Ras Shorty I & His Love Circle - The Gospel Of Soca album flac

Ras Shorty I. Calypsonian who found religion after a life of sex and drugs. Few life conversions have been more spectacular than that of the Trinidadian calypsonian and father of soca music, Ras Shorty I, who has died from bone cancer aged 58. As the notoriously free- living "Lord Shorty", he was the classic Port of Spain "saga boy" in the 1960s and early 70s, taking part in what he later described as an "orgy of the flesh"; as the self-styled "Love Man", he had a prodigious appetite for women, drink and drugs  . Shorty's most important mark was made with the 1974 album Endless Vibrations, which was the first to use the new soca rhythm. Like his Lord Shorty persona, his music was bold, loud, sensuous and larger than life.

This article does not cite any sources. Shorty was the first to really define his music and with "Indrani" in 1973 and "Endless Vibration" (not just the song but the entire album) in 1975, calypso music really took off in another direction. On 30 August 1977 Shorty's friend and collaborator Maestro (Cecil Hume) died in an accident in Trinidad and his loss was felt by Shorty, who penned "Higher World" as a tribute. In the late 1980s, he began recording again, fusing soca and gospel in a style he called Jamoo. He continued recording into the late 1990s, writing hits such as "Watch Out My Children", which focuses on the dangers of drug abuse. The Love Circle included his wife Claudette and sons Eldon, Sheldon and Isaac, who have gone on to record several highly infectious hits, including "Blessed are the Elders" and "To The Ceiling".

Ras Shorty I (October 6, 1941-July 12, 2000) was a soca musician, known as the Father of Soca and The Love Man. He was born Garfield Blackman in Barrackpore, Trinidad and Tobago, and rose to fame as Lord Shorty with his 1963 hit "Clock and Dagger". He started out writing songs and performing in the calypso genre. In the 1970s, he began experimenting with calypso by blending it with the local chutney-the music of Trinidad's East Indian population-using instruments such as the sitar and tabla. The style was dubbed "soca"

Ras Shorty I & His Love Circle Strawberry Studios,1984. Ras Shorty I & His Love Circle,Strawberry Studios,1984. Ras Shorty I & His Love Circle Strawberry Studios,1984.

The release of his 1974 album Endless Vibrations prompted dozens of musicians to adopt the new soca style. Lord Shorty initially referred to his musical hybrid as "solka", representing the true "soul of calypso. Around 1981, Lord Shorty converted to Rastafarianism, changed his name to Ras Shorty I, and moved into the Piparo forest in southern Trinidad. He formed the group Love Circle with his wife Claudette and several of their children. He is said to have fathered anywhere from 14 to 20 children. In the late 1980's he introduced a new style of music, jamoo, (Jah Music) which combined elements of reggae and gospel. In 1997, he released the anti-drug song Watch Out My Children which went to the number one spot in the Caribbean.

With his late-'60s and 1970s recordings, Lord Shorty (born: Garfield Blackman) set the foundations of soca, the Trinidadian musical style that blends Indian percussion and traditional calypso. His albums, Sweet Music, released in 1974, and Endless Vibration, released the following year, remain soca classics. Becoming deeply religious in the early '80s, Shorty converted to Rastafarianism and renamed himself Ras Shorty I. From that point, he switched to spiritually uplifting songs that he set to a new rhythm that he called "jamoo  . Ras Shorty I - Who God Bless. Change your attitude - Ras Shorty I. Ras Shorty I & The Love Circle - Hold Me Jesus. Lord Shorty - Om Shanty Om. Ras Shorty I And The Love Circle - Watch Out My Children.