Soca King Machel Montano Honored With Exhibit In Brooklyn

Journey of a Soca King: The Exhibition opens just in time for the festivities celebrating Caribbean culture in New York City, capped off by the West Indian Labor Day Parade. Created by the Machel Montano Foundation for Greatness, the exhibition highlights his contributions to soca culture and music, which began in 1982 and have lasted over five decades.The exhibition showcases his trophies and costumes he’s worn throughout the years, and visitors can check out his discography at a vinyl listening station. It will also focus on his deep ties to Brooklyn, beginning with his arrival from his native Trinidad and Tobago to attend workshops in 1984 and his time living in the borough in the 1990s.“Brooklyn helped raise me,” said Machel Montano, in the press release announcing the exhibit. “I lived here, I learned here, and some of my earliest audiences were right in these neighborhoods. So for this work to come back to Brooklyn, in a place that is free and open to anybody who walks through the door, means everything.”“Brooklyn is home to one of the largest Caribbean populations outside the Caribbean, and the Library is committed to preserving and sharing the stories, histories, and cultur...