SUNDAR POPO - PIONEER IN ETHNIC
CROSSOVER MUSIC
Trinidad Guardian
January 1, 2000
Page 15
No
one before him had dared to mix the racy rhythms of Indian folk
singing with the pulsating vibrations of soca, the beat of calypso and the
strains of the dholak. Chutney pioneer,
Sundar Popo, has successfully taken his music to the world proving that Indian
music is not for Indian people alone.
This
remarkable accomplishment is no accident.
He comes from a rich musical background. As an unborn baby in his mother's womb he felt the powerful
stirrings of the religious Hindu songs that she sang. His father, a tassa drummer, was also an accomplished musician.
Both
mother and father took their act to the road performing in the quiet rural
villages of Trinidad. They often
supplied the only music at farewell nights, weddings and prayers. However, he did not being singing with the
band until he was 15 and did so for 35 cents and 50 cents per show.
He
began his career as a singer with film songs and as a young man he made the
long journey from his home in Monkey Town, Barrackpore to Chaguanas where like
many his age he sat before the big screen at Jubilee Cinema and dreamed of
being a star.
Today
he can boast that he is a star having made a tremendous impact on the international
music scene.
He
was a 27-year-old who simply loved to sing when he made his debut with
"Nanie and Nana" in 1971.
Back
then he had neither a record nor public recognition. Now with more than 50 records to his credit and many hits such as
"Oh My Lover", "Don't Fall in Love" and "Scorpion
Girl" Sundar Popo is a household name.
No
one before him had dared to mix rhythms of Indian folk with soca. He was aided in his progress by Moean
Mohammed, musicologist Harry Mahabir and Ed Watson. The result was a musical mixture that was so spicy and rich that
it left all who heard it spellbound. It
was quite fittingly dubbed chutney. The
crossover bet made him a star by the age of 30. Since then he has proven that Indian music can gain wide
acceptance by the population regardless of race.
Even
in the early days of his pioneering work he chose to sing his songs as a
mixture of standard English and the local dialect so that they could be
appreciated by all who heard them.
He
has won the Indian Cultural Pageant four times and this led organisers to
create a special category for his original compositions.
He
has performed with international Indian stars Kanchan and Babla, Anup Jalotha,
Amitab Bachan and Keshor Kumar and with popular local calypsonians such as
Black Stalin whose "Sundar Where the Song" helped him cop the
monarchy.
He
was awarded a Sunshine Music Award in 1993 for the role that he has played in
the development of world music and received a Caribbean Music Award the
following year.
He
has also performed before huge crowds all over the world. Thousands of music lovers have enjoyed his
chutney music in Holland, Suriname, Canada, Jamaica, England, Guyana and the
USA.
Arguably
one of his best albums is "Come and Sing and Dance With the Champ." It contains some of his most popular hits
such as "Polourie Beena Chutney", "Tears in My Eyes",
"A Mother's Love" and "O My Lover You Leave Me and Gone."