BROOKLYN (PIX11) — Go on a journey where you’ll learn no one is too young to soca.
The Brooklyn Public Library will honor Trinidadian soca musician Machel Montano with the upcoming exhibit “Journey of a Soca King: The Exhibition” from Aug. 22 through Sept. 12. The exhibition will showcase Montano’s contributions to Caribbean culture as well as Brooklyn’s role in his overseas success.
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“Brooklyn helped raise me,” Montano said in a statement. “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. The Caribbean community built a home here, and this exhibition is a way of acknowledging the mark we as a people have made on this city.”
Machel Montano poses for a portrait on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)
Visitors will be taken through Montano’s career with costumes, trophies and vinyl records that span his beginnings in 1982 to his most recent carnival performances. The journey will continue at listening stations where attendees can take in more of his musical career in an immersive way.
As the home of New York City’s Little Caribbean neighborhood, the exhibition comes alongside another one of the borough’s tributes to Trinidadian musician, a projection of his upcoming documentary “Like Ah Boss: Journey of a Soca King,” on the front of the library on Sept. 3.
“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 cultural contributions of the communities we serve,” said President and CEO of the Brooklyn Public Library Linda E. Johnson in a statement.
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“This exhibition will offer visitors an opportunity to explore the enduring impact of Caribbean music and culture through the life and career of one of its most influential and beloved artists.”
The documentary is expected to center on Montano’s 16 performances during the 2015 carnival season.
“I think there’s a convergence on Caribbean culture going global,” Montano told PIX11’s New York Living in an interview in May. “We just had the Bad Bunny and reggaeton explosion, we just had the Afrobeats explosion, I think soca music and Caribbean carnival culture is next.”
Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.
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