The Rose Hall, Canje Ground came alive on Saturday night when 18 singers, backed by the Shakti Strings Orchestra, participated in the semi-finals of the 2007 Mash Soca Chutney Competition.
All of the artistes displayed talents but only ten were selected by a panel of six judges, headed by radio broadcaster Wanita Huburn, to compete in the final to be staged in Essequibo on February 17.
The gates to the event were opened from 6 pm but the competition got started at 7.45 pm in front of a packed audience that wasted no time in gyrating to the tunes and waving bandanas – distributed by Cell Link Plus – in support of their favourite entertainer.
The finalists were announced by the master of ceremony, Jai Dev Doodnauth, a radio broadcaster, at 10.50 pm after the judges deliberated for about 30 minutes.
According to Huburn, points were scored for musical arrangement, originality, showmanship and crowd appeal.
As Doodnauth kept the audience in suspense before revealing the names of the finalists, a few patrons hurled abuse at him. They were also obviously not pleased that the only Berbician in the competition, Narinedat also called Mighty One Day, was not selected among the finalists for his tune “Sweet Sugar Cane – Separating the Sweet from the Soil.”
Persons were even more disappointed as the band began dismantling its equipment just after 11 pm saying, “We pay $300 fuh come in and they packing up the band already. We din plan fuh leave so early; we come here fuh get a good time.”
The performers selected to vie for the coveted title are Kamla Rampersaud, who belted out her tune, “Live You Life Betta”; Haresh Singh with his piece, “Next Door Neighbour”; Sechitra “Fiona” Singh with “Ting a Ling a Ling”; Andy Jagmohan of Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD), who sent the crowd wild with his tune, “Lucille Got a Cane Crusher Mill”; Leilawattie Budram of Good Hope, ECD with “Come Darling Dance the Chutney”; Harvey Gobin of Doornhaag, Leguan with “I Love Guyana Bad”; Donald Morgan of Annandale, ECD, “Looking for a Larki this Mashramani”; Ajodha Singh of Reliance, Essequibo with “Suzanna Girl”; Sandradai ‘Girley’ Persaud, “Dance up with me”; and Joyce Ormela Harris of Mon Repos with “Back Home to Guyana Joycie Gal”. The winner of the competition will take home $550,000; $350,000 will go to the second place finisher, while the third prize is $200,000. A prize of $50,000 will be awarded to the most promising artiste.
Kamla Rampersaud of Non Pariel, ECD who has been singing for six years was last year’s Chutney Queen. That competition, held at the Starlight Driving Cinema was sponsored by Sheik Yasin.
A Bush Lot, Essequibo resident, Haresh Singh who has been singing for 17 years is the reigning Chutney King after winning the title at the last competition in 2003. He also won in 2001 and 2002. Singh was also the first runner-up to Rajesh Dubraj in the 2004 competition.
Fans were disappointed that Dubraj did not make it in the finals with his piece “Nachoougee – Chutney from Guyana.” Owner of the Dubraj Tassa Troupe, he has been singing for 15 years and teaches music voluntarily at his Mandir.
Dubraj composed the song for Budram, and feels she “would win the title and I am a winner by myself; if not in the eyes of the judges.” She placed second runner-up in the 2003 chutney competition.
Sechitra Singh of Ruimveldt, Georgetown who has been singing for the past seven years was also a crowd favourite at the show. She won the third runner-up spot in the 2004 competition. She is also one of the famous “Sugar-cake Girls” in the El Sadiek band.
This is the second competition for Gobin, who has been singing for 35 years. He, like most of the other artistes, composed his own song and had also written the lyrics for the winner of the junior calypso competition, Marian Ramayah on two occasions.
Meanwhile, coordinator Neaz Subhan said the competition has been “off the calendar” for a few years and he is pleased that it has started again.
Other judges for the event were Karan Singh, chairman of the Local Organizing Committee for Cricket World Cup; television personality Rasheed Yasin; tabla teacher of the Indian Cultural Centre; Arun Kumar Vhatt; Jagdesh Sukhu, administrator of the Guyana International Convention Centre and Amar Ramessar, food bank manager at the National AIDS Programme Secretariat.