CHUTNEY
The word Chutney was derived from a hindi word that was used to describe a hot, peppery mix.
Chutney music was influenced by the east Indians, brought to the Caribbean as indentured slaves. This type of music was a view into the lives of the Indians. Their lyrics reflected their surroundings, and were used to inspire a culture far from their homeland.
One such artist whose work reflected these aspects of Chutney was Sundar Popo, of Barrackpore in South Trinidad. The motivations for his songs came from his love of his maternal aunt, who raised him from childhood, as well as observing East Indian children emigrating and seemingly abandoning their elders. His songs also included messages about the usual infatuation of East Indian men toward women. No matter how simple the messages, it was these that had by the mid-1970’s, increased chutney’s popularity in the Indo Caribbean community.
By the 1980’s Chutney was caught up the evolution of music of the Caribbean as a whole. As a result, chutney evolved into a new fashion called Indian soca or Chutney soca.
Tassa drums are found within societies of the Indo-Caribbean people. The word "tassa" comes from the persian "tash" and hindi "tasha". When played in a tassa group, one tassa is the "cutter" and the other is the "fulley" or "fuller", as their role is to make the rhythm or "taal" sound more full. The fulley is playing a steady rhythm while the cutter plays the more intricate rhythms and improvisational. A large bass drum, called a baydum, is also played filling in a deep sound and in addition there is someone with a jhanj or jhaal (brass cymbals) playing in the group also. Tassa drumming can usually be found at a various Indo-Cultural events such as Hosay, Hindu weddings, or even parties and certain clubs. The rhythms ("taal" (hindi) or colloquial "hands") are quite complex and each have many variations. Some basic hands are: tikora, wedding tikora, wedding hand, nagaara, dingolay, steel pan, chau bola (hindi for "4 words", as this is a 4 beat rhythm), kalinaa, khemta, and bhajan. Hosay (Muharram) festival rhythms include: saada mahaatam, chalta mahaatam, teen choppa, and nabi sarwar.
Parang
Deriving from a colloquial term parranda, abbreviated to parran, the custom originated from Trinidad’s Hispanic heritage. Parang is a custom usually celebrated at Christmas, from the last week in November to January 6. The parang singers, the parranderos, visit neighbouring homes to entertain them, while playing music on cuatros, guitars, maracas (chac-chacs) mandolins, and other instruments. The uniform comprises of clean cut white shirts and black pants, while women don, more flamboyant colours-red, yellow and green, and sometimes, with a flower in their hair.