Brooklyn Public Library opens exhibition honoring soca star Machel Montano

The Brooklyn Public Library has opened a new exhibition celebrating the life, career and cultural impact of Trinidad and Tobago soca icon Machel Montano.

“Journey of a Soca King: The Exhibition,” which opened Saturday at the Central Library in Brooklyn, showcases artifacts spanning Montano’s decades-long career, including costumes, trophies and vinyl records.

Created by the Machel Montano Foundation for Greatness, the exhibition explores Montano’s role in taking soca music from its Caribbean roots to audiences around the world, while highlighting Brooklyn’s influence on his early career.

Visitors can listen to a selection of Montano’s music at the library’s vinyl listening station and watch key moments from his life and career as part of an immersive experience.

The exhibition follows the release of the 2026 documentary “Like Ah Boss: Journey of a Soca King,” which centers on Montano’s 16 performances during Trinidad and Tobago’s 2015 Carnival season. The documentary is scheduled to be projected on the facade of the Central Library on Sept. 3.

Montano began performing in 1982 at age 7 and gained widespread attention with his debut album, “Too Young To Soca,” released in 1985.

Brooklyn became part of his story early on. In 1984, at age 9, Montano spent time in the borough after receiving a scholarship to participate in Marie Brooks’ summer programming, where he attended workshops that helped shape his career.

He later performed at Madison Square Garden alongside calypso legends including the Mighty Sparrow, the Mighty Shadow and Lord Kitchener. In the mid-1990s, Montano lived on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn and recorded his first Road March-winning song, “Big Truck,” in the borough.

“Brooklyn helped raise me. I lived here, I learned here, and some of my earliest audiences were right in these neighbourhoods,” Montano said.

“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,” he added. “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.”

Montano said he hopes the exhibition particularly resonates with younger visitors.

“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,” he said. “I hope every child who visits leaves knowing their culture deserves that kind of space.”

Brooklyn Public Library President and CEO Linda E. Johnson said the exhibition reflects the institution’s commitment to documenting the contributions of the borough’s Caribbean communities.

“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,” Johnson said.

“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,” she added.

Programming connected to the exhibition will also take place at library branches across Brooklyn’s Caribbean communities, including Clarendon, Rugby, Crown Heights, Flatbush and Brower Park. Activities will include readings, arts and crafts workshops and other cultural experiences for children and adults.

Montano is widely regarded as one of soca’s most influential performers. His career has spanned more than four decades and includes international tours and collaborations that have helped expand the genre’s global reach.

He is the most decorated Road March champion in Trinidad and Tobago’s history, with a record 12 titles, according to the library. He has also won the National Calypso Monarch and Chutney Soca Monarch titles and received Trinidad and Tobago’s Hummingbird Medal Gold.

The Machel Montano Foundation for Greatness, founded by Montano and co-led by his mother, Elizabeth Montano, supports education, mentorship, emerging soca artists, young athletes, health initiatives and rural communities in Trinidad and Tobago.

The foundation also serves as custodian of Montano’s personal archive, which was inscribed in 2024 on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register for Latin America and the Caribbean. Materials from that collection form part of the Brooklyn exhibition.