The imminent arrival in the UK of Terry Gajraj – affectionately known to all as the Guyana Baboo – is an occasion for anticipation and excitement. His shows are a pleasure, not simply because of the infectiously danceable chutney rhythms but also thanks to his personality. On stage, he’s a generous and engaging performer.
Terry was born in the village of Fyrish, near the Corentyne River, in Guyana, the eldest of three children of a school teacher. As Roshan Shiwcharran of GuyanaChunes.com relates, “he had no TV in his home, so his only entertainment was learning to play every single musical instrument he could get his hands on. Having no TV was a blessing in disguise.”
Interviewed by Erline Andrews for Caribbean Beat, Terry recalled: “I was born into the music. My uncles were musicians. My grandfather was a priest in a mandir. Every Sunday morning he’d be singing, chanting. I got into it very naturally, very unconsciously. My uncles taught me a little guitar, a little keyboard. When I was a teenager I felt like I really wanted to perform.”
As a result, Terry was already primed for a career in music when he heard Sundar Popo’s classic, groundbreaking track, Nani and Nana, released in 1970. It relates a tragic story, but Guyana’s future star was blown away by the combination of English lyrics and an Indian melody. There is a parallel here with the way that Lord Shorty realised that Indian instrumentation and rhythms combined with English-language calypso lyrics made a winning combination – the rest, of course, is soca history.
The two forms of music, chutney and soca, are distinguished by their Caribbean DNA. As Terry explained, “Yes, our foreparents came from India, but I’m also a Caribbean person. I feel I have to represent both: I’m a Caribbean man and an Indian man at the same time.” It’s a heritage he celebrates in Indo-Caribbean Man, a song that involved a lot of research.
After a spell of teaching in Georgetown, Terry made the big decision to emigrate to the USA. He has admitted that, without any family around him, life was very hard to begin with. Nevertheless, in 1994 it inspired him to write the song that made his name: Guyana Baboo, which expresses his love of his country. That brought Terry Gajraj international respect and put Guyana on the musical map.
One of the hardest-working performers out there, Terry has lost count of the number of songs he’s written. His prodigious work-rate has seen him turn out more than 30 albums. He performs week in, week out throughout the year and has toured the Caribbean, the States, the UK, Europe and India. He’s performed live at carnivals around the world, from Labor Day to Trinidad to Notting Hill. Even more remarkably, the Guyana Baboo became the first singer from the Caribbean to perform at the Bollywood Music Awards, the Indian equivalent of the Grammys.
Not bad for a Guyanese village boy who grew up without a TV!
Terry Gajraj performs at Gill Banquet Hall in Acton on 30 November, along with Ravi B, Nisha B and special guests Kalyan Kedar and Junaid Malik. Soca News will bring you a full report of the show.
