Dear Editor,

As a musician for a number of years I want to share my views on the recently held Chutney semi-finals on February 3, 2007, at Canje. I am not a personal friend of any of the artistes, but there was very poor judging. The judges claimed they were looking for originality mostly in the songs. Most of the artistes, however, especially the females, performed melodies from other songs. Rajesh Dubraj was not selected because they said he sang someone else’s song. What about Girley Persaud? She did a song which had been recently sung in a competition. Also the melody is that of Dhal Belly. Joyce Harris’s melody was Kanchan; ‘Chalgayee’ Kamla almost sang the same song she did in a recent competition. Fiona started her song with another song lyric.

Of the entertainers that night I have Rajesh, Fiona and Prem Singh. Haresh did well but melody alone cannot win a competition. Most artistes lacked presentation and stage appearance. I think the best stage performances were by Prem Singh, Fiona, Rajesh and also Girley Persaud, who had good back-up dancers. Let the judges do a better job. I know the co-coordinator is a respectable person and he needs to check on the originality of the songs. Don’t make a blunder at the finals.

Yours faithfully,

Mahadeo Singh