Yankaran—first ever Chutney Road March Champ
By SEETA PERSAD Monday, March 12 2007 Newsday

WELL-KNOWN to the East Indian community in TT,
New York-based Trinidadian Anand Yankaran has
created history by becoming the first ever
Chutney Road March Champion of this country.

According to Vijay Ramlal of the National Chutney
Foundation of TT (NCFTT), his winning composition
“Jo Jo-Tarsey Meira Jeera” was played throughout
the country at various National Carnival
Commission (NCC) regional Carnival judging points
by DJs and live bands a total of 117 times.

For his effort, Yankaran gets a new Mitsubishi
Lancer — the same prize awarded to the Soca Road
March champ Machel Montano. Speaking on Sangeet
106.1 FM, from New York, Yankaran was overjoyed
to hear the news. The tune was just one of many
he has released through the years, he added,
expressing surprise that the selection climbed the charts in TT.

Other tunes in the line-up for Chutney Soca Road
March include “Rum Is Meh Lover” by Ravi
Bissember and “Put Up Yuh Glass” by Neeshan
Prabhu. The NCC monitored the tunes played in
Port-of-Spain, Couva, Talparo, Gasparillo, San
Fernando, Marabella, Tunapuna, Sangre Grande,
Penal, Siparia, Arouca, Point Fortin, Fyzabad,
Chaguanas, Carapichaima, St James, Curepe,
Barrackpore, Princes Town, San Juan and St Helena.

Among the top Chutney-based bands playing on the
road for Carnival were JMC 3Veni, Karma, Dil-E-Nadan, and BRMZ.

Meanwhile, the NCFTT guaranteed that the 2008
National Chutney Road March would be bigger and
better since major sponsors have already been
obtained for the competition, which will include second and third positions.

Yankaran, the elder brother of Rakesh Yankaran,
TT’s top chutney artiste, has been living in New
York for many years. He has performed in a number
of shows in New York and Canada.

Among the top songs produced by Yankaran are
“Malineya” , “Humsa Bolaway”, “Laylo Laylo”,
“Nanda Baba”, “Zindabad Trinbago”, “Gunguroo
Bajay”, “Indra Puri Say”, “Soch Samajh Abhiman”,
“Ranga Dall”, “Bola Baba”, “Kya Kar Mai”, and “Janay Maha.”

According to music promoter, Ajeet Praimsingh, it
was in 1989 that Yankaran entered the spotlight
with his song “Zindabad Trinbago” which was
recorded on his first album Victory.

However, it all started for him at the age of
ten, when he was the leader of the Waterloo Hindu
School choir. Anand led his group of singers to
win the Divali singing competitions put out by
the Maha Sabha back then. One of Yankaran’s mega
hits, “Nanda Baba,” remains a top song which is
played on the local East Indian radio frequency on a regular basis.

“His specialty is mixing soca with classical and
calypso. Although he has not performed in TT for
many years, he has been creating waves with his
songs in New York,” Praimsingh said.

In recent years he toured extensively in North
America, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana,
Suriname, Jamaica and England, Canada and the United States.

He formally studied music theory with local
musicians Bansraj Ramkissoon, Mungal Patessar,
Pradip Shankar, Sunil Verma and Kavita Verma from
India and was taught the harmonium by younger brother, Rakesh.

He can also play the dholak, tabla and sitar.

Roj (Roger James)

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