A decade ago the Carnival season meant, for the most part, down time for the chutney bands and a majority of solo chutney artistes. But with introduction of the Chutney Brass Festival by Randy Glasgow Productions, things changed. This year the tenth edition of the festival takes place on February 11, at 7 pm, at Chutney Park, Main Field, Guaracara. According to Randy Glasgow, when the show was launched, "Brenda de la Rosa (of Angostura) realised we were planting seed in fertile ground and reaching out to a segment of the national community that was left out of the annual Carnival celebrations. "She immediately embraced the idea of the Chutney Brass Festival and convinced Angostura to come on board. "Angostura has stood with us and invested substantial resources into the event every year since for the past ten years.
"For your unswerving support and confidence in the Chutney Brass Festival brand, I thank you Angostura." Glasgow added that when, on that debut night of the Caribbean Chutney Brass Festival, the chutney bands took up the challenge to add brass to their lineups and play hard core soca, the patrons reacted with sheer delight. He continued: "We knew that we had done the right thing. Forward a decade and we see crossover chutney bands such as Dil-e-Nadan, Karma and 3Veni standing their ground against the big soca bands such as Machel Montano HD, Asylum Band and Destra. "The chutney bands are now in demand in the mainstream fetes and Trinbagonians of every race and creed are among the patrons of the Chutney Brass Festival, which attracts people from Guyana and Suriname, across the Caribbean, the US, Canada, London and even as far as Sweden. "Chutney Brass did create a solid platform that helped establish another opportunity to foster racial harmony in this nation. And the journey continues for another decade and beyond," he said.