Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) announced Journey of a Soca King: The Exhibition today, celebrating the life and career of acclaimed soca performer Machel Montano. Opening August 22 at Central Library and created by the Machel Montano Foundation for Greatness, the exhibition is accompanied by programming at branches all across the borough, and showcases Montano’s lifelong contributions to soca music and Caribbean culture.
Over five decades, Machel Montano has been a major player in the worldwide spread of soca music, a genre that originated in Montano’s native Trinidad and Tobago. Montano began performing in 1982 at age seven, and his debut album Too Young To Soca (1985) achieved widespread acclaim.
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The exhibition includes curated artifacts from Montano’s career, including costumes, trophies, and vinyl records. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to listen to a selection of Montano’s music at Central Library’s vinyl listening station and watch key moments from his life and career, inviting visitors to experience the artist’s work in a personal and immersive way.
The exhibition follows the release of the documentary Like Ah Boss: Journey of a Soca King (2026), which centers on Montano’s 16 performances during the 2015 Carnival season and much more. The documentary will be projected on the facade of Central Library on September 3.
Journey of a Soca King: The Exhibition highlights the key role that Brooklyn played in Montano’s early career. In 1984, at just nine years old, Montano spent time in the borough after being selected for a scholarship to Marie Brooks’ summer programming. There, he engaged in workshops that were formative to his career. He later debuted at Madison Square Garden, supporting calypso legends like the Mighty Sparrow, the Mighty Shadow, and Lord Kitchener. In the mid 1990s, Montano lived on Utica Avenue and recorded his first road march, “Big Truck” in Brooklyn.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Machel Montano to Brooklyn Public Library,” said Linda E. Johnson, President and CEO, Brooklyn Public Library. “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. 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.”
“Brooklyn helped raise me,” said Machel Montano. “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. What moves me most is thinking about a young person walking in, seeing the costumes and the trophies and the records, and understanding that this came from a small island and reached the world. I hope every child who visits leaves knowing their culture deserves that kind of space.”
Branches across Brooklyn’s Little Caribbean neighborhoods–Clarendon, Rugby, Crown Heights, Flatbush and Brower Park–will present readings, arts and crafts workshops and cultural experiences for youth and adults. Details about programming can be found at https://bklynlib.org/montano.
Brooklyn is home to one of the largest Caribbean diasporas outside the Caribbean itself. The borough’s neighborhoods have been shaped by generations of immigrants from the Caribbean and their contributions are evident in Brooklyn’s music, literature, cuisine, entrepreneurship, political activism, and artistic expression.
Machel Montano’s career offers a compelling lens through which to explore these broader stories as he has transformed soca music from a regional genre into a global cultural movement while remaining deeply rooted in Caribbean identity. His work reflects themes of migration, innovation, resilience, entrepreneurship, and cultural preservation– topics that resonate strongly with Brooklyn’s own history as a crossroads of global communities.
This exhibition continues Brooklyn Public Library’s tradition of presenting exhibitions that explore people, ideas, and movements that have shaped history while reflecting the diverse cultures, experiences and communities of Brooklyn. It follows the Library’s exhibition on James Baldwin, as well as Printing Black America, which examined the life and legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois and the Black press. The exhibition also builds on the Library’s longstanding commitment to music as a vital form of cultural expression, reflected in pioneering initiatives such as New York City’s first musical instrument lending library, its extensive vinyl record lending collection, and the internationally recognized Book of HOV exhibition in 2023.
The exhibition is sponsored by Tourism Trinidad Limited, TATIL Insurance, Unit Trust Corporation (UTC), Horizons Art Gallery, Reliable Customs Service, The Lost Tribe Atelier Team, and Kwamena Hayfron-Benjamin.
