BY CAROLYN JOHNSON, Freelance Writer
The party people form a line and swing their engines at the 'Swinging Engine' party at the University of the West Indies last Friday. - NATHANIEL STEWART
'SWINGING ENGINE: ISLAND Frenzy', the first soca party at the University of the West Indies (UWI) for the carnival season, was an average soca party. Though the music was loud, the Students' Union decorated, and the house packed, the soca vibes tended to swing almost as much as the ladies and their hips.
The soca party, held last Friday at the UWI, was put on by Block Dynamite of Chancellor Hall.
The venue was duly decorated in keeping with the island theme. The entrance was covered with palm leaves, and inside there were bamboo shoots topped with the same large leaves. Above these 'plants' were the cascading flags of the Caribbean islands. Maintaining the oneness was Kaotic Sound from Jamaica, GSU from Trinidad and Icebreakers from Barbados.
The females dressed the part of the party animal. Micro shorts and skirts donned with skimpy tops and sneakers was the general wear. This, however, was no deterrent to getting low and working the hips.
At midnight the soca music blared but the selector, deciding it was too early, changed the tempo and and started to spin a few hip hop tunes. But as the crowd got restless, the announcement came, "Watch it, we a go start 'Swinging Engine' now". When Machel Montana's Big Truck was played, ear-splitting screams erupted from the females and most found someone to hold on to.
From here, the sound switched to mad bull fever. While many men paired with females as they charged, others stood appreciatively watching as the females rolled it. All were, however, obedient throughout I Command You. After a few other popular soca hits, GSU began their stint on the turntables.
They began their segment with more popular tunes, maintaining the hype that had developed, My Darling and the soca queen's Roll it Gal among them. As the crowd got mad, rolled and wined, the selector then ventured into unfamiliar territory with a few new songs. These, however, did not find favour with the crowd which failed to respond.
This changed, however, when Kaotic returned and decided to "mix it up". Bad Man Forward Bad Man Pull Up signalled the start of the indigenous genre. As the crowd reverted to the popular dance moves, many persons in the centre seemed confused but this did not prevent them from getting their money's worth.
About half an hour before the party ended near 3:30 a.m., the next sound managed to drop a mixture of soca, alternative and reggaeton.
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