AJEET PRAIMSINGH:
AN INSPIRATION
By Nalini Parasram
Guardian Central Bureau
Apna Desh
Sunday Guardian
January 23, 2000
Page 6
To fans of Indian culture, Praimsingh is a household name. Ajeet Praimsingh, prominent businessman and
producer and marketer of Indian music, is no less than a cultural visionary on
the Indo-Trinidadian landscape.
Praimsingh
has spent most of his life at the forefront of cultural activities, donning the
various caps of organiser, businessman, adviser and promoter. Founding member of the Mere Desh Committee
(established in 1991) and currently its co-ordinator, Praimsingh has
continuously strived to ensure that Indian culture receives the recognition it
deserves.
The
Mere Desh (My Country) Committee was established with the aim of
"celebrating Indian Arrival Day annually" and "to highlight the
contributions of unsung heroes and heroines of Indian culture and
nation-building." Over the years,
the organisation has magnified various artforms through competitions for
biraha, the tassarama and mike-o-rama.
They continue to recognise the works of various artistes at their annual
awards ceremony. This year, Praimsingh
explained, "the focus will be on doubles and dhantal. There will be a competition for each with
prizes worth $10,000."
He
is also an executive member of the National Chutney Foundation of Trinidad and
Tobago and the Public Relations Officer of the television show, Tarana. No wonder then, that he is popularly known
as the "Indian Connection."
Born
on November 18, 1953, the youngest of three children of George and Popo
Praimsingh, Ajeet entered a household with a rich heritage of Indian culture
and traditions. His life path saw him
following in the footsteps of his late grandfather, Babu Praimsingh, who had
left Bihar, India, for the West Indies.
Babu was a pioneer in his own right, setting up the first pooja store
dealing with religious materials for pooja, books, pictures and records in the
1940s. Today, together with his wife,
Radica, Ajeet Praimsingh is proprietor of the well established Praimsingh's
Pooja Bhavan Ltd of Chaguanas and Curepe.
But
Praimsingh is not your ordinary cultural activist. He also documents cultural history in his own way. His photo albums read like a history of our
musical past. Photographs of numerous
visiting artistes such as Amitabh Bachan and Asha Bhosle are interspersed with
some of Praimsingh with local artistes of the past and present. Newspaper articles on various cultural
issues and events have been carefully kept within these same pages. Tucked in among them is a 1946 flyer for a
play, Naya Zamana, whose entry fee was 50¢.
Praimsingh's
deep love of the culture has led him to help many aspiring artistes to get
their feet on solid musical ground. He
has produced over 25 artistes under the Praimsingh recording label during his
ten years and more in the business - successful performers such as Rasika
Dindial, Devanand Gattoo, Kenneth Seepersad and many others. The range of music he has produced has been
wide as well - from devotional songs to chutney. For his success in this arena, he credits his sister, Indira, who
resides in the USA, as his "backbone."
Of
his views on the phenomenon of crossover music such as "soca chutney"
or "chutney parang", he said: "What I like is that we in
Trinidad have gained our own identity and we are teaching the world
outside. I am 100 percent for
that. We have a style that is second to
none. Even though there is the
crossover, we are one people. We used
one another's material and we are reaching somewhere and are getting
recognition throughout the world.
"I
continue to praise the people in Trinidad and Tobago for being innovative. Our singing is different from any other part
of the world, except for the imitation of film singing. Our forefathers gave us that heritage over
150 years ago and we must be proud of ourselves. It is very important to recognise ourselves."
Have
we really begun to recognise ourselves?
Praimsingh has seen several changes occurring on the cultural scene over
the years. He seems to think we have
largely crossed that bridge of cultural darkness when, he said, Indian culture
was sidelined on the national stage.
"Nowadays, even gyms are playing chutney music for people to work out. We are a people who like up-tempo music and
the beauty of chutney lies in its merriment."
However,
he feels that there is still not enough national recognition for some of our
indigenous creations such as the dhantal - created out of the horseshoe and
iron. He also pointed out another
feature of the changing times: "Before, singers used to sing for their own
happiness, for free. Now many artistes
have become very prosperous. Today,
artistes could smile and not depend solely on handouts."
Praimsingh
feels that a major requirement for the success of the contemporary artiste is
to be a good entertainer. He/she needs
to interpret the mood of the public.
"Sometimes the artiste must be able to render a classical song and
a film song, too. It depends on the
listener's mood. Sometimes they need to
hear some Mukesh or Kishore Kumar."
To aspiring songsters, he advised, "To gain popularity, you must
first of all sing good lyrics and then you must take care of your voice."
As
to the direction in which local Indian music is moving, he feels that there are
two trends: the artist who sticks to traditional music and who caters for the
local population as well as the one who looks towards the overseas market and
who leans more to a calypso-like sound.
"Most of my artistes sing for the traditional market, which I approve
of."
Always
looking towards sustaining the future of local Indian music, Praimsingh firmly
believes that we must look towards the proper education of our singers and
musicians. "We must set up
workshops for Hindi classes and vocal control.
Money should also be utilised in the areas of the development of music
and of lyrics for nation-building songs with positive messages. The successful artistes could be employed as
teachers. We need to educate our
artistes for the future."