These days I am listening to Slam 101.1 in the morning. Alex Jordan is the DJ. She is engaging, natural and sophisticated. No yankee drawl. She uses the Barbadian idioms, not in an exaggerated, parodying or outré way, but with an appreciation for Bajan culture and identity. Cheese on bread, cuh dear, what part you is? And the teenage lingo, she has that covered too. I have not heard her say ‘bod’ yet. This, according to my hipsters at home, Kaila and Rais, is updated ‘bomb’. Now I think of it, maybe it is a combination of bad and bomb. Meaning for us oldsters, extremely cool, the thing self. (The ‘bod’ word makes me cringe old lady-like.)
I like Alex’s show, the talk, the attitude, the caller interaction. But lord have mercy, the music is another thing. And this comment is not specific to 101.1 which is ‘slamming the hits’, as they say. But to the ‘hits’ themselves. One barrage of unmelodic, lyrically lite and downright challenged noise making. Now I know that the music is not directed at my demographic. So I listen and try real hard and in fact every now and then, I get a little more connected. Skip to my Loop. Yes, I know it. And I heard Queen Ifrica for the first time this morning. I like-ish.
I was in Trinidad last week and could not figure out how one could differentiate 2009 from 2010 tunes. All hands in the air, wine on something, anyting, anyting. But then a new song word for the same old jump and wave concept- Palance. You know Trinis. It’s all about the word of the moment. So, ‘Palance in the balisier’ for example.
Douglas, what’s that palance? No, Roberta, planass. (For non-trinis that is what you do when you hit someone savagely with the side of a cutlass). Not planass, Douglas, ‘palance’. Well maybe it has something to do with Jack Palance. Now even me with my about to be 50 year old self, Jack Palance, I have no idea about.
Two of us sounding so much like generation ex, ex, expired. Mr. Magoo squared.
A facebook discussion board says that palance is about partying. Yes, but why? Lystra got technical on me today. Palance is a French derivative of parlour, a place where people got together usually around a funeral. A wake for soca? Now that can make sense.
Checking Google for palance, the second hit: “2010=worst year for Trini soca in a long time’. Well every year Trinidadians say that as a matter of course and by Ash Wednesday, best music evar!!!
Is there enough room in this comment section for me to reply to this blog entry?
Firstly, this is the first and probably only real review of my show I’ll ever read. I love it. In a moment of angst in week 3 of the show, a smart man told me to neither listen to praise nor criticism – as both will drive you crazy.
I am extremely heartened by your comments. Having lived 6 years in Canada and 10 years in London, my largest and most active insecurity on the radio has been how I speak. In England they thought I was American, in the States they thought I was English and I feel a sense of loss that I can no longer immediately be identified as the Bajan I am.
Bod: I usually choose the young people and dem expressions that I like – that have good cadence, or that I judge to be clever. I like to use bizness now (for bomb) – this tune is the bizness etc!
The music. The vast majority is rubbish – straight talk. It hurts be to have to play Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eye(d) Peas, much less ANYTHING by Pitbull – yuck. The soca is suffering from the same disease as all other popular music, but I will say that the reason you think that it all sounds the same, is because you only hear a small percentage of the songs…I have come back from Trinidad thinking the music was much better than I thought at first – having heard some great chutney and other more obscure songs that get lost in the Palance tsunami.
Palance: pal·an·ce
Pronunciation: \ˈpəl-ann-se\
Function: verb
Etymology: Trinidadian dialect, from the East-West corridor vernacular;
Definition: 1. palancing (verb) – to wander in pursuit of a lime…. See More
2. palancing (verb) – general term refers to the action of aimlessly wandering anywhere
3. palancing (noun) – name of popular song by Jason Williams and Blaze in the Trinidad.
x
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no one seems to know for sure…
but i thought yet again we dive deep to find a derivative that will aptly describe the situation…
in this case a derivative of parlais and dancing…
dance your talk!!
not panass!
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Was it Lord Melody in the ‘famous’ calypso ‘war’ with Sparrow who say ‘she ugly as Jack Palance’? I may be ‘sic’ing, you know, as in when some know it all repeat your mistake and stick [sic] next to it to say is not me, is he who make the mistake.
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Its “DE TING self”. Standard Englishr pronounciation just won’t do!
I have been listening to “oldies” on youtube. Great balladeers like Barry White, Teddy Pendergrass (both gone now) Al Green (some of whose songs were already oldies when I first heard them as a child) and Marvin Gaye. I found so many songs that made me feel nice.
You know you getting old when you only wnat to hear oldies:)
I went to 3 fetes before I left Trinidad in January and all the bands played oldies, including from Explainer, David Rudder, Duke, Stalin, Shadow, Kitchener, Sparrow and others…. many sang along smiling faces.
All joke aside I wish I could be palancing all now rather than battle with dis cold and snow:( All dat trite an chupidness and wining and waving (I done wid de jumping) sound like heaven to me right now.
Roberta have you noticed KES? A refreshing youg artiste on the soca stage.
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Talk about age. I thought it was the Trini way of saying parlance. And I also know Jack Palance. HA
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Palance – dat is chune.
We palancing!
Now, I hear a KFC ad modified from that song – we palancing to KFC. Tell me, is that racist? 🙂
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