( l - r )Machel Montano, Macka Diamond, Renegade - File

The soca season has only just began and Jamaican artistes are already releasing carnival songs.

Not new to soca, RDX recently released their song Girl Turn Around on Ballaz Productions' 'Bacchagal' rhythm.

soca-flavoured

"It's a soca-flavoured song. We do it for the carnival season coming up but it's a song that can play throughout the year. It's an instruction song," said Delomar, a member of RDX.

He added, "Caribbean people gravitate to RDX like that, so we try to merge it to be a Caribbean song and they are taking on to it."

After Girl Turn Around breaks the ice, Delomar says RDX will be releasing another soca song. With songs like these, he said, the group gets exposed to a different market.

"It do great for us. When you involve Caribbean people in your music, you get more from them. Caribbean people listen to Jamaican music and they love it," he said, noting that they would also be releasing a lovers rock song called Put It On You, in the near future.

But this is not the only soca song on the 'Bacchagal' rhythm that was made by Damian 'Ballaz' Hall and Nigel Whitfield from Ballaz productions. Other tracks on the rhythm include Terro 3000's Bend Down Gal, Delly Ranx's Push It, T.O.K's All Mi Know, Voicemail's Gone A Lead and Busy Signal's Do Di Sup'm.

Hall said the soca rhythm was done for the carnival season.

"Mi really a target the carnival season and it a play inna di dancehall, too. Mi did drop it fi catch Trinidad carnival," he told THE STAR.

He added that the rhythm was done to encourage women and men to dance together.

"When mi go out, too much man a dance wid dem one another. Part of the reason wi release this is fi man and woman start dance inna party. It hard fi have a carnival rhythm and woman nah move," said Hall.

Macka Diamond is also in the soca groove as she has already released two songs and is now working on others. She did songs like Bumpa and Boom Boom with Buffy. She said she is going to record a song for Bunji Garlin and is planning to do a soca collaboration with Beenie Man.

She said soca songs have also helped to widen her fan base.

"It has locked me into a different set of people. It has widened the fan base. It has done a lot for me and mi can do different types of shows. I can even do a soca show and nuh do any dancehall song," Macka Diamond told THE STAR.

The dancehall artiste says she is expecting to get a lot of calls from promoters in the other Caribbean islands for shows. But before those shows, she will be doing a two-week tour of Japan.

Machel Montano also collaborated with upcoming artiste Chan Dizzy and producer Russian for a soca song called Burnin' Up.