Chutney singer Rajin Dhanraj passes away

(Trinidad Express) CHUTNEY singer Rajin Dhanraj died yesterday at the hospital where he had been warded since September.

Dhanraj, 24, who became famous for his song “Go Nah”, had been warded at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope.

Initially, he had been in a coma in the Intensive Care Unit and was being fed intravenously.

However, in recent weeks he had recuperated and was talking with friends and relatives, according to music producer and cultural activist Ajit Praimsingh.

Praimsingh said, “He passed away on his own. But if he had survived he might have had problems. When I spoke to his father he said Rajin got food poisoning. But I heard if he were to come out of hospital he would have been a vegetable.”

Dhanraj was Synergy TV’s Chutney Star in 2008, and this year he placed second in the final of the National Chutney Monarch.

In 2010, he was one of the main entertainers for the People’s Partnership coalition.

A posting on his Facebook profile on October 11 stated: “God I need u. What has happened to me. Am I leaving here to come to you. Lord why is someone so close to me (who I could call my own) doing me bad. There is so much evil. My condition is not medical. I need you Lord. Please take this all away. I want my life back.”

Many persons have posted condolences on his Facebook profile bidding him farewell, among them president of the National Chutney Foundation of Trinidad and Tobago (NCFTT), Vijay Ramlal Rai.

He wrote, “Would like to extend heartfelt and sincere condolences to the family and friends of the late Rajin Dhanraj. We as a nation has lost a great, yet humble cultural ambassador. Death always leaves us with unanswered questions only allowing us to trust God within.”