Trini Shop was born of a passion to create the most authentic Trinidadian cuisine in the UK. The online outlet claims to have...

Dunstan Creavalle - Thu 18 Aug 2022

Carnival Village cancels Calypso Masquerade at Holland Park

The second of the four Carnival Culture in the Park shows at Opera Holland Park, which had been due to showcase calypso and mas...

Stephen Spark - Mon 15 Aug 2022

David Rudder wins Caricom award on eve of London visit

Just 10 days before his eagerly awaited London concert, renowned calypsonian David Rudder has been awarded the Order of the Caribbean Community. The Caricom...

Stephen Spark - Mon 15 Aug 2022

Books News

Machel Montano launches The King of Soca

Machel Montano has launched his eagerly awaited book, The King of Soca. The tell-all biography takes us inside the life and 40-year musical career of...

Radeya Osman - Sun 14 Aug 2022

Kreyol collaboration at Notting Hill Carnival

Mas Domnik, the Notting Hill Carnival mas band for the Dominican diaspora and its friends, has teamed up with groups representing French Caribbean Kreyol...

Stephen Spark - Sun 14 Aug 2022