The chutney queen returns Wednesday, February 16 2011
TRINIDAD GUARDIAN - By Ariti Jankie South Bureau - Twenty-three years after she almost snatched the Road March title with her chutney soca hit “Mr Bissessar (Roll up de Tassa)”, Drupatie Ramgoonai is back in the competition. This year, she sings about the dholak and dantaal (musical instruments) and has made her way to the final of the Chutney Soca Monarch competition, scheduled for Skinner Park, San Fernando, this weekend.
A temple singer from Penal, Ramgoonai recorded her first crossover tune in 1987, entitled “Chutney Soca”, and placed second a year later in the national Carnival Road March title.
“A lot of people have asked me to get back into the competitions and I am really excited,” she said.
She said she wanted to keep her work original and encourage others to do the same.
“The local composition is a reflection of the people and provokes the rhythm from the soul,” she said, adding that there was a lot more to sing about than rum.
Ramgoonai secured a place in the local music industry in 1983, when she won the Local Song category of the Indian Cultural Pageant segment of Mastana Bahar. She retained the title once again in 1984 and has a number of hit songs to her credit, including, “Pepper”, “Hotter than a Chulha”, “Careless Driver”, “Motilal”, “Tassawalley” and “Manzalina”.
More recent contributions include “Mohana bina Gowna”, “Doh Beat Yuh Wife”, “Parosin Maco-ing”, “D Wedding Song”, “Chutney Soca Wine” and “Violin”.
She is among 15 finalists in the race for the $2 million top prize this year.
Her song was recorded at the Pungalunks Factory in Couva by Zaheer “Big Rich” Khan, who recorded nine out of the 15 songs, including defending champion Ravi B’s “Cyar Come”.
Khan said he began recording for this year’s competition last October and completed the recordings of songs delivered by Ramgoonai, Rikki Jai, Ravi B, Hunter, Anil Bheem, Rick Ramoutar, Neeshan “Hitman” Prabhoo, Terry Gajraj and Soca Elvis.
Of the 41 semi-finalists’ contributions, 13 songs were recorded by the factory.
Another top female singer, Sally Sagram, who leads the band Xtreme, made it to the final with a Lisa Samaroo composition titled “Go So Nah”.
Sagram, of El Dorado, Tunapuna, hails from a musical background and has been singing like Ramgoonai at the village temple since an early age.
She said, “I want a woman to take the title this year. Let it be a chutney soca queen for once.”
The competition, organised by Southex Promotions, enters its 16th year and so far has had only male winners.
A third female singer, Artie Butkoon of Sangre Grande, also made it to the final.
Supplying the industry with top chutney soca compositions, songwriter Kelvin Kissoon, a plant attendant at Industrial Plants Services of Pt Lisas, said he wrote 19 songs this year for the Chutney Soca Monarch competition.
He said efforts were made to stay away from rum songs, with compositions such as Ravi B’s “Cyar Come”, Soca Elvis’s “Love You More Than Rum” and Hitman’s “Rum is Not Meh Lover”. Gajraj’s “Sumatee” is a straight love song, he said, with admiration for Kenneth Salick’s “The Sky is Blue”, which did not make it to the final.
The 33-year-old of Piarco wrote three top songs last year and said he was able to earn a lot more this year, as singers requested songs long in advance and he was able to sell 19 of his compositions.
Ramgoonai took the stage in white at the semi-finals at Rienzi Complex and helped to elevate the standards of the contest, which this year attracted more prominent singers such as Bheem; Adesh Samaroo, a former National Chutney Foundation monarch; and Guyana’s leading recording star Gajraj.
“I don’t really care if I win or not. I just want to take a more active role in local compositions, especially chutney soca,” she said.
The top prize moved from $200,000 last year to a whopping $2 million, matching the Calypso Monarch first prize. d.
