00:00I started at a very young age. I started at seven in 1982.
00:03I've been doing this for 44 years and everybody wasn't really accustomed to seeing kids
00:09performing or singing Calypso or in that genre of music in Trinidad and Tobago.
00:20My name is Masha Montano, soca artist, music producer, songwriter, and overall entertainer.
00:28And I'm here with Ebony. In the 1970s, Ras Shorty Ai, who was previously known as Lord Shorty,
00:35he was a Calypsoanian who had a transformative experience and went into a spiritual journey.
00:41He was inspired by East Indian culture, mantras and yoga and meditation.
00:47And he put the Indian instrumentation into the African soca music, you know, calypso music.
00:56He blended the two things. Soca music, however, happened to be formed in the 70s
01:03when there was the revolution going on, civil rights movement happening.
01:09There was that soul music coming out and Ras Shorty Ai thought of it as putting his soul back into
01:15Calypso.
01:15So carnival is a celebration. It's a celebration of life. It's a celebration of creativity.
01:21So you could find, you know, the expression of art, music, fashion, food, culture, many different types of culture.
01:32But, you know, in its essence, carnival is a procession in the streets, but it's people expressing themselves.
01:42It's rooted in ancient history, something, you know, based on rebellion or resistance.
01:48My music started off as Calypso because that's what I was rooted in and what I was introduced to.
01:55And I quickly chose the vehicle of soca music.
01:59In that early phase, you know, I didn't see my peers.
02:04I saw, you know, the elders were the fans of the music.
02:08So I immediately started to start the revolution or the evolution of this, you know, trying to find ways to
02:15make it younger, make it more fashionable.
02:18I embraced reggae and dancehall from an early age.
02:22I started to embrace hip hop and R&B.
02:26And I worked with so many of the people like, you know, to try to expand and revolutionize soca,
02:33to bring our audience to these other genres, but bring the audience of those genres to us.
02:39And I think that in itself started a revolution where a lot of other young people who came up on
02:46Marshall Montano
02:47started their own experimenting and their own broadening of the genre.
02:52And now today we have something that's heading to, you know, global attraction or global acceptance.
03:01And I feel like, you know, that in itself is the evolution or the revolution of the soca genre.
03:08The documentary, Like a Boss, Journey of a Soca King, is, you know, a journey of one of the soca
03:16kings.
03:17There are kings and queens in this music business, but there's a legacy.
03:20And I feel it's my duty to share that legacy with those who might be aspiring to do the same
03:27or even more.
03:28I think it's, you know, rewarding to see a journey of longevity and see the highs and the lows.
03:35I'm very vulnerable in the documentary about times when I wanted to quit, times when I wanted to give up
03:41life,
03:42times when, you know, I went bankrupt, you know, times when people turned against me.
03:47And I explain what it feels like to be in those lows, but how do you climb back out?
03:53I think this is a blueprint that people will want to see.
03:56There is also that beeline story that introduces the world to the mass, the music, and, you know,
04:02the general culture of how it actually happens.
04:05So that all across the world, people will want to come and experience the freedom and the expression of carnival.
04:13Bye-bye.
04:15Hi.
04:16How are you?
04:16Hi.
04:16Hi.
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