A particularly vibrant way in which Indian culture thrived in the Caribbean is in form of what is known as the Chutney music. It started out as the Bhojpuri version of pre-wedding songs sung by ladies on both the groom’s and the bride’s side. Anyone who has ever heard one of those will attest to their naughty or nok-jhok nature and it was this spiciness that got them termed as Chutney. What followed was Chutney Soca. It was supposed to be written as Sokah, where So represented the African Calypso elements whereas Kah symbolized Indian influences as the first alphabet in Hindi is Ka. Sundar Popo, an Indian musician from Trinidad and Tobago, is credited with being the father of this genre of music. These songs have Indian lyrics, which includes Bhojpuri and Bollywood influences, but also include Calypso beats and rhythms. These songs could be much raunchier than your average Ladies Sangeet but they drove the Indian crowds in the region crazy. They felt so authentically Bhojpuri that even Gangs Of Wasseypur (Part 2), which is set in Bihar and Varanasi, featured a Chutney song, Electric Piya, by a Chutney singer, Rasika Dindial. The song is a variation of a 1950s song of the genre, Bhabhana Aawe Jaaye, originally sung by a Surinamese Indian singer, Ramdew Chaitoe.
Garima Garg, ‘A Voyage Less Ordinary’, India/भारत
