"Chutney In Yuh Soca" [Video]

Uploaded by NevGT

"CHUTNEY IN YUH SOCA" (The Birth Of Chutney/Soca Music Documentary)
Directed and produced by Karen Martinez
A NEORAMA Filmworks Production for the Arts Council of England
and Channel Four Television.

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A Note From The Gull

This engrossing video provides a concise overview of the origins of chutney music in Trinidad and Tobago and the syncretisation process that produced our chutney/soca music. It features inputs from Ajala, Rawatie Ali, Brother Marvin, Cecil Fonrose, Chris Garcia, Rikki Jai, Satnarayan Maharaj, Sonny Mann, Marcia Miranda, D.J. Shamoon Mohammed, Mungal Patasar, Sundar Popo, Rohini Rampersad, Savitri Rampersad, Drupatee Ramgoonai and Dr. Rhoda Reddock. In addition to the interesting commentaries and performances, the viewer is treated to a distracting procession of visual delights. Our people and our country are just too beautiful for words.

The following are some excerpts:

Mungal Patasar: "The whole concept of men coming out in chutney is an anachronism. Men got involved later, far later on, when the society became more liberal and allowed men to sing chutney songs in public and went more for the beat rather than the meaning of the song. People like Sundar Popo and so ventured into the ladies' arena of singing these songs in public."

Drupatee Ramgoonai: "In '87 we started "Chutney Soca". I did the Hindi in "Chutney Soca" and I did the English in "Chutney Soca" - the English version:

I don't know 'bout kaiso, what I go tell this fella
He say he going to teach me a different kind of soca
Mix some tassa with some conga, throw in some paratha
A little congo pepper, mango, then you have the answer
Is chutney soca, yay chutney soca, is dat wey have me wining down so
Yay chutney soca, yay chutney soca, is dat wey make me feel to limbo...

I sang Indian tunes all my life and you know I wanted to do this mixture with the English and the Hindi songs, and then I wanted, you know, to go international. You know calypso is going international anyhow, so I just mix the two sounds together and there I....finally, when I sang this monster hit, "Mister Bissessar", it went, as far as I know, it went worldwide and there is where I brought in the tassa which is now being played all over. The tassa is a fast rhythm beat which blends together with the soca beat."

Brother Marvin: "The song Jahaji Bhai in Hindi means brotherhood of the boat. The conception of the song really is that all races you know came here by boat and I decide for us to unite, let us make Trinidad and Tobago our boat and all races would be brotherhood of that boat so we'd be jahaji bhai again. It's a very personal song to me because I am of, you know, different races. I may not look so but I am of different races."

Basdeo Panday: "Chutney/soca, chutney and soca, are two aspects of culture emanating from the two major ethnic groups in our society. This present trend towards cross-culturalisation in our music is therefore a step in the direction of national unity to which we aspire. And this harmony that exists between soca and chutney is a symbol of the type of complete harmonization that must characterise our society in years to come."

Rikki Jai: "It's very significant that chutney was played on the road for Carnival this year. As you know, in past years the festival has been a predominantly calypso oriented festival and this year with the advent of Sonny Mann's "Lotala", we found it moving from the chutney market on to mainstream Carnival activities. So it's a big plus for the East Indian people of Trinidad and Tobago. It's very significant for them. It makes them feel a lot more in the Carnival than they probably felt in the past."

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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare