SHAS­TRI BOODAN

Pichaka­ree cel­e­bra­tions will go ahead ac­cord­ing to plan over this week­end even if the Hin­du Prachar Kendra (HPK) does not get State fund­ing. Head of the HPK, Gi­ta Ram­s­ingh, says her or­gan­i­sa­tion had ap­plied since Jan­u­ary for fund­ing ty­ing in with HPK's an­nu­al Phag­wa cel­e­bra­tions, sched­uled for Sun­day. Ram­s­ingh, how­ev­er, says up to last Sun­day the HPK had re­ceived no word on whether or not the Min­istry of Arts and Mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism would be re­leas­ing monies.

She said last year the min­istry trumped up $200,000 to­wards the cel­e­bra­tion which usu­al­ly cost around $500,000. Ram­s­ingh said the cel­e­bra­tions are not in lim­bo. She said whether there is spon­sor­ship from the State or not, the show goes on. Ram­s­ingh won the Pichaka­ree com­pe­ti­tion in 1995 with her ren­di­tion of A Let­ter to Ca­lyp­son­ian Chalkie. Six­teen fi­nal­ists are up against Kamal­dai Nisha Ramkissoon, the 2011 cham­pi­on. Ramkissoon, 38, a roti ven­dor of Sharpe Road, Ca­paro, won the ti­tle for a sec­ond con­sec­u­tive time last year with Raa­van Ki Raaj and took home a first prize of $20,000.

She won the ti­tle in 2009 with Cha­lay Tana tak­ing away a $5,000 prize. There was no com­pe­ti­tion the pre­vi­ous year. Pichaka­ree is an In­do-Trinidad mu­si­cal form hav­ing its roots in so­cial com­men­tary and fes­tive song.

It is the brain­child of Ravi Ji, spir­i­tu­al leader of the Hin­du Prachar Kendra in 1992. It took the name Pichaka­ree from the wa­ter­gun-type de­vice used to spray abeer dur­ing Phag­wah cel­e­bra­tions. Lyrics are pre­sent­ed in a mix of the Hin­di, Eng­lish and Bho­jpuri lan­guages.

The fi­nal­ists

Mukesh Ba­booram

Sav­it­ri Jagdeo

Pavi­t­ra Jaimun­gal

Lynn Khan-Mo­hammed

Jagdeo Pha­goo

Shiv­an Pha­goo

Mo­hip Poon­wassie

Priya Poorai

Nir­mal Ram­dass Singh

Toolsie Ram­dass Singh

Kamal­dai Ramkissoon

Tara Ramku­mar

Daykaliya Ram­nanan

Ryan Ruben

Cristal Ruben

Reena Teelucks­ingh