Chutney Music: Kaise Bani

A Singer is Born

Believe it or not, last evening I sang not one but two songs before a distinguished live audience! Never too old a dog to learn new tricks!

At Club Literati’s 12^th Anniversary celebration, House-full with the charming and gracious ladies in their dazzling party-wear, and a few gentlemen who I solemnly affirm and attest were there entirely for their love for literature; I was expected to recite a poem by an eminent poet but dropped the idea at the last moment for fear of ruining the mood of the fun-filled evening with a solemn and sombre poem. Instead, I sang O Rangabati, O Rangabati[i]- possibly the most-popular Sambalpuri song ever; and Kaise Bani- a Caribbean Bhojpuri and Angrezi fusion song.

Club Literati, Bhopal

Club Literati members are connoisseurs of literature, music, and art; amazingly versatile, well-read, and well-informed; yet few had heard the songs I sang. That was an advantage. Startled at my impromptu singing without invitation or warning; and clueless about the songs, meaning, lyricists, and original singers; they clapped vigorously which I interpreted as a sitting ovation though spouse is certain it was a discrete cue from the refined audience for me to end my performance.

Kaise Bani

Kaise Bani is from Sundar Popo’s 1969 album Nana Aur Nani: Don’t Cry which became an instant hit. The song has been incorporated into many Bollywood films, the latest being Dabang 2; and several singers have sung it over the years, but the original song by Sundar Popo is a true delight.

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/r9rKtCSYU7Q

The lyrics are given in endnotes.[ii]

Why did the song become so popular?

Sundar Popo, born Sundarlal Popo Bahora on November 4, 1943, in Monkey Town, Barrackpore, Trinidad and Tobago, is celebrated as the father of Chutney Music. He grew up in a musical family; his mother was a singer, and his father a tassa drummer. Sundar was from a family of indentured labour from Bihar which was forcibly taken to the West Indies by the British colonial masters to work at the plantations.

Nearly 1.6 million indentured labours- mostly from Bihar, UP, and Tamil Nadu- were exported to Malayasia, Mauritius, West Indies, and other distant locations.# Uprooted from their native land, these forced migrants worked hard and built a new life, and many of them distinguished themselves including in politics.

A few notable descendants of Indian indentured labourers in Trinidad and Tobago who achieved significant success are:

·      V.S. Naipaul won the Nobel prize for literature in 2001.

·      Basdeo Panday  served as the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001 and was a significant political figure in the country.

·      Kamla Persad-Bissessar was the first female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, serving from 2010 to 2015.

·      Rudranath Capildeo, a prominent mathematician and politician, was the leader of the opposition in Trinidad and Tobago.

·      Sundar Popo: Father of Chutney Music.

Even after centuries, the Indian diaspora has not forgotten their native land, language, and culture. Chath Puja is celebrated with traditional fervour and religiosity in Mauritius and other places with migrants from Bihar.

The new songs, music, art, and literature the diaspora created incorporates elements from the new culture and language they encountered and assimilated.

Sundar began performing at the age of 15, and though he died too soon at the age of 56, he has left behind a rich legacy. He is reckoned as the father of Chutney Music, the Caribbean fusion and rap music- a delightful wedding of Bhojpuri, Hindi, and English.

What is Phoolouri?

What is phoolouri and what is its bond with chutney? When you drop dumplings of besan batter mixed with minced onions, herbs, and spices in hot oil, you get pakode (it has been pakaoed, hence pakode); but the Bhojpuri finds that the dumpling swiftly swells in the hot cauldron, sizzling like a dainty damsel blossoming into youth, and insists it is best called phoolouri. I agree with the Bhojpuris.

But why phoolouri bina chutney kaise bani? Why do you need phoolouri as an ingredient to make chutney? का तू एतना साधारण बात नइखे समझत? बहुत बेवकूफ बा तू! Now, don’t be such a budbak. If you had no problem making sense of Arra Hile Balia Hile Chapra Hilela, how could you miss the beauty of this delightful Bhojpuri construction? Now read this: phoolouri, bina chutney, kaise bani? How can one enjoy hot and crisp phoolouri without a teekha chutney made by grinding on a silbatta green chili, garlic, desi tamatar, and dhania patti? If you like, you may translate it thus: Pakode, best paired with a spicy chutney.

Btw, Sundar Popo does not seem to have intended it, but it has not discouraged others to assign a risqué meaning to phoolouri which I leave to the reader’s imagination.

Kaise Bani is so adorable because it is a song dripping with nostalgia for the far-off motherland, never visited by most of the migrants and the descendants; the irreparable loss, and the pain and anguish of leaving behind a world that nurtured. It captures, beautifully and poignantly, the longing and distress of the diaspora, and their zest for life to create a new world in a new place and time. The song itself is phoolouri with a tangy chutney.

Relish and enjoy!

Memorable Songs of Sundar Popo

Sundar Popo sang many memorable songs including:

·      Nana Aur Nani

·      Jiyara Jargail Hamar

·      Surajie My Darling

·      Don’t Fall in Love

·      Naina Bandh (Trinidadiani se Preeti na karve, Kalkatiani se Preeti a karve)

My favourite is Nana Nani for which here is the link: https://youtu.be/r9rKtCSYU7Q

The lyrics are in the end notes.[iii]

Salutations to Sundar Popo, and the other great singers and musicians that the diaspora have produced.

Amitav Ghosh: Ibis Trilogy

Amitav’s Ibis Trilogy, particularly the first book, “Sea of Poppies,” provides a detailed and vivid portrayal of the lives and experiences of indentured labourers. The novel delves into the socio-economic conditions that led to the migration of these labourers and their harrowing journeys.

Bidding Adieu

If you’re reading this, you’re one of my most esteemed and precious readers. Here is great news for you. You’d enjoy a respite from the persistent carpet-bombing with boring blogs from this self-proclaimed author. No, I’m not leaving for my heavenly abode; not yet. Taking a little break from blogging.

At college, a friend with very limited proficiency in English was asked by a teacher to explain the meaning of the sentence: He suddenly left for his heavenly abode.

His reply: He was a very rich man. He had a big bungalow in a hill-station for which he left urgently since his wife insisted on an immediate holiday.

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# Indentured Labour Exported from British India

Source: Copilot:

Indentured Labour Exported from British India (1834-1920)

Mauritius: Approximately 500,000 Indian indentured laborers.

British West Indies (including Trinidad, Guyana, Jamaica, etc.): Around 500,000.

Natal (South Africa): About 150,000.

Fiji: Approximately 60,000.

East Africa (including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania): Around 32,000.

Réunion: About 30,000.

Malaysia: Approximately 250,000.

Sri Lanka: Around 200,000.

These figures highlight the significant migration of Indian laborers to various British colonies, shaping the demographic and cultural landscapes of these regions.

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[i] O Rangabati

One of my unfulfilled ambitions is to sing this song in the five major continents of the world (excluding for the time being Oceania & Antarctica); I’ve already done that in Asia and Europe; Ahoy! Amrika, Latin Amrika, and Australia; the new Super-Star of Sambalpuri Songs is arriving, as  soon as the sponsors remit the modest fees and report that all tickets have been sold out.

I wish I had done it in Latin America on the evening when Amarendra Khatua, our Ambassador at Argentina had hosted for us a dinner at Buenos Aires, but the Gundecha brothers were performing, so I had no chance!

[ii] Kaise bani (x4)

Phulari bina chatani kaise bani (x2)

Kaise bani (x4)

Phulari bina chatani kaise bani

I went Sangre Grande to meet Lal Beharry

I went Sangre Grande to meet Lal Beharry

I pull out meh coudharry and take out te dharry

Phulari bina chatani kaise bani

Phulari bina chatani kaise bani

Me and meh darling was flying in a plane

The plane catch a fire and we fall inside the cane

Kaise bani (x4)

Phulari bina chatani kaise bani (x2)

I beating meh drum and ah singing meh song

I beating meh drum and ah singing meh song

The only thing ah missing is meh bottle ah rum

Kaise bani (x4)

Phulari bina chatani kaise bani (x2)

Jack and Jill went up ah hil

to fetch ah pale of water

Jack fell down and broke is thumb

and Jill came tumbling after

Little Jack Horner sit in a corner

Eating his christmas pie

He put his thumb and pull out a plum

And said what a good boy am I

Kaise bani (x4)

Phulari bina chatani kaise bani (x2)

***

[iii] Nana Nani ghar se nilkle dhire dhire chalte hain;

Madhuraa ke dukhaan men donon jaate baithe hain.

Nana chale aage aage, Nani going behind;

Nana drinking white-rum, Nani drinking wine. (2x)

Nana riding bicycle and Nani ringing bell. (2x)

Nani locked the handle, they fall inside the well. 

My Nana so careless, he don´t care Nani drowned.

He jumped in the embankment and held onto white-rum.

Naaa chale aage aage, Nani going behind;

Nana drinking white-rum, Nani drinking wine.

Nana smoking tobacco and Nani cigarette. (2x)

The rain start to falling and the both of them get wet. 

My Nani tell my Nana, "Old man, I am getting cold;

Give me some white-rum to warm up my soul."

Nana chale aage aage, Nani going behind;

Nana drinking white-rum, Nani drinking wine.

Nana and my Nani went to tie a goat. (2x)

My Nana make a mistake and  cut off Nani's throat. 

The police hold my Nana he couldn't get no bail;

They took the poor old man and put him the jail.

Nana chale aage aage, Nani going behind;

Nana drinking white-rum, Nani drinking wine.

When I get the message, I fall down in a drain (x2)

For I know I haven't got no Nani or Nana again.

My Nani dead and gone, my Nana  gone to hang  

So I have to get one for my companion (3, thrice).

***