C is for Chutney

Dear all, today we have a guest, Dan:


Wow, I'm a guest blogger. I feel important!

(I am very easily pleased)

Anyway, on with the alphabet . . .

C is for: Chutney

Not the edible kind (although as an aside, achar, a spicy mango pickle/chutney type thing is one of my favourite food discoveries here, spicy/sweet/sour/tangy deliciousness, let down only by it's rather offputting dark grey colour).

Chutney is in fact devoured through the ears.  It is, simply speaking, East Indian Carribean music, a baffling collision of calypso, soca, bollywood songs and traditional indian styles.  The singing can sound whiny to western ears, and the music can sound cheaply produced and rough around the edges, but it certainly has an energy, style and flavour all of its own.

Together with the baffling mix of musical influences is a strong emphasis on storytelling in the lyrics. Almost all songs tell a story, and some even come in a series of tracks based on the same backing music, telling different aspects of the same story.  A popular series at the moment 'Catch me Lovah' tells the story of a man finding his girlfriend in the car with another woman, who as the series progresses is revealed to have been his best friend, wearing a wig.

Nearly all Chutney songs are about either infidelity, drinking rum (generally the men drinking rum, and complaining about the women telling them off for it) or whining.  Whining means dancing like you are having sex.  Again with Chutney this leads to a thundering collision of cultures, with twisty bollywood hand movements and side to side shaking hips combined with the low down and dirty grind of typical dancehall/soca dancing.

So altogether, a unique and spicy flavour, but it can be an aquired taste.

Video for 'catch me lovah' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFtUZ




[Me again: Just to say thank you for your emails and text messages; I really appreciate reading about what you are up to, even though I often get over nostalgic when I realize that "my world and people" are changing without me being there.
Haven't received any snail mail yet, so it takes over a month to arrive...
Loving hugs to all]

B is for Bai & Bumper

B is for Bai & Bumper

You read it “bye” and it means “boy”. People like describing you as they approach you in the road. So if you’re a guy, you’ll hear:

Wappenin whai bai? (How are you white boy?)

Talking about bais brings me to the next word. They like a good bumper!

The dictionary gives 2 explanations:

1 - a horizontal bar fixed across the front or back of a motor vehicle to reduce damage in a collision or as a trim.

2 - archaic – a generous glassful of an alcoholic drink, typically one drunk as a toast.

It also includes a phrase, that does seem more close to the point: “bumper-to-bumper: very close together, as cars in a traffic jam”

I suppose that from the above phrase you might imagine what a bumper is: buttocks.

All the Chutney, soca and dancehall musics (Dan will further explore these when the time comes) have to have this word in them. Or at least almost all of them.

So, nothing better than giving you some music: hold on to my bumper baby!

The other day Pam said that this word reminds her of me. She was my roommate at the Rima during the In Country Orientation and put up with my soca music. It was great fun sharing with you!