Brooklyn Public Library to host Machel Montano ‘Journey of a Soca King’ exhibition
The show at Central Library from 22 August features costumes, trophies and vinyl, and highlights Brooklyn’s role in the Trinidadian star’s early career.
NEW YORK, United States. Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) announced on Tuesday 11 August that it will host “Journey of a Soca King: The Exhibition”, celebrating the life and career of Trinidadian soca star Machel Montano.
Created by the Machel Montano Foundation for Greatness, the exhibition opens on 22 August at Central Library, with programming at branches across the borough.
BPL said Montano began performing in 1982 at the age of seven, and his debut album, “Too Young To Soca” (1985), won wide acclaim.
Inside the exhibition
The exhibition includes costumes, trophies and vinyl records from Montano’s career. Visitors can listen to his music at Central Library’s vinyl listening station and watch key moments from his life.
It follows the 2026 documentary “Like Ah Boss: Journey of a Soca King”, centred on Montano’s 16 performances during the 2015 Carnival season, which will be projected on the library’s facade on 3 September.
Brooklyn roots
BPL said the exhibition highlights Brooklyn’s role in Montano’s early career. In 1984, aged nine, he spent time in the borough on a scholarship to Marie Brooks’ summer programme. In the mid-1990s he lived on Utica Avenue and recorded his first road march, “Big Truck”, in Brooklyn.
“Brooklyn helped raise me. I lived here, I learned here, and some of my earliest audiences were right in these neighbourhoods,” Montano said.
BPL president Linda E. Johnson said Brooklyn was “home to one of the largest Caribbean populations outside the Caribbean”.
Branches in Little Caribbean neighbourhoods, including Clarendon, Rugby, Crown Heights, Flatbush and Brower Park, will host readings, workshops and cultural events.
Record champion
BPL said Montano is the most decorated Road March champion in Trinidad and Tobago’s history, with a record 12 titles, and is also a National Calypso Monarch, Chutney Soca Monarch and recipient of the Hummingbird Gold Medal.
His personal archive, held by the foundation, was inscribed in 2024 on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Sponsors include Tourism Trinidad Limited, TATIL Insurance and the Unit Trust Corporation.
