Machel Montano: Tiny Desk Concert

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Nikki Birch | January 13, 2025
The first law of soca music, according to Machel Montano, is: “it’s dancing time all the time.” And in his Tiny Desk Concert, the “King of Soca” provides irrefutable evidence to support that statement.

Montano’s performance is the first to bring soca, the high energy dance music of the Caribbean, to the Tiny Desk. The genre was born in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 1970s when calypso artist Lord Shorty (who later chose the name Ras Shorty I) added traditional Indian percussion instruments and rhythms to calypso music — itself a fusion that incorporates elements of African, Venezuelan, French and American music.

A proud Trinidadian, Montano’s contribution to soca has earned him awards and recognition since his youth. His career began in earnest when he was 7 years old, and by the time he was 10, he’d shared the stage with Calypsonian pioneers and icons, most notably performing at Madison Square Garden with Mighty Sparrow, Lord Kitchener and The Mighty Shadow.

Indeed, Montano’s Tiny Desk Concert was representative of his 40-plus-year career and, to the delight of those in attendance, included some of his biggest hits: “One More Time,” “Famalay,” “Like Ah Boss” and “Soca Kingdom.”

Guests who attended Montano’s performance came ready to fête! They jumped, they wined and they waved the flags of their respective Caribbean islands up high, singing along word for word. Being a Barbados-born, Saint Lucian-bred gyal, seeing and feeling the spirit of unity inherent to the cultural sound ingrained in my DNA — and foundational to my upbringing — represented at Tiny Desk made me beam with pride. If this is your first exposure to soca music, I suggest you stretch and loosen up your waistline before pushing play on this one, because there is no sitting still when soca fills the room.

SET LIST
“One More Time”
“Dance With You”
“Fast Wine”
“Like Ah Boss”
“Famalay”
“Soca Kingdom”

MUSICIANS
Machel Montano: vocals
Dwain Antrobus: keys
Duane Williams: effects
Bayete Williams: keys
Damien Neblett: bass
Melvin Alick: drums
Kyle Peters: guitar
Modupe Onilu: percussion
Rhys Thompson: percussion
Etienne Charles: trumpet, flügelhorn
Lamar Robinson: background vocals
Michael Chandler: background vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Nikki Birch
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Alanté Serene, Mitra I. Arthur
Audio Engineer: Tiffany Vera Castro
Photographer: Sofia Seidel
Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer, Kara Frame
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #machelmontano

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48 thoughts on “Machel Montano: Tiny Desk Concert”

  1. 🛑Do YOU want to play a Tiny Desk Concert?🛑

    The 11th annual Tiny Desk Contest is NOW OPEN!!! 🎉

    The winner will play their very own Tiny Desk concert, go on tour with NPR Music and more.⁠ Enter now!⁠

    ⁠

    Unsigned artists:⁠

    1. Record a video of yourself playing 1 original song — behind a desk⁠
    2. Upload your video to YouTube⁠

    3. Submit at npr.org/tinydeskcontest by Feb. 10⁠th 2025.

    Reply

  11. You know the goosebumps you get when you save up you money and pto for carnival and that moment when your on deh road and you just thinking like dam i really did😢 it…..yeaaa I felt that with this lol

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  25. Thanks to NPR Music for the Tiny Desk Concert series….100% soca by the King of Soca – Machel and the Monk Band…Power Soca performed in variety of Genres not limited to Groovey Soca, Ballads, R&B, Latin, Salsa, Zouk etc.

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  27. You know you are the sh*t if you get invited to Tiny Desk. I have loved ths man since he was with Xtatix. One of the best and the most exciting soca artist of all time. A huge catalog and many many collaborations. Love you Machel!!!

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