Sundar writer wants musical performed at Carifesta XV

VICTOR Edwards, writer, director and producer of the chutney musical Sundar is seeking a space for it in Carifesta XV. This year the cultural event will take place in Barbados from August 22-31.

“This play cries out for a place in Carifesta for our Caribbean and international audiences,” Edwards told Newsday.

The play ran at the Naparima Bowl, San Fernando from June 5-8.

Edwards is in talks with officials from the Ministry of Culture and Community Development, including Parliamentary Secretary Dr Narindra Roopnarine who attended one of the shows.

Edwards said the reviews have been encouraging, with numerous calls for repeats, not only in the south but in Port of Spain and the region.

He has scheduled talks with officials from the Education and Culture ministries to have a repeat at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (Sapa) in September, when he plans to unveil and install life-size portraits of both the late Sundar Popo and Leroy "Black Stalin" Calliste.

Referencing the attendance of Legal Affairs Minister Saddam Hosein, former senator Jayanti Lutchmedial, Princes Town MP Dr Aiyna Ali, and Roopnarine, Edwards said they need to do more than like, love and give good reviews of the play to facilitate it gaining wider audiences.

Roopnarine said under the leadership of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar there has been a sustained emphasis on supporting cultural development as a pillar of national progress.

“The prime minister’s vision recognises that investing in the arts is not ancillary to development, but rather, it is central to nation-building.”

He said government will continue to support initiatives that uplift artists, empower communities, and preserve the diverse traditions that define who we are.

Sundar, the chutney musical, focussed on many issues – love, laughter, tragedy and the social disease that is alcoholism. The pioneering chutney singer died in 2020 from complications with diabetes.

The bonding and socialisation of friends and neighbours over a "bottle" in the village rum shop was the main setting for the unfolding of the story. The pride experienced by him and his contemporaries of being able to go to a university abroad on an educational expedition to speak about a genre of music that has gained legitimate recognition alongside calypso and soca, captivated local and foreign audiences along the way.

Naparima Bowl spectators identified with the different emotions and moods the play invoked and responded accordingly – laughing loudly when the main characters in their authentic dialect "cracked a joke," singing and clapping along to the songs that are now timeless classics, becoming reticent and mournful when Sundar's aunt died, especially when Shabir Mohammed, in the lead role as Sundar, performed the solemn A Mother's Love.

Mohammed did justice to the portrayal with his golden voice and physical resemblance to the late chutney icon.

Enhancing the production with their memorable performances were Chutney Queen Drupatee Ramgoonai, calypsonian Kurt Allen in a remarkable physical representation of Black Stalin, and Omare Asson's performance of Brother Marvin’s Jahaji Bhai.

Sundar was one of the songs that won Stalin the Calypso Monarch crown in 1975.

There was no reservation as the wedding scene preceded the second half of the show. Those in the aisle seats and in the front rows, including Roopnarine and his wife Roshni, as well as former Naparima Bowl chair Avion Cook, did not resist being drawn into the wedding party to dance to the pulsating rhythm of the tassa, along with the musical accompaniment of Joey Rivers and his band, straight onto the stage in an impromptu segment.

Edwards also scored with the audience as he incorporated the diverse races in the play, which was predominantly about the impressive rise of an East Indian rum-drinking singer from Barrackpore who attracted the girls with his talent, and the subtle introduction of infidelity which may have led to the composition of the chutney ballad, "Scorpion sting me ah feeling ah go dead."

Interwoven in the narrative, which first played to audiences ten years before, were the socio-political issues such as the Black Power movement, the death of Trinidad and Tobago’s first prime minister Dr Eric Williams, and the oil and sugar protests in the 30-year period the story is cast. All these issues were brilliantly brought alive by seasoned practitioners Kurtis Gross (Fenton) and Denise Dickson Cunnigham (as his wife Mavis).

Speaking about the inclusion of the diverse races in the cast, a curriculum officer summed it up with a quote from Willem Dafoe, "Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasise about a world we aspire to."

He said, “In the latest Iere Theatre Production, Sundar, Victor Edwards achieved that feat. He weaves history, music, culture and social themes into a dramatic, soul-stirring display of theatre, carrying hidden lessons of unity and nationality shaped by the people who came.

“The play evoked nostalgia and presented a vivid journey through time. Even the musical score was a reflection of the deeper message of unity and diversity with the trap set and dholak creating a rhythm of the heartbeat of TT.”

Roopnarine told the Newsday the show held a particular resonance for him, in terms of how Popo shaped the cultural landscape of the nation.

“While chutney music as a genre existed long before Sundar Popo, rooted in folk traditions brought to these shores by Indian indentured labourers, it was Sundar Popo who brought that tradition out of the private sphere and into the national and international spotlight.

“He modernised it; he innovated; he blended. He took the familiar rhythms and themes of his ancestors and layered them with contemporary instrumentation and calypso structures, forging a sound that was both deeply rooted and refreshingly new.”

For Allen, “It was a tremendous honour to portray the legendary Dr Leroy Calliste, The Black Stalin – a calypsonian whose message and music continue to echo through the soul of our nation.

“This experience was far more than a performance; it was a journey of cultural education, creative collaboration, and deep, personal reflection. I walked away with a richer understanding and new-found appreciation for the life, struggles, and timeless music of Sundar Popo. Through this production, I gained not only artistic fulfilment but also meaningful friendships and memories that will last a lifetime.”