Words by Kali Madden
For the love of culture and bacchannal, this week’s Mixtape Mondays celebrates Trinidad & Tobago’s 2021 Quarantine Carnival. In regular times, we would be in the midst of a joyous Carnival weekend, with revelers taking to the streets today to a soca soundtrack. While we look forward to the return of in-person celebrations in the future, these soundtracks keep us connected to the vision.
DEI Musicale The Musical Gods – Ruan Legend’s 2021 Soca
For anyone looking for a way to quench the soca thirst, this one is it!
2021 Soca opens with Kes and DJ Private Ryan’s “Keep Jammin’ On,” an upful tune to boost that quarantine energy. Mixed in authentic soca style by
Ruan Legend, one half of Trinidad-based DJ duo
DEI Musicale, the whole mix gives us all we need for the road. Wave and rep your flag to fire hits like College Boy Jesse’s “Worry Less,” Voice’s “Woman” and more. If soca is your cure, take the remedy and stream this one loud and proud:
ZJ Sparks – Abule
Casting our net worldwide on today’s Mixtape Mondays, we salute
Abule, the latest mix from
ZJ Sparks aka
Sparkiebaby. As a DJ for Jamaica’s Zip FM and CEO of Kingston’s Twelve 9 Records, ZJ Sparks is well known for masterful mixes across multiple genres. Her latest mix, titled after Patoranking’s
massive hit by the same name, brings us up to speed with today’s sultriest sounds out of Africa. The mix covers afrobeats, amapiano and Gqom with tracks like Fireboy DML’s “Tattoo,” DJ Consequence’s “Lungu Riddim” featuring Oxlade and Bella Shmurda, DJ Tunez’ “Pami” featuring Wizkid, Adekunle Gold and Omah Lay, and more smoothness. Bless your speakers and your week with
Abule here:
DJ Kali Madden – Everything Bless
Caribbean culture is truly multi-dimensional. We can fete and revel in the streets to the high-energy sounds of soca and also find solace in the profound teachings of roots reggae music. My latest mix, Everything Bless, takes us to a meditative place, putting a spotlight on today’s heartical one-drop selections. With tracks from Akae Beka, Dezarie, Chezidek, Marcus Gad, Haze St. Dub, Iba Mahr and more, the mix delivers an essence of pure love and peace. From my heart to yours, stream Everything Bless here:
Turn it up loud, buss a whine, light a spliff and hold a meditation with great music this week. Blessed love and light!