Bursting with Latin rhythms and traditionally sung in Spanish, parang music was transported to Trinidad and Tobago from neighboring Venezuela, where workers went to work on cocoa estates. The word ...

"Parang music is our way at Christmastime to tell the story but in a different language and in a different musical style," Jaggasar says. "So you wouldn't hear it as the normal 'Hark the herald ...

You can still hear traditional parang music in Trinidad, but for the most part, it has been combined with soca, the funky, densely percussive pop that grew out of, and eventually eclipsed, calypso.

In Trinidad, the word “parang” stems from the Spanish “parranda,” meaning: “group of serenaders” or “act of merry-making.” Groups of parang singers ...