The Spirit of ‘Buss Head’
A Journey of History and Healing through Soca
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jwpm.27313Keywords:
soca, stick fighting, Maroon, social change, Trinidad, liminality, rites of passageAbstract
This article explores the Machel Montano and Bunji Garlin song ‘Buss Head’ as an example of the invocation of culture, history and spirit in soca music towards social healing and change. I argue that this song has gone beyond the levels of entertainment commonly associated with soca music by invoking the spirit of Joe Talmana, a nineteenth-century Trinidadian stick fighter, as an ancestor and warrior to inspire in a new generation a connection to their history and its cultural traditions. My analysis of ‘Buss Head’ employs a close reading of the song and video, and draws from an archived roundtable discussion with the artistes and community leaders. I find that the multiple intertwined layers of historical memory, the spiritual and the social, are conveyed through a rite of passage narrative with a focus on the liminal as locating possibilities for social change.
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Discography
Machel Montano and Ian Alvarez (Bunji Garlin). 2017. ‘Buss Head’. Written by Keegan Taylor, Kit Israel, Machel Montano and Ian Alvarez (Bunji Garlin). Fox Fuse, LLC./Precision Productions c/o Fox Fuse, LLC./Masuso Publishing (COTT/BMI) c/o Warner Chappell Music Canada/Hahr-bin-jer Publishing.
