Alison Hinds Live at SOB’s NYC 2012: Interview & Performance
On February 25, 2012, Julianspromos returned to SOB’s in New York City to document Alison Hinds, capturing the Queen of Soca through an interview with Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson and extended live performance footage.
Three surviving JulianspromosTV videos preserve the night, offering a look at Alison both onstage and in conversation during another memorable New York appearance.
Alison Hinds Returns to SOB’s
By 2012, Alison Hinds was no stranger to SOB’s or New York’s Caribbean music audience.
Julianspromos had previously documented Alison at the same venue in 2010, when she appeared alongside Destra Garcia for Queens of Soca.
SOB’s, located at 204 Varick Street in Manhattan, has been part of New York’s live-music landscape since 1982 and has hosted generations of Caribbean, reggae and dancehall artists. Alison remains listed among the venue’s notable alumni.
The intimate setting placed the audience close to the stage, giving Alison room to interact directly with the crowd while moving through a catalogue that already stretched across decades of Caribbean music.
Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson Interviews Alison Hinds
The 2012 coverage also featured Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson sitting down with Alison for Julianspromos.
By this period, Vivaa had become a regular on-camera presence across Julianspromos’ Caribbean entertainment coverage, interviewing artists at concerts, parties and Carnival-related events.
The conversation with Alison added one of Soca’s most recognizable female voices to that growing collection of interviews.
The original JulianspromosTV video was published on February 26, 2012, combining the interview with footage from Alison’s performance.
Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson interviews Alison Hinds at SOB’s in New York, with performance footage from the February 25, 2012 show.
The Queen of Soca
Alison Hinds had established her place in Caribbean music long before this New York appearance.
Raised in Barbados, she rose to prominence as lead vocalist of Square One, becoming closely associated with a catalogue that helped carry Barbadian Soca throughout the Caribbean and into international markets.
Songs including “Faluma,” “Ragamuffin,” “Togetherness” and “Roll It Gal” became enduring parts of her repertoire.
After her years with Square One, Alison developed a successful solo career while continuing to perform many of the songs audiences had come to associate with her.
By the time she took the SOB’s stage in 2012, her live show connected several eras of her career.
Extended Live Performance
The surviving footage goes well beyond the interview.
Julianspromos also preserved extended portions of Alison’s live set, capturing the energy of the SOB’s audience and the commanding stage presence that helped establish her as one of Soca’s best-known performers.
Alison Hinds performs live at SOB’s in New York on February 25, 2012.
Additional Alison Hinds performance footage from SOB’s in New York, February 25, 2012.
Together, the three surviving videos offer more than a short concert highlight. They preserve Alison speaking about her career as well as an extended look at her connecting with the New York audience through her music.
Women at the Center of Soca
Alison’s career also represents an important chapter in the visibility of women within modern Soca.
Her success with Square One and later as a solo performer helped establish a model in which a female Soca artist could command major stages, headline events and build an audience extending well beyond Carnival.
Alongside artists such as Destra Garcia, Alison became one of the female performers most closely identified with Soca internationally.
The 2012 footage captures her in that role inside one of New York City’s long-running homes for Caribbean music.
Two Years After Queens of Soca
The SOB’s appearance also connects directly to an earlier chapter in the Julianspromos archive.
In 2010, Alison Hinds and Destra Garcia shared the SOB’s stage for Queens of Soca, an event preserved through early JulianspromosTV performance footage.
[LINK “Queens of Soca” TO:]
https://julianspromos.com/archives/queens-of-soca-alison-hinds-destra-sobs-2010
Two years later, Alison was back at the same venue, this time with Julianspromos capturing not only her performance but an interview with Vivaa.
Viewed together, the 2010 and 2012 footage offers a look at Alison’s continuing relationship with New York’s Soca audience while preserving two different moments from the same Manhattan venue.
From the Julianspromos Archives
The February 25, 2012 Alison Hinds performance at SOB’s survives through three JulianspromosTV videos covering both the stage and the conversation behind it.
The footage captures Alison Hinds performing for an intimate New York audience and speaking with Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson, preserving another chapter in the history of Soca in New York City.
More than a decade later, the recordings remain a look back at the Queen of Soca in one of Manhattan’s most enduring Caribbean music venues.
