Indian music in the diaspora

8/13/2019 Indian music in the diaspora

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British Forum for Ethnomusicology

"Indian" Music in the Diaspora: Case Studies of "Chutney" in Trinidad and in LondonAuthor(s): Tina Karina RamnarineSource: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 5 (1996), pp. 133-153Published by: British Forum for EthnomusicologyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3060870 .Accessed: 13/11/2013 04:23

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VOL 5 BRITISH OURNAL FETHNOMUSICOLOGY 1996

I n d i a n m u s i in t h ed i a s p o r a :c s e s t u d i e s of chutney

in Tr i n i d a d a n d in L o n d o n

Tina Karina Ramnarine

Thispaper

xamines hemusicalenre chutney

s an Indian-Caribbeanradition, ndasan expression f identity nboth Caribbean ndBritish ontexts. he radition as shapedby historical rocesses hich rought ogether ndian, aribbean ndBritish lements. thas developed s a diasporic Indian radition n the pluricultural ontexts f theCaribbean. iverse nfluences an be traced n contemporary hutney. n differentgeographic ontexts, owever, he radition xpresses specific ndian-Caribbeandentity.

3H TNEY, NAMED AFTER THE CONDIMENT ecause it is described asbeing spicy too, is a contemporary ndian-Caribbean musical genre which

displays nfluences from diverse sources. Whereas ome musical elements can betraced to India and can be analysed as examples of musical retention orpreservation, others have emerged as a result of cultural interaction in thepluricultural ontexts of the Caribbean. Chutney musicians draw upon ideas fromIndian folk traditions, devotional songs and film music, as well as from calypso,soca and rap. Although chutney draws upon traditions mainly those of weddingcelebrations) which came to the Caribbean with the first indentured abourersfrom India, the first public performances of this genre took place in Trinidad asrecently as the late 1980s. Some efforts had been made to introduce he music intothe public arena during the 1970s (for example, through he performances of thechutney singer, Sundar Popo), but these did not attract arge audiences. Chutneyshows are also presented, and are gaining increasing popularity, n London, NewYork and Toronto-metropolitan centres n which Indian-Caribbeans ave settled.There are some musicians in India who perform chutney, having incorporatedCaribbean opular orms into their repertories; Manuel 1995: 217) names the duoBabla and Kanchan. Their largest audiences, with regard to chutney, arenonetheless in the Caribbean-in Trinidad, Guyana, and Surinam, places withsignificant Indian-Caribbean opulations.

Although radition s often perceived as stemming rom and having close ties to

particular ocalities, the relationship between tradition and place is questionedwhen a single tradition s maintained, eveloped and changed by people in severaldifferent geographic contexts. With which place can a tradition ike chutney beassociated? India, the Caribbean, or the urban centres around the world which

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134 British ournal of Ethnomusicology, ol.5 (1996)

have become home o Indian-Caribbean ommunities? Consideration f humanmobility, and of migrants as carriers of traditions to different places, hasexpanded the commonly adopted ethnomusicological frame of reference ofstudying music in its cultural context in a specific geographic ocation. The shift

in emphasis has led to questions about he survival of elements of tradition n newcontexts, and the ability of music to retain ts identity away from the culture romwhich it sprang (Reyes-Schramm 1990). Although recent ethnographic ccountshave examined music and musicians in the context of migration from rural tourban centres (e.g. Stokes 1992, Turino 1993), much research remains to becarried out on the topic of music-making n the diaspora. Projects racing he rootsof African music in the New World (Herskovits 1947, Levine 1977, Small 1987,Alleyne 1988) provide models for similar undertakings n the field of Indianmusic in the diaspora. Yet the complexity of music-making n diasporic contextslies in the immense variation between different examples. For example, over 150organisations were interviewed or the anthology Klangbilder der Welt, producedby the International Centre or Comparative Musicology, a study which revealedan enormous range of approaches and histories of formation, activity, andstylistic choice among what Slobin calls the diasporic ntercultural etworksfound in Berlin (Slobin 1993: 66).

The main aim of this paper s to draw attention o a tradition which, despite itsprevalence n the Caribbean nd amongst Indian-Caribbean ommunities aroundthe world, has received scant attention n ethnomusicological iterature. This is incontrast to writings on music in India itself, which have a long history with a

particular abundance of theoretical reatises. British colonial writings on Indianmusic in India are also plentiful and include descriptions of art and folk traditions(see Myers 1993a, Jairazbhoy 1993). There is also a growing literature onCaribbean music: recent studies include Manuel's general text on Caribbeanmusic (1995), Guilbault's ethnography f zouk (1993), and Cowley's historicalaccount of the development of calypso (1996). Writings on Indian-Caribbeanmusic, however, are scarce (major exceptions being the works of Myers andDesroches). References to chutney are even rarer. The main sources nclude pressreports, Constance's (1991) book in which chutney is mentioned n relation tocalypso and Ribeiro's (1992) examination of chutney. One of the earliestreferences is found in Ahyoung's dissertation, where mention is made ofwomen's songs known as chatni 1977: 73), more commonly known today as

chutney . I have chosen here to follow contemporary onvention.)There are three main reasons for the paucity of material relating to chutney,

one of which is indeed the general ack of documentation n Indian music in theCaribbean. The second is that chutney as public performance is a recentphenomenon. Although t is well-known n the Caribbean nd in Latin America, thas not yet established ts presence n the market of world music. In Britain, forexample, commercial cassettes of chutney (produced n the Caribbean nd in the

USA) are not readily available and can only be bought from private vendors.Third, chutney draws upon a tradition which was performed by women foraudiences of women at private gatherings such as mathkor (pre-wedding



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Ramnarine: Indian music n the diaspora: ase studies of chutney 135

celebrations) and at the birth of a child. Knowledge of mathkor was, and still is,passed on orally. Women's traditions are often difficult for ethnographers oaccess (Koskoff 1989). Yet this is not a secret tradition. The lack of empiricaldata and historical research s also a reflection on the general nattention paid to

the experiences of Indian-Caribbean omen (Poynting 1987).The processes whereby the music and dance of mathkor came to be

incorporated nd represented n the popular genre chutney s a topic of my currentresearch and will only be mentioned briefly in this paper. My main concern hereis with chutney as contemporary music. Myers (1993b) and Manuel (1995) domention chutney as an emerging popular genre, but more detailed descriptionsand analyses of this tradition as public performance are only now beingundertaken. n on-going research projects n the Caribbean, he tradition s beinganalysed in terms of counter-nationalist iscourses and in relation to issues of

gender (Kirk Meghu, pers.comm.

1995).A

forthcoming documentaryilm

byKaren Martinez, Chutney n yuh soca , will examine the tradition as one in theprocess of douglarisation , Trinidadian xpression coterminous with Hannerz's

creolisation 1987). That music can be interpreted n diverse and contrastingways, as illustrated by these approaches, makes it a potentially powerful area ofdiscussion in public debate. Although research on chutney has barely begun, allkinds of claims are already being made for it. In surveying recent press reports onthe Trinidad Carnival, February 1996, it is clear that chutney means differentthings to different people. One view is that it is an Indian radition, and thatrecent chutney songs give the first indications of a movement of a people to layclaim as authentic Indians in Trindiad and Tobago (Ken Parmasad, cited inAlexander 1996). Another view is that it is not quite Indian and does not revealthe real musical wealth of India's musical traditions which are also available toIndians n the Caribbean Ravi-Ji 1996). Chutney's emergence as a popular genreis interlinked with issues of the place, status and changing roles of Indians n theCaribbean. In discussions of these issues, the emphasis has been placed onethnicity and culture .

In this paper I shall interpret chutney shows as cultural performances whichcomment--through song texts in particular--on he experiences of a people in the

diaspora.In

the Caribbean, he diasporic context has become the new homeland.Performances of chutney create a sense of relatedness for performers andaudiences, and affirm a specific ethnic and cultural dentity. I shall argue that, as atradition which has developed in a diasporic context, chutney emerges not as anIndian but as a specifically Indian-Caribbean orm of expression. The spelling

chutney ather han chatni s itself an identification of the genre as Indian-Caribbean, not Indian. The argument is pursued by examining chutney inTrinidad nd in London, and by tracing, albeit briefly, the history of chutney fromwomen's tradition o popular genre. A concern with ethnicity forms part of thecomplex relations hat exist between different ethnic groups n Trinidad. The songtext, particularly the calypso text as a well-established form of socialcommentary, as been a medium or exploring hese dynamics, characterised othby dissension and by solidarity (see Deosarran 1987). Discussions about the



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136 British Journal fEthnomusicology, ol.5 (1996)

preservation and mixing of cultures in chutney have been fuelled by theincorporation of African-Caribbean musical elements, for example, calypsorhythms. Such musical nteraction, nd the debate t inspires, are of course centralto the interpretation f chutney as an Indian-Caribbean radition. do not wish to

dwell on the dynamics between different ethnic groups n Trinidad, or indeed inLondon, here, but I shall draw attention o the mobility of cultural lements ndiscussing both the movements of people and chutney song texts. The focus,however, will be on chutney as an expression of an Indian-Caribbean dentity: anidentity which is expressed in the song texts by references to kinship systems,cultural practices and objects and the experience of migration.

Indentureship and the emergence of an Indian-Caribbean dentityThe

interlinkingof

placediscussed here (Trinidad and London) is related to

interlinking histories. Caryl Phillips observes that much British history is littleknown, not least because much of it took place in India, Africa and theCaribbean quoted by Jaggi 1995). The historical orces which brought ogetherIndian, British and Caribbean lements must be taken nto account n tracing boththe formation of an Indian-Caribbean dentity and the development of the chutneytradition. Referring to chutney as a tradition in itself calls for some kind ofhistorical account. Following Glassie's definition of tradition as a temporalconcept, inherently angled with the past, the future, with history (1995: 399),chutney can be perceived as a tradition because it looks back to the past, to folk

songs which came from India and which women continued to perform in theCaribbean. As a popular genre it also looks to the future. It is a tradition whichmay eventually become part of the phenomenon of World Music. In tracing thedevelopment of chutney and the emergence of an Indian-Caribbean dentity, wecan begin by considering population movement from India to the Caribbeanfollowing British mperial policies to replace the workforce on sugar cane estatesin particular.

Both in Britain and in the Colonies themselves, the question of labourdominated discussions on the future of the West Indian sugar plantations,

followingthe

emancipationf slaves in 1838. The colonial Caribbean

ane-sugarindustry, with the labour of African slaves, had expanded o such an extent duringthe eighteenth and nineteenth enturies hat what had once been a rare commodityhad become a daily consumer product Mintz 1985). But after 1838 the emanci-pated slaves deserted plantation agriculture on the terms and conditions pre-scribed by the planters and by the British government, unwilling to work fortheir former masters, or wages instead of lashes (Williams 1962: 86). To main-tain the colonial plantation ystem of sugar production, abourers were recruitedfrom other parts of the Empire. Between 1838 and 1917, more than half a millionIndians were taken to the Caribbean as indentured (contracted) labourers,

changing the whole population pattern n the West Indies (see figs. 1 and 2).British recruiters n India told prospective abourers hat they would be going toChini-dad land of sugar) or that Fiji was a place just beyond Calcutta Samaroo



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1987: 28). Indian abourers, either ealising he ourney which ay ahead f themnor understanding he contracts hich hey signed, aw ndentureship s a way ofescaping harsh conomic onditions nd hunger, nd anticipated n easier ife innew ands. Some of them did not sign contracts: heywere simply kidnapped. he

system of indentureship, trikingly imilar to the system of slavery whichpreceded t, was criticised n turn ndgave rise o anti-indenture ampaigns.

Fig. 1: Sketch map of India showing the places of origin (shading) of Indianindentured abourers who travelled o the Caribbean.

Sttar Pradesunj b J

Calcutta

Madras

ri a n k a



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Fig. 2: Sketch map of Trinidad showing places referred to in the text. Shadingindicates sugar plantation areas to which indentured abourers were assigned.

Port of Spain

SangreGrande

e n a l

The first ship transporting ndians to Trinidad, he Fath Al Razak, landed inPort of Spain in 1845 with 217 Indians aboard. Their contracts nitially lasted fora period of five years after which they could work for a further ive years in order

to claim a free return passage to India. When indentureship was abolished in1917, less than a quarter f the Indian abourers eturned o their homeland. Mostof them decided to exchange the passage to India for a grant of land, for asCudjoe observes, so much had the quality and reality of their experience changedthat there was really no home to which they could return Cudjoe 1985: 19).

Chinidad ad become Trinidad. Today, Indians as an ethnic group orm nearlyhalf of the island's population. Yet it is not a homogeneous group, or the Indianscame from different regions, spoke different languages and dialects, weremembers of different castes, and brought a variety of cultural practices with them.

Examples of the retention of cultural elements from India to Trinidad havebeen located in kinship systems, village structure and religious rituals (Klass1961), and in clothing, food and language (Lowenthal 1972). The majority ofindentured labourers came from the northern provinces of Uttar Pradesh and



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Bihar where Bhojpuri, was spoken. The Bhojpur tradition, herefore, which hadproduced religious heroes such as Rama, Krishna and Buddha, as well as theRamayana and the Mahabharata pics, became dominant n Trinidad.

The preservation of religious ideals and the celebration of religious festivals

were significant n maintaining sense of ethnic and cultural dentity. Music hascontinued o play an integral ole in religious rituals. Traces of ritual music can befound in some chutney songs. As well as the preservation f traditions, new ideasimported rom India (including religious movements and figures) are absorbed byIndian-Caribbean opulations. Films (subtitled in English) have been importedfrom India since the 1940s and have made an important contribution to thechutney style. Also, since the 1940s several dancers from India-includingRajkumar Krishna Persad, Sat and Mondira Balkaransingh, nd Pratap and PriyaPawar--have held workshops and classes in Trinidad eaching he classical Odissi

styleand

Punjabi, Gujerati,Bihari and southern ndian olk dances.

The demise of certain traditional practices was equally significant in theformation of an Indian-Caribbean dentity. Language and the feudal caste systembroke down. In Trinidad, abourers rom different castes, from Brahmins (highcaste) to Chamar low caste), lived next to each other n the barracks nd workedtogether in the cane-fields. English, which had been established as the officiallanguage of British India by 1835, emerged as the common language whichenabled Indians n the Caribbean o communicate with each other and with therest of the populace. The experience of indentureship n Trinidad led to thedevelopment of a sense of ethnic solidarity which has been somewhat ronicallycharacterised by Sam Selvon as East Indian Trinidadian West Indian Selvon1987: 21). Here is a statement of ethnic identity which demonstrates allegiancesto India as the ancestral country of origin, to the Caribbean sland Trinidad whichis home , and to the Caribbean egion in general. By drawing on elements fromdifferent traditions, chutney reinforces these loyalties and affirms the identity ofIndian-Caribbeans as Caribbean people of Indian origin. Even wherecommentators ssert that the tradition s Indian, he assertion s made in a contextin which being Indian erves both to remind ndian-Caribbeans f their ancestryand to further ocal political debates and nterests.

Chutney n TrinidadGiven that chutney s said to have its origins n the celebration known as mathkor,a predominantly emale mode of expression, special attention must be accorded othe role of women in Indian-Caribbean ociety. Patterns of family structure wereaffected during the period of indentureship by the scarcity of female labourers.Working on the sugar plantations, women gained a certain ndependence whichwas, however, compromised by their continuing scarcity. Women were expected,in some cases compelled, to marry at a young age and did not have the sameeducational opportunities s men.

Reference to mathkor is found in Ramnath's (n.d.) book on Indian culturewritten for Indian-Caribbean eople who, the author explicitly stated, seemed to



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140 British ournal f Ethnomusicology, ol.5 (1996)

be forgetting the true meanings of many of the rituals which they continued operform. Ramnath n.d.: 97-8) describes and explains the meaning of mathkor aspart of the Aryan Hindu Sanatanist' wedding ceremony as follows:

Mathkor iterally means dirt digging...This pujan [religious ceremony] s thehonouring f Mother Earth rom whence all physical hings have heir beginnings.On the afternoon ust before he pundit priest] performs he first ceremony ocommence he wedding...the other both he bride's and he groom's] along withclose relatives and friends go to a place where the intended eremony will beperformed. he spot must be free from refuse or waste matter, referably ear ariver, ake or pond...On his spot he mother akes clean water brought with her orwater rom he river or pond so long as the water s clean. She must use her righthand and sprinkle he water n the spot...After washing her hands he takes wateragain from a bronze goblet or lota and sprinkles he spot again. This time thesignificance s that he spot s being made pure or cleansed.

...The mother will thank Mother Earth who had blessed and afforded her thisgreat opportunity o have a child who s to be married...During he time when hemother s performing er rituals, ady relatives nd riends beat drums, nd danceto appropriate ongs o Mother Earth nd other deities.

Vertovec also refers to the mathkor eremony, describing he dances as highlysuggestive 1993: 203). Such a description s reminiscent of those I encounteredwith regard o chutney. The following comment s typical of those I came acrossduring nformal conversations with women in south Trinidadian illages: Todayyou find a lot of men going to hear the chutney shows. The dancing s a bit, you

know, 'vulgar'.The women shake

upthe waist and I think that is

whya lot of

men go--to see the dance .As well as dance, drums such as the dholak and tassa play an important ole in

mathkor and also in contemporary hutney, as seen in these two accounts bywomen in a south Trinidad illage:

I remember my sister's wedding. was only a child at the time. My aunt gaveme a lot of money because t would have been my turn next to get married. heday before he wedding ll the women ame o our house and we all went down othe river. We always went o the river O. They were singing, dancing and playingdrums.

They putsaffron n

mysister's orehead nd

painteder hands....

I saw when the neighbour pposite was going o get married. ll the womendressed n their saris started inging and dancing outside he house. They weregoing to the river. Some of them were playing he drums. could have gone but Iwas in the shop....

Mathkor, as women's pre-wedding celebration, with the ritual bathing, thedrumming, inging and dancing, can be traced to cultural practices n India. Thedholak, for example, s still played as a domestic nstrument n the north of India.The use of the drum by women in Trinidad seems to be a continuation of a

tradition depicted n Mughal and provincial court sources, where it was played

1For an explanation f Sanatanism, s well as of the Arya amajmovement entioned elow,see Vertovec 992: 57-61 and chapter .



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by the women of the palace to accompany birth and wedding songs andsometimes also dance (Dick 1984: 562). The importance of going to theriverside n the accounts above is parallelled by the widespread practice n Indiaof pre-wedding ritual bathing, the ban. There are similarities between the pre-

wedding celebrations n India and in Trinidad, but the important points here arefirst, that wedding songs constitute a major part of India's folksong tradition(Wade 1980: 150), and second, that they are sung by women. The songs are richin documentation about family lineage (ibid.). Whatever he social restrictions,then, Indian-Caribbean omen who continued these performances played a vitalrole in celebrations marking he expansion of the family, and were the carriers ofmusical traditions, olksong in particular. These are some of the traditions whichchutney singers draw upon today.

Searching for parallel practices between Indian and Indian-Caribbean

populationsseems to

pointto earlier

performancesof

chutneyin Trinidad

(drawing on the folksongs of mathkor) as preserving radition. Yet the traditionhas changed. Chutney shows today usually feature a solo singer (male or female)with a backing band. They are held in formal performance ontexts: n halls andtheatres. n addition o the continued use of the dholak, the instrumentation ftenincludes guitars, keyboards and drum machines. Members of the audience,particularly women, invariably get up to dance at these shows. In short, changeslie in new conceptualisations and treatment of folksong, so that this is now amusical repertory to which men can turn as well as women; in performancecontexts, from the riverside as part of ritual to the stage as entertainment; nd in

the music itself, from the singing, clapping and drumming of women to a morevaried instrumentation ncluding the use of electronic instruments and of malevoices. One reason for rapid change in the tradition from women's performanceto popular genre) is suggested by Manuel who writes that the flowering of thechutney scene has parallelled he increased movement of East Indians away fromrural sugar plantations and into the urban mainstream Manuel 1995: 218). Thechanging status and role of Indian-Caribbean omen has also contributed o rapidmusical change.

In a study of Indian music in Felicity, a village in North Trinidad, Myers

writes: Indian music is different things to different people. For the youngergeneration t refers especially to Indian ilm songs, for the older to the traditionalBhojpuri folk songs, and for practically everybody to temple songs, such asbhajan and kirtan. For all, it means a repertory with texts in an Indian anguage(1993: 235). Despite the emphasis on language (noteworthy, for many Indian-Caribbeans have little knowledge of the languages of their forebears), manycontemporary hutney song texts are in English with a few Hindi words added.Sometimes a Hindi text intermingles with its English translation. The use ofEnglish is significant for two main reasons: t is the language of today's Indian-Trinidadian population, and Trinidadians rom a non-Indian background findchutney more accessible than, for example, Indian religious songs. Yet this is notthe English of the coloniser, t is the Indian-Caribbean daptation f the language(see Cudjoe 1985, Mahabir 1985).



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142 British ournal fEthnomusicology, ol.5 (1996)

As I have already ndicated, he attitudes f audiences owards hutney arevaried. n addition o questions bout heorigin and musical alue of chutney, t isalso a tradition hich, or some people, epresents he Indian esponse o calypso.For others t is simply good party music. Some dislike chutney ecause t is music

with too much wining dancing) nd jamming partying). or an article n theTrinidad Guardian n 1996, school children were asked why they thought hatchutney had been so popular uring he carnival elebrations hat year. Here aresome of their omments:

Maurisa Ramsingh: I think ts popularity s due to the 'coalition' governmentbecause his represents he coming ogether of two races [African and Indian].Chutney as now become a major orce n uniting he two races.Patel Grant: It is popular because of the continued pattern n which Stalin [acalypsonian] on he CalypsoMonarch ompetition ast year with Sundar opo

[chutney inger].SimonWilliams: ...it represents coming ogether f two cultures.Richard ayle: I hink hat hutney asbecome opular ecause hecalypsoniansof East ndian escent ave brought orward heir ulture, ndbecause f this heother aces have adopted hat he Indian alypsonians avebrought orward.[Cited nTrinidad uardian, 7.ii.96: ,no author iven]

These are commentaries on the political significance of chutney, on theinteraction etween alypso and chutney-and on a more general evel between

two cultures --and n issues of ethnicity and the role played by music in

society. n contrast o speculations bout he Indianness f chutney, hese schoolchildren o not posit a simple opposition etween hutney nd calypso. nstead,they stress musical nteraction.

Although Myers noted a conspicuous bsence of acculturation etween EastIndian and Creole music 1980: 150) less than wo decades ago, contemporarychutney s indeed a popular enre with roots n both India and Africa, which hasdeveloped n the pluricultural ontext of the Caribbean. he rhythm f chutneysoca has been described s totally ndigenous Baptiste 1993: 39). Parallelscan be drawn etween hutney ndcalypso on the basis of song competitions, hecelebratory spects of the music with an emphasis n dancing and on parties, afocus on the singer, and he range of topics addressed y the texts of the songs.Moreover, here is evidence of increasing nteraction etween chutney andcalypso musicians with the participation f chutney rtists n carnival nd n thecalypso tents, and with the entry of African-Caribbean usicians nto chutneycompetitions. he second annual National Chutney Monarch ompetition 1996),modelled n calypso ones, was approved y chutney nd calypso organisations:the National Association f Chutney rtists f Trinidad ndTobago, heTrinbagoUnified Calypsonians rganisation, he Ministry f Community evelopment,Culture, nd Women's Affairs, and he Carnival/Cultural udges Association f

Trinidad nd Tobago. Chutney ndcalypso, herefore, renot performance ventsexclusive to a specific ethnic group. The use of the term chutney oca isevidence of the influence of calypso, and it is sometimes used to describe hegenre (as it has been presented n the public arena).



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Processes of acculturation, orrowing and incorporation s a result of culturecontact in a pluricultural ontext can be traced n the development of chutney asan Indian-Caribbean radition. If it is a tradition which has been both preservedand changed in Trinidad, popular and folk music in India has also undergone

adaptation and change in interaction with other musical influences. This isparticularly rue of Indian ilm music. In its early stages Indian cinema borrowedextensively from Hollywood and European productions , ut it has developed as

a home-grown domestic entertainment orm guided by indigenous aesthetics andconditions (Manuel 1988: 173). This is not, then, a mere imitation of Westerncinema, ust as chutney s not simply a reproduced ndian radition. The emphasisin film music has been on producing imple and catchy tunes, and this in turn hasinfluenced regional folk music. Links between chutney and Indian popularmusical forms, via the film industry, can be noted here. In addition to being thedominant category of popular music in South Asia, film music also reachesaudiences throughout he Indian diaspora. Diatonic melodies to which Westernstyles of harmonisation can be added, as well as the combination of Indianinstruments uch as the dholak and the tabla (drum pair) with Western ones, arecharacteristic of both popular forms in India (Manuel 1988: ch. 7) and in theCaribbean.

The notion of musical revitalization s also pertinent o the analysis of chutney.As well as imported ilm music, Indian musicians and religious leaders who teachIndian classical music (in particular) ave travelled o Trinidad. Some of the mostinfluential igures have included the Hindu missionaries rom the Bombay-based

Arya Samaj reformist movement, who visited Trinidad during the 1920s;Professor Adesh, who has visited repeatedly ince the 1960s and has now set up areligious movement n addition to teaching North Indian classical music; and theSai Baba religious movement introduced n 1974 (see Myers 1993b: 238-9).Devotional music hitherto unknown n Trinidad has been introduced hrough uchmovements. Indian communities n Trinidad have looked to such figures for ideasas to what is truly Indian, and their comments about Indian-Caribbean ulture nrelation to the parent ne have stimulated debates about authenticity. Tracingthe development of chutney is further complicated by such exchanges, for someIndian elements, then, are not examples of retention at all, but are new ideaswhich are incorporated n constructing Caribbean Indianness .

Song texts

Many chutney song texts are repetitive. The structure s usually alternating verseand chorus. I have selected some examples which highlight the ways in whichchutney texts create a sense of relatedness, of belonging, firstly by exploring theexperiences and every-day concerns of Indian-Caribbeans, nd secondly by thenaming of specific places-in the Caribbean or elsewhere with large Indian-

Caribbean populations (in the following examples, Guyana, Trinidad, he USA,Canada and the Trinidadian villages Penal and Sangre Grande). Some of thesesong texts centre around hemes of marriage and courtship. These are the themes



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144 British ournal fEthnomusicology, ol. (1996)

with which women, in private contexts, must have been concerned on suchoccasions as preparing bride for a wedding. A thread of continuity s thusprovided, ith he transition f chutney rom private o public pheres, hrough tsnarrative ontent. The song exts are hose of some of the most successful hutney

singers. These nclude Sundar opo, one of the first musicians o bring hutney oa wider audience uring he 1970s, Anand Yankaran, rupatee Ramgoonai, ndfrom he village Fyrish n Guyana, erryGajraj.

Example : Sundar opo JMC2 assette MC- 113, 1995), Indian rrival

TheFatel Rozack common pelling f Fath AlRazak] ame rom ndiawithme nanee maternal randmother] ndme nana maternal randfather]and ome anded ere.

Theybrought ith hem heir anguage, rdu ndHindi,their ulture: osein, hagwa, amlila ndDivali.

...Like brother nd isterin the boat hey ame, inging ndplaying heir abla.Remember 845, he 13th f May225 mmigrants ho anded nthat ay.

Early very morning, hebells ing ouderto abour griculture otheir hildren ouldn't uffer,sugar ane, ocoa, oconut, iceandbanana.

Together ithmeagee paternal randmother]andme agaa paternal randfather],labour as cheap ut ood wascheaperwatch enga money] ome or lourand enga ome orricecentand a half or sugarand

verythingasnice.

This song was released n the year when Indians were celebrating 50 years nTrinidad. undar Popo provided well-known ccount of Indian migration oTrinidad nd the labourers' xperiences n the plantations, eferring o the FathAl Razak, ugar ane and other agricultural ursuits. his was one of the chutneysongs composed n celebration f Arrival ay .

2 JMC s Jamaican Music Connection, record abel based n New York; BLS Records example4) is based n the Virgin slands.



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Example 2: Anand Yankaran (JMC cassette JMC-1112, 1996), Guyana kaydulahin

Guyana ay dulahin bride or daughter-in-law) rom Guyana]come to TrinidadI want o be your dulaha bridegroom].

In this song text the bridegroom appeals for a bride not from India but fromanother Caribbean sland. Through marriage, inship ies are thereby trengthenedbetween Indian-Caribbeans rom Trinidad and Guyana, at the same time as theyare weakened between the Caribbean nd the ancestral homeland, India. On theother hand, the continued use of kinship terms such as dulaha and dulahin is oneof the clearest examples of preservation f language.

Example 3: Terry Gajraj cassette recording, 1994), Guyana Baboo

Me come rom de country hey call Guyanaland of de bauxite, e rice and ugar...Singing n the US and CanadaI am coming back man, back o Guyana...I am coming back, back o Guyanato find me a dulahin or this dulaha.

Whereas Indians began migrating to the Caribbean n 1838, a more recentIndian-Caribbean migration o the United States and to Canada began during the1980s. Terry Gajraj s a chutney singer whose lyrics draw upon his experiences nGuyana. The description of Guyana as the land of rice and sugar reminds thelistener of plantation agriculture, which has been so important for the islandeconomy and which played a pivotal role in transporting ndian populations o theCaribbean. Having migrated to a diasporic context which is home to Indian-Caribbean communities (North America), the singer as the protagonist in thissong nonetheless emphatically identifies himself with the Caribbean throughrepetition of the phrase I am coming back . He intends to find a bride from theCaribbean, hereby strengthening his affiliation to Guyana (as in example 1) bykinship ties. Again, the kinship erms dulahin and dulaha are used.

Similar sentiments are expressed in other chutney texts. The use of otherkinship terms (nanee, grandmother; howji, sister-in-law), references to food(baiganee, an aubergine snack; chutney; rice; dhal, lentils) and to instruments(tassa, drum) are other representations of common experiences. Calypsoniansdraw upon a similar kind of imagery in texts dealing with Indian-Caribbean

themes. One of the most well-known is the love song produced by the eminentcalypsonian Mighty Sparrow example 4).



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Example 4: Mighty Sparrow BLS cassette BLS-1015, 1992), Marajhin

I will tell you truethe way I feel for you

I'll do anything o make you happyso if you think t's bestto change me style of dressI will wear a caphra cotton uit] or a dhoti cloth wrapped round waist]I'll give you a modemrnupa [wooden ouse] down n Penaland ll change my name o Rooplal r SparrowlalI could earn o grind masala spice] and chunka-dhal lentils]and ump out of time o sweet pan or carnival.

Drupatee Ramgoonai describes musical nteraction n the Caribbean s follows:

Example 5: Drupatee Ramgoonai 1989), Indian oca

Indian oca, sounding weeter,hotter han a chulha stove];rhythm rom Africa and ndia,blend ogether s a perfect mixture.

Example 6: Sundar Popo (JMC-CT 1082, 1994), Phoulourie

CHORUS: houlourie ina chutney a spicy snack without hutney]Kai say banee that's ll I'm preparing].

VERSES: went Sangre Grandeto meet Lord Harry...I beating my drumand I singing my songthe only thing missingis my bottle of rum...Me and my darlingwas flying n a planethe plane catch a fireand we fell inside he cane...Jack and Jill went up the hillto fetch a pail of waterJack ell down and broke his thumband Jill came umbling fter.Little Jack HornerSat n a cornereating his Christmas ie...



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Many different themes are raised in this song. Sangre Grande, phoulouriechutney, the drum, the bottle of rum, the cane-these are all images of localvillage life. The plane is today's way of travelling. By falling back into the cane,the singer does not leave his familiar environment. Even in travelling to other

places, the singer carries he experience of the sugar cane fields with him.The inclusion of the nursery rhymes in this chutney song is an example of

those cultural elements which have been absorbed n the tradition as a result ofhistorical circumstance and interaction between people from diverse places. Butthis is a brief appearance f any British lements; perhaps he use of the Englishlanguage s the biggest British mpact on the chutney tradition. Manuel notes that

most of Trinidad's musical vitality and cultural dynamism has developed n spiteof rather han because of British rule , and the island remains host to a numberof distinctly non-English music traditions 1995: 184). London too, is host to

manydiverse traditions rom around he world, of which

chutneys

justone.

Chutney n London

During he 1950s and 1960s, Caribbeans were recruited o fill the post-war abourshortage n the mother ountry Britain). The descendants of Indian migrants othe Caribbean undertook a second migration, again in response to British policy.Although many of those who made the journey are Caribbeans f Indian descent,an Indian-Caribbean dentity s still scarcely recognised n Britain. The experienceof emigrating to a country which--despite ties on imperial, political andeconomic levels--did not feel like a homeland, brought ssues of identity to theforefront. Questions of ethnicity and culture resurface in a new geographiccontext. Indian-Trinidadians n London were, until 1962 with the colony'sindependence from the empire, British citizens, yet visible others whomaintained trong affiliations to the Caribbean, nd who had a connection, fromthe more distant past, with India. The Race Equality Policy Group of the LondonPolicy Unit was the first local authority department to recognise an Indian-Caribbean community, appointing an officer to liaise with communityrepresentatives n 1986. An Indo-Caribbean Cultural Association was set up in

1988. That the existence of the community is nevertheless little known is notsurprising given that for many Indian-Caribbeans a sense of belonging to aparticular community is largely achieved through maintaining inks with otherIndian-Caribbeans, with friends, relatives, friends of friends and so on.Community events are infrequent. The occasional chutney performances, withsingers from the Caribbean, provide one of the few opportunities or a groupexpression of identity. The promotional posters for these events reveal some ofthe symbols of that identity. These include steel band, soca, parang and chutney(fig. 3). That such performances re organised at all is evidence of the links thatare maintained between London's Indian-Caribbean community and the

Caribbean. Chutney shows began to be organised n London soon after chutneysingers entered the arena of public performance n the Caribbean, argely due tothe efforts of Suresh Rambaran, who established G and H Promotions. As one of



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the first promoters of chutney music in London, he organised some performancesas charity events to raise money to send to Trinidad. In general, however, theperformances ave not been profit-generating nd have been organised because ofRambaran's personal interest in contemporary ndian-Caribbean music (Suresh

Rambaran, pers. comm.). Before these public musical performances, he mainmedium for exploring issues of identity was through literature; indeed, apreoccupation with delineating identities is apparent n the writings of manyIndian-Caribbean uthors. In his opening address to the conference on EastIndians n the Caribbean 1979), Selvon commented 1987: 17):

I wrote a story once which was based on fact, about a Trinidad ndian whocouldn't get a room to live in because he English andlord idn't want peoplefrom he Westindies, nly bona ide Indians rom he banks f the Ganges. So myboy posed as a true-true real] ndian nd got the room...But ruth s even strangerthan

iction,for when I

appliedo the Indian

HighCommission n London or a

job, I was told that was not an Indian ecause came rom Trinidad nd was notborn n India.

As a tradition which has developed n diasporic ontexts, drawing upon diversecultural and musical elements, chutney too is a reflection of the variety ofidentities adopted by individuals. This is true on a more general level inconsidering Caribbeans n the diaspora and their musical choices. Manuel writesthat a typical New York West Indian may have various overlapping thnic self-identities, for example, as Trinidadian, as West Indian, as Black, and...as

American. Musical tastes reflect these intersections, as young West Indians growup enjoying rap and R&B as well as the Sparrow in their parents' recordcollections 1995: 209-10).

Diversity in musical choices and overlapping dentities are general features ofwhat Slobin (1993) terms the intercultural etwork n his survey of the ways inwhich music travels to different parts of the world. Taking into account themusical biographies of individuals is one way of probing the workings of anintercultural network. As an example, consider the musical biography of theGuyanese singer Terry Gajraj, who migrated o the USA during the 1980s. With

his recording Guyana Baboo (1994), Gajraj became one of the best-sellingrecorded Indian-Caribbean ingers. Traditional Indian elements have beentransmitted o him through he family from one generation o another. His fathertaught him to play the accordion, he harmonica and the guitar. He learnt someHindi and singing from his grandfather, who was a pundit (Hindu priest). By theage of six, Gajraj was performing at his family's mandir (temple). The music ofritual and the traditions ransmitted hrough he family have been combined withother musical influences. He later freelanced with soca groups (the OriginalPioneers and Melody Makers) and performed at weddings, fairs, and estatedances. In 1989, like many other young Caribbeans seeking their fortunes, hemoved to the USA, where his recording areer was launched due to a fortunate etof circumstances and chance meetings. During the 1990s he was invited toperform n the calypso tents at the Trinidad carnival. His own evaluation of his



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Ramnarine: Indian music n the diaspora: ase studies f chutney 149

chutney style is that he blends Indian songs with influences from soca, reggae andrap. From his base in New York he travels to different performance venues,including different cities in the USA and in Canada, he Caribbean as a chutneysinger and as a calypsonian) and London. The diverse nfluences which we find in

the musical biography of this singer are those that constitute the tradition ofchutney as well.

A performance given by Terry Gajraj in London in 1995 attractedapproximately 400 people-a good turnout, according to the organisers. Thevenue was a school hall which had been hired for the evening. Beer from theCaribbean nd Indian ood like roti (a type of bread) and chicken curry was sold.Chutney in London, unlike in the Caribbean or amongst the Caribbeancommunity n New York, is a little-known music which barely attracts audiencesbeyond the Indian-Caribbean ommunity. The best-known Asian musical genre inBritain is

bhangra,he music of British Asian

youthculture Baumann 1990)

which emerged during the 1970s. Through bhangra, a re-invented Punjabi folktradition which developed in London and in the Midlands, he Punjabi sphere ofinfluence extends to other South Asian communities in Britain, the USA andAustralia. Whether audiences are small or large, both chutney and bhangra areexamples of popular musical genres which have developed n the diaspora, whichcross many geographic, political and cultural boundaries nd which are performedin urban centres ike London. Both forms reveal influences from diverse sources.Bhangra musicians in London and in the Midlands, like chutney musicians inTrinidad, have looked to African-Caribbean models of musical expression. Yet

bhangra as a re-invented and re-contextualised tradition is rooted in a folktradition rom a defined region-the Punjab. By contrast, he origins of chutneybeyond the Caribbean re difficult to trace. Bhojpuri raditions may be dominantamong the Indian-Caribbean opulation, but elements ncorporated rom differentregions in India together with those from local contexts in the Caribbean alsocontribute o chutney.

Conclusions

Exchangesbetween

travellers,and

experiencesin the New

World,led to the

development of new traditions and identities as soon as the first indenturedlabourers rom India undertook he journey over the kala pani (black water) toTrinidad. Sometimes the language of alienation and grief is used in song texts ofmigrants (as Stokes 1992 describes in relation to southeast Turkish migrants nIstanbul). Such use is not often found in contemporary chutney texts. Instead,themes of courtship and marriage are prevalent and seem to have their origin inthe performance f chutney n private, nitiatory ontexts as the status of a womanchanged to that of a bride or a mother. Recent changes in the tradition-the movefrom private to public performance, the entry of male performers and the

increasing links between chutney and other Caribbean musical genres-all have apolitical importance. The arrival of chutney at the forefront of popular culture hascoincided with the Indian-Caribbean ascent to political power, which culminated



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Fig. 3: Promotional poster for a chutney show in London. Reproduced by kindpermission of S. Rambaran.

oTd G & k i TIONS ANDTRINIDAD GUYANA USICCONNECTION'SAY OQ R V- WAVE

Land of de Calypso, Steelpan, Limbo, Soca, Carnival, Chutney, a les, Soucouya & Jab Ja

Saturday 2r t r

oP/ m, ti /ate- ta~ SELB Y CENTRE enhanm, London Ni7

wit- to c a leb P

LARTIN J'- Choice 96.9 fm - D Prince ? LII CUrU & D C?huney.mb.LW~llE .-

D goes gentstion f

Doh forget to tune int4 WAX & LENNY RANKS every Friday5-7 Pm. n PowerJam 92 fIm.

with the election of an Indian-Caribbean rime minister in Trinidad. Chutneyshows create a sense of relatedness between Indian-Caribbeans ia the use ofwhat are perceived to be Indian elements from the ancestral homeland. Theseelements are a cultural heritage on one hand, and on the other, the result of acontinuing nteraction with India.

Yet chutney s an Indian-Caribbean radition. Chutney singers incorporate hemusical procedures of other, better-known Caribbean raditions, and aim to reachas wide an audience as possible. An Indian-Caribbean dentity s affirmed amidstthe contrasting laims made about he tradition. Whether he tradition s describedas an authentic Indian one, or whether it is perceived as the result of musicalinteraction n the Caribbean, debates regarding chutney occur in the context ofasserting an Indian identity in the Caribbean, not in India. The debate is aboutprotecting Indian culture n the Caribbean rom other powerful nfluences on one

hand, and on the other, about celebrating the Indian contribution o the diversecultural ife of the Caribbean. The political significance of chutney, which I haveonly touched upon here, partly accounts or the vast differences n the reception of



20/22


the tradition in Trinidad and in London. In Trinidad, chutney is now anotherestablished popular genre. In London, it is hardly known outside the relativelysmall Indian-Caribbean ommunity. Performances re advertised o, and attendedby, members of that community.

I have described chutney as hitherto predominantly emale traditions performedin private and rural contexts (such as mathkor), which have been transformed ntoa popular genre enjoying current favour. Difficulties in tracing its history areparallelled by those in attempting o trace the genealogical histories of Indian-Caribbean amilies. Oral testimonies are vital in the study of Indian-Caribbeanexperiences. Yet these are incomplete and reflect the subjective experience of thenarrator. V.S. Naipaul eloquently expresses the uncertainties as follows: In ourblood and bone and brain we carry the memories of thousands of beings. Wecannot understand ll the traits we have inherited. Sometimes we can be strangersto ourselves

(1994: 9).The

attemptboth to trace the

history of,and to uncover

the sources which contribute to, chutney is informed by more than a generalethnomusicological interest in the origins and history of different traditions(Brailoiu 1984, Blum et al 1993). The memory of chutney as a hitherto femaletradition performed on specific occasions is central to the interpretation f thetradition I have pursued here. Women's performance of chutney (music anddance) was a celebration of the extension of the family. It was part of the rites inwhich new kinship ties were established through a marriage or a birth.Contemporary hutney shows create a sense of a wider kinship whereby peopleare linked by ties (historical, political and cultural) which extend beyond the

family to the community. Even if members of that community emain unknown oeach other, they share a common inheritance. This is a sense of relatedness whichis expressed by men as well as by women, and which encompasses Indian-Caribbean communities around the world. If in the diasporic context describedhere, London, chutney is still only really known to members of a specificcommunity, t is nevertheless a tradition which may ultimately oin other ethnicones, including the better-known Trinidadian alypso and steel band, ostling foraudiences and funding on the World Music stage.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My current esearch n chutney nd he writing f this paper have been made possible bya postdoctoral esearch ellowship n music rom Brunel University College. I am alsograteful o all the people n Trinidad nd n London who have talked o me about heirfamily histories uring hort ield research rips dating rom 1990.My interest n chutneystems from those informal onversations. n particular, thank Suresh Rambaran orcontinuing o invite me to chutney vents n London, nd or providing nsights nto thetradition, nd Marigold Saul, nformation fficer at the High Commission f Trinidadand Tobago, who directed my attention o the reports bout he Carnival f 1996 n theTrinidad Guardian.



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152 British ournal fEthnomusicology, ol. (1996)

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Tina K. Ramnarine is Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Music at Brunel UniversityCollege. She has undertaken field research in Scandinavia for her doctoral thesis,

Changing soundscapes: music and identity in Finland (University of Manchester,1994), and in the Caribbean. Contact address: Department of Arts, Brunel UniversityCollege, Twickenham Campus, 300 St Margaret's Road, Twickenham TW1 1PT,England. E-mail:

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