Everybody Loves Raymond tonight

SEETA PERSAD

THE annual Valentine’s Day concert, Everybody Loves Raymond remains a fixture in the entertainment calendar in TT.

The show which attracts thousands each year, remains one of the most anticipated event after Carnival.

Produced by Rafi Mohamed, tonight’s show features the talent of the former Chutney Soca Monarch Ramnarine along with his brothers Richard and Rennie, and their band Dil-E-Nadan.

It is through this event that the Ramnarines launched the third generation of entertainers comprising their sons. Raymond’s children Varun and Vinesh, and Richard’s sons Arvin and Amish. The children all of whom are teenagers are also products of the Baal Vikas competition in the Maha Sabha school system.

Raymond started his singing career in the 90’s when he entered his first competition as part of a duet and won. He entered Mastana Bahar and placed second in the finals. In 2013 he captured the Chutney Soca Monarch title.

Dil-E-Nadan of Gasparillo has risen in popularity throughout the world and have toured extensively in the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, Holland, London and Spain.

Raymond has won many awards including best male artiste, song of the year (Someday), best lyricist and best soca chutney band, all at the 103FM Hall of Fame Awards while the band has copped the Best Band Award on three occasions at Miami carnival. Among the top artistes that he has performed alongside are John Legend, Earth Wind and Fire, Shaggy, Kumar Sanu, Brandy, Mr Vegas and the Mighty Sparrow. In 2016, he was the recipient of the Best International Artiste award in Holland.

Raymond will be performing alongside India’s newest emerging song star, Amit Mishra, 25. Mishra is currently riding high on the success of his film song, Bulleya from the epic film, Aye Dil Hai Mushkil.

This upcoming star, is a trained musician, mastering the violin, keyboards and flutes. He is known for composing jingles and has also worked as an arranger doing several remixes. He coined musical pieces known as Manma Emotion Jaage for the film, Dilwale and Sau Tarah Ke for Dishoom. He also did the song, Seedha Saadha for the Bollywood film, Commando 2.

Mishra collaborated with Kamal Khan to record the song Radio Vibes for the film Tubelight. Mishra says participating in reality shows helped him hone his skills. “It feels great to know that people are finally taking note of me,” Mishra said. His unique voice earns him many television advertisements for the daily soaps.

Mishra graduated with a Bachelors Degree from Lucknow University in classical music. He also learned music from Bhatkhande Music Institute located at Lucknow. He is also a member of a World Music band called Soham. Mishra and his band Trishna performed in Idea Rocks India which was aired on worldwide TV.

Avanie Joshi Indian actress and singer will also be performing at the concert.

This show will take place at Centre of Excellence, Macoya at 7 pm.