Chutney music

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Chutney music is a form of music indigenous to the southern Caribbean (primarily Trinidad & Tobago,Guyana and Suriname) which derives elements from soca and Indian filmi songs. The music was created by Indo-Caribbeans who were transported to the West Indies as indentured servants and later immigrants, during the 19th century. The modern chutney artist writes lyrics in either Hindi, Bhojpuri or English and then lays it on top of beats that come from indian beats from the dholak mixed with the Soca beat. Some current chutney artists are Rikki Jai, Rakesh Yankaran, Devanand Gattoo, Heeralal Rampartap and the late Ramdew Chaitoe who composes the Surinamese based Baithak Gana in his album The Star Melodies of Ramdew Chaitoe. Among the best known examples of chutney music are Sundar Popo's Pholourie Beena Chutney, Sonny Mann's Lotalal, Vedesh Sookoo's Dhal Belly Indian, Anand Yankaran's Jo Jo, Neeshan 'D Hitman' Prabhoo's Mr. Shankar and Rikki Jai's Mor Tor. Chutney music is mostly popular among the Indian community in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and also the West Indian diaspora communities in Toronto, Canada, The Netherlands, New York and South Florida. Some of the top chutney music producers and bands responsible for making chutney what it is today by providing the sound tracks include Harry Mahabir, the JMC Triveni Orch., T&Tec Gayatones (Rishi Gayadeen), Beena Sangeet Orch., Rishi Mahatoo, Fareed Mohammed and Ravi Sookhoo, all out of Trinidad and Tobago where Chutney music was orginally born.

Chutney is an uptempo song, accompanied by dholak, harmonium and dhantal, played in rhythms imported from filmi, calypso or soca. Early chutney was religious in nature. Chutney is unusual in the predominance of female musicians in its early years, though it has since become mixed.

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[edit] Origins

The melodies and lyrics of religious songs sung in Trinidad in Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, and Bhojpuri are used, as well as songs which were and still are used from Bollywood. Calypso, Soca, Ragga, and Reggae (Rocksteady/Dub) are other musical influences on chutney.

Early chutney was religious in nature, and sung by Indo-Trinidadian female family members, who, as customary in Trinidad society, sang before a typical wedding celebration to prepare the bride-to-be for her role as a wife. This can be thought of as a kind of bachelorette party, celebrated only by the female members of the families. The music and the dancing (and some of the suggestive lyrics sung at the events) leaked out into the wider community and society, and became enmeshed into Trinidad society as a whole.

The year 1970 was perhaps the biggest turning point in East Indian music. In this year a young man from Barrackpore, Trinidad by the name of Sundar Popo leapt to fame with the song "Nana & Nani." The song, almost comical in nature, described the affairs of a grandfather and grandmother, perhaps his own. Sung in Hindi and Trinidadian creole, and backed up with the music of the dholak and dhantal as well as that of the more western electric guitar, bass guitar, drum machine and synthesizer, the song instantly became a number one hit in Guyana and Trinidad (Popo, 1972). Sundar soon became known as the King of Chutney, the name given to this new popular form of music. The word Chutney was derived from the Hindi word that was used to describe a hot peppery mix of spices. "Nana & Nani" became the biggest selling Chutney single of its time. Sundar's lyrics of "Nana drinkin white rum and Nani drinkin wine," were heard just about everywhere, from the rice fields of Nickerie, Suriname, the wedding houses of Berbice, Guyana to the rum shops in San Fernando, Trinidad.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Manuel, Peter (1995). Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae (Revised). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 1592134637. 

[edit] External links