Rikki Jai wins $2M
Monday, February 21 2011
T&T Newsday Reports.
The first $2 million grand prize of the 2011 Carnival season was awarded to Rikki Jai, who defeated 14 competitors at the Chutney Soca Monarch final before a massive crowd at Skinner Park, San Fernando in the early hours of yesterday morning.
And speaking to reporters following his victory, the 46-year-old Rikki Jai, (Samraj Jaimungal), could barely contain his joy at winning the crown for a sixth time saying, “God is good and the People’s Partnership is good.”
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar took centre stage with Arts and Multiculturalism Minister Winston “Gypsy” Peters to present Rikki Jai with a replica cheque for $2 million, a historic sum which Persad-Bissessar had promised to the winners of all calypso, soca, chutney soca and Panorama competitions during the Partnership’s general election campaign last May.
After the announcement that he had won, Rikki Jai dropped to his knees in front of the cheering crowd of an estimated 30,000, then got up and walked toward the official party but had to be helped as he nearly collapsed, overcome with emotion.
“I have to say my belly was in my hand, coming down from five to second, my belly still cramping, my belly still cramping. I happy, I just happy,” Rikki Jai later told reporters.
Rikki Jai, singing his own composition “White Oak and Water”, dethroned defending monarch Ravi Bissembhar (Ravi B), who performed “Ah Kyah Come”, in a competition by which the winner was chosen through a text vote system by local and international audiences in the United States and Canada watching live on State-television CNMG.
There was heavy campaign in the press for Rikki Jai and Bissembhar in the run-up to the final. Rikki Jai’s sponsor Angostura’s White Oak ran advertisements, and so did Bissembhar’s sponsor Digicel. During the televised broadcast, advertisements ran reminding viewers to text for Rikki Jai.
The champion monarch received 18,285 votes, 7,000 more than the 11,187 votes which Bissembhar received. Another crowd favourite, Veeshal K I Persad placed third with 10,451 votes for his song, “No More Rum Again”.
The results were not well received by some patrons at Skinner Park, who chanted for Bissembhar, prompting the Prime Minister to say “We love you too Ravi.”
Rikki Jai noted it was not an easy win.
“This was no easy battle tonight, this texting thing is not what people make it out to be, but at the end of it I am very happy to be the champion Chutney Soca Monarch 2K11. I really can’t express myself, the joy is unbelievable,” he said.
During his performance late Saturday night, Rikki Jai told the tale of a man who wants to marry a woman but had no dowry except, “White Oak and Rum”. He emerged from a replica of a White Oak bottle, but later told the crowd, his song was not about rum-drinking but about love, even saying he met his wife Shellyann at a chutney soca competition and they had two sons, Ashish, six, and Vashish, four.
His experience as a chutney soca performer for more than 20 years shone through as Rikki Jai commanded the waving audience, backed by a supporting cast of break-dancers from Xtreme Break Dance Company, traditional East Indian dances by Premala Dancers and costumed Carnival revellers.
Bissembhar too delivered a show-stopper, featuring elaborate dance numbers, dressing in a suit that shot out fireworks that blazoned the letter R on his back. Many of the competitors portrayed over-the-top productions characteristic of Bollywood musicals, however Rikki Jai won over the television audience to capture his sixth crown. He previously won in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 and tied in 2003 with veteran chutney artiste Heeralal Rampartap.
“My heart beating fast here. I’ve been down this road before but this one special, this one special, that’s all I could say,” Rikki Jai said, adding, “I feel great to be the first person to win the two million dollars and I want to wish and extend all the best wishes to the next person who takes the next two million.”
The Government-sponsored $2 million was a staggering amount compared to the second prize of $100,000 which is funded by the competition’s promoter Southex.
The third place winner is to receive $60,000 with $30,000 going to each competitor placing fourth to 15th.
What does Rikki Jai plan to do with his winnings?
“What I plan to do with it? I can’t say yet, but good things, good things. Trust me, I’m not going to waste this two million dollars. It’s going to be put in the right place, in the right time for the right people. In my religion, I’m a Hindu, charity really and truly should not be something of glory, if you want to do it, you do it and take the blessing from the Lord,” he said.
Rikki Jai also announced his retirement from the Chutney Soca Monarch competition saying he now had another major Carnival competition in his sights — the calypso crown.
“This is my sixth and final time, I said it in an interview that if I win this competition in Skinner Park for the sixth time, I am retiring from Chutney Soca Monarch, and I am coming for the Calypso Monarch, that’s where I am going next,” he said. Rikki Jai, previously made it to the Calypso Monarch final at Dimache Gras in 2001 with his compositions “A Good Father” and “Identity”, placing seventh. He also won the South Calypso Monarch and the National Unattached Calypso Monarch in that same year.
The 2011 Chutney Soca Monarch competition began shortly after 9 pm on Saturday with the appearance of Guyanese Terry Gajraj, who sang “Sumatie” and had a contingent of supporters waving the national flag of Guyana.
Although greatly outnumbered, women artistes, Sally Sagram, Arti Butkoon and veteran Drupatee Ramgooni-Persad, who returned to competition after a 12-year absence, stood up strong to the men with racy songs of courtship, infidelity and sexuality. Sagram sang “Go So Nah”, Butkoon “River Lime” and Ramgoonai-Persad “Mih Lover”.
Each felt the time had come for a woman to be crowned chutney soca monarch, just as a woman had been elected prime minister last year.
Sagram even crowned herself with a tiara during her performance.
However, the men continued to dominate with Rick Ramoutar and Lalchan “Hunter” Babwah rounding off the top five.
