Rikki Jai : Don't blame rum songs Sunday, March 6 2011
TRINIDAD NEWSDAY - By MELISSA DASSRATH - “Rum songs” have been hotly debated in Carnival, particularly in Chutney Soca lyrics. Although the lyrics are comedic and catchy, the messages these songs convey can have a lasting impact. Such songs have been criticised for glamourising alcohol; something that contributes to social ills like binge drinking, underage drinking, road accidents, unsafe sex, domestic abuse, violent crime and stereotyping certain sub-cultures in society.
Once again for Carnival 2011, “rum songs” dominated Chutney Soca Monarch. The 2010 Chutney Soca Monarch, Ravi Bissambhar followed up hits like “Rum is Meh Lover” and “Ah Drinka” with “Cyah Come When Ah Drink Rum”. Chutney singer Avinash Singh released two songs. “Drinking in the Bar” and “Rum is de Killa”.
While Rikki Jai, who last year released “Bar man”, was named 2011 Chutney Soca Monarch for his hit “White Oak and Water”. Jai said “They are over analysing it. Music is for enjoyment. It’s party music.”
The chutney star who has hits like “Pumping”, “Show me Your Motion”, “Moor Toor” explained that he has made a positive contribution to the music industry during his career as a performer.
“I have made a lot of good contributions to music over my 20 years. I have released many social commentary songs and uplifting songs like ‘Unity’.”
Jai said that not all so-called “rum songs” glorify drinking alcohol. He said that the public should listen to the story that song tells. “Even the ‘rum songs’ are not necessarily sending a negative message. Maybe people are just listening to the chorus and interpreting the songs’ meaning.
Good or bad judgement cannot be blamed on the lyrics in a song. At the end of the day, he said, individuals must take responsibility for their own decisions and deeds. “People have to be responsible for their own actions. Artistes are not responsible for the public’s behaviour. The rum songs are not the only problem society faces.”
US-based Calypsonian/Entertainer Leon Coldero who released the song “If Yuh Drink” for Carnival 2011 disagrees. According to him, performers are singing about Trinidad’s most popular pastime. “People say all of the songs now are about rum, but I disagree. If you go to Jamaica, most of the time people will talk about smoking marijuana and the artistes sing about that in their music. You always hear songs calling to ‘legalise it’. We don’t smoke like Jamaicans smoke and Jamaicans don’t drink alcohol like Trinis. So our thing is rum. You hear people talk about double dog and so on.”
He drew reference to Sundar Popo’s song “Nana and Nani”. “This is not something new. Back in the day Sundar Popo sang ‘Nana riding bicycle, Nani ringing bell. Nani lock the handle and she fall inside a well. Nani drinkin white rum and Nani drinkin wine. The rum thing was always there, whether it be chutney or calypso. It’s a way of life. I’m not saying we should drink irresponsibly. My song ‘If Yuh Drink” says ‘If you drink rum you will die. If you don’t drink rum you will die. So you might as well drink rum and die.’ It’s the reality of it.”
Sitarist and student Sharda Patasar followed the informal discussions on social networking sites, but she decided to coordinate a lecture to gauge the public’s view on this debate in a more formalised setting. Patasar will host a lecture which is based on her PhD research “East Music and Cultural Identity”. The event will take place on March 15 at 6pm at Gaston Courts, Chaguanas. “I thought that there was the need for a deeper analysis on the issue. I felt that a public forum would give people the opportunity to engage in open dialogue about the prevalence of ‘rum songs’.”
From the artistes perspective, she explained that the artistes are making music to satisfy the music producers, sweeten the DJs and shake up the audience. Patasar stated that, the music industry is not driven by creativity, but market demands: “Some might say that ‘rum songs’ are unimaginative. But chutney is basically party music and the artistes are catering their music to a party context. As a musician, I can tell you that even when the artiste does not intend to record a rum-based song they face pressures from the producers, sound engineers and radio stations. So music is a quick, money-making venture that must satisfy the market. The artistes are inevitably bound by the economy.” She noted that traditional chutney artistes like Rooplal Girdharie and Rasika Dindial struggle to get airplay while “rum songs” are in high rotation.
But “rum songs” are not exclusive to chutney alone, for instance Patch sang “Rum and Roti” and Blaxx “Tanti Woi” makes mention of White Oak and Puncheon, Skinny Fabulous has “Drunk and Disorderly”, Beenie Man had “Rum & Red Bull” and long before that Sundar Popo sang about rum in “Nana and Nani. This “Rum Culture” has crossed over into TV, with the local series of Rumsingh family being evidence of this. Patasar added: “For those who condemn artistes, chutney cannot be looked at in isolation. Chutney in many ways is paralleling soca music because these are two competing music genres.”
Joy Mahabir PhD is an assistant professor of English at the Michael J Grant Campus of the Suffolk County Community College in New York and a published author. Mahabir wrote the book Miraculous Weapons: Revolutionary Ideology in Caribbean Culture in 2003 and Jouvert in 2006. In 2008, she was long-listed for the 2008 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for fiction.
On the Jahaji Bhai, Bahen on-line forum, reference was made to an essay Mahabir wrote. In the essay, she recounts the tribulations of the East Indian community and how they turned to the bottle for temporary comfort. Mahabir writes: “On plantations, rum made it possible for many indentured labourers to survive arduous labour regimens by offering temporary solace, but at the same time contributed to alcoholism and early death.”
According to her, chutney songs do not merely convey a message about carefree and consequent-free drinking. Some artistes highlight the fact that rum is tearing families apart at the seams. “Many chutney songs therefore complicate the celebration of rum by a poignant awareness of the way alcohol has ravaged the Indo-Caribbean community. In “Rum is Meh Lover” (2006), Ravi Bissambhar sings: ‘Rum kill meh mother. Rum kill meh father. Rum kill meh whole family. Rum kill meh brother. Rum kill meh sister. Now it want to come and kill me.’”
She said chutney lyrics must be analysed within the post- colonial context. “To read chutney compositions about rum as simply celebrations of drinking is to miss the conceptual function of rum in these songs. On deeper analysis it is clear that in all of these songs rum is related to a poetics of space because rum functions as a code and metonym for survival, and to invoke rum is to conjure a representational space of survival for Indo-Caribbean subjects. If rum is mentioned in chutney or in chutney-soca lyrics, there is either direct or implicit reference to an entire sphere of historical, social, political and cultural survival that includes survival of the perilous journey across the kala pani or dark waters of the Atlantic passage, survival of indentureship, and survival in the colonial and post-colonial Caribbean. Chutney singer Adesh Samaroo has continuously acknowledged the link between rum and survival in the titles of his albums that followed Rum Til I Die (2002), including Rum Didn’t Kill Meh (2003) and Rum Cause This Success (2004).”
The Minister of the People and Social Development Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh said: “The richness of our society and flourishing democracy gives our local artistes and art forms the freedom of expression. As the minister, I would always prefer a positive social message. I have heard a number of chutney songs with an inspirational social message and with the potential to shape people’s minds. However, I also respect the freedom of the chutney artistes and calypsonians to sing about whatever they choose. ” Ramadharsingh further explained the chutney music is a relatively new genre and is in continuous transition: “Music, on the whole, is always in a state of flux chutney is new and unique blend. So the chutney artists will sing about what is topical at the time. So right now ‘rum songs’ are popular, but I do not think they are a direct encouragement for people to drink.”
