Shas­tri Boodan

New­com­er to the Chut­ney So­ca Monarch (CSM) Shazeena “Shazz­ie” Ram­sumair, 27, hopes to leave a last­ing im­pact dur­ing her maid­en per­for­mance.

Shazz­ie has been singing for more than 20 years. She start­ed ear­ly per­form­ing Qaseedas or Is­lam­ic de­vo­tion­al songs dur­ing her for­ma­tive years at the Princess Town AS­JA Pri­ma­ry School.

She lat­er moved on to the As­ja Girls Col­lege, San Fer­nan­do and then to the Cowen Hamil­ton Sec­ondary School where her tal­ent ma­tured. Ram­sumair said she won both na­tion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tions be­tween the age of 6-16 for her singing.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia, Ram­sumair said, “I was al­so a fi­nal­ist in lo­cal known com­pe­ti­tions such as Mas­tana ba­har and Dig­i­cel Ris­ing stars. I of­ten sing at any com­mu­ni­ty events once I am asked to per­form. I love be­ing an ac­tive mem­ber in my home­town. I was al­so crowned Miss Moru­ga Table­land in my con­stituen­cy a few years ago. I grew up and still re­side in my beau­ti­ful home­town of In­di­an Walk, Moru­ga Road. My love and pas­sion for art in any form some­times is por­trayed in my every­day life, hence my green hair. I’m of­ten known for my very out­ra­geous hair colour choic­es and I’ve had from blonde, to pink and pur­ple, to blue. I think it rep­re­sents my per­son­al­i­ty and how much of a colour­ful and fun per­son I am, plus life is too short for bor­ing hair.”

She has been one of the front­line singers with the south-based band Work­shop 868 for the past sev­en years, and is ex­cit­ed about this new prospect.

“This is my first time en­ter­ing the Chut­ney So­ca Monarch. I would be singing Dho­lak Man writ­ten and com­posed by Mr Anand Bob­by Mo­han. It de­picts the love for the East In­di­an drum, the dho­lak, as we strive to pay heed to the im­por­tance of this in­stru­ment in the de­vel­op­ment of chut­ney/so­ca mu­sic.”

She said Dho­lak Man can be con­sid­ered as a mix of tra­di­tion­al chut­ney with so­ca.