Cultural Artistes

The Rampersad Brothers

Each year, the producers of the Annual Valentine Spectacular usually use the occasion to bring from abroad Caribbean artistes domiciled outside of this country. So far, Devendra Pooran, Polly Sookraj, Terry Gajraj and Kries Ramkhlewan have appeared as guest performers.

This year, the producers through Mastana Bahar were so impressed by a group of brothers who call themselves the Rampersad Brothers decided that this talented bunch of youngsters should be included in the line up of performers.

Devanand and Zaniffa Rampersad are the proud parents of five boys. Four of them, Vijay, Stephen, Suresh and Rajesh make up this young powerhouse group. They all live at Raju Trace in San Francique, Penal. Their repertoire includes Film, Bhangra, Folk and Chutney.

The band is now heavily booked to perform all over Trinidad. Quite apart from from music which now occupies most of their time, these youngsters are very much involved assisting their parents and can often be seen tending their herd of cattle or in the canefields.

The elder ones through YTEP, having acquired skills in various trades like welding.

They started their careers like most of the artistes from rural Trinidad, in Temples singing bhajans. Their grandfather is credited for teaching the intricacies of singing and Rakesh; a former keyboard player with Harry Mahabir assisted with the musical aspect.

They participated in the Children of Mastana. This year, for the first time entered the 2002 Mastana Bahar series and through sheer brilliance reached the finals.

At the Anchorage, patrons will have the opportunity to witness a display by this hardworking and humble youngmen who have never lost touch with their beginnings. We are sure their performance will be highly appreciated and readily accepted as they rub shoulders with their mentors- DIL E NADAN.

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Amina Ramsaran

Residing at Chadee Trace, Monroe Road in Cunupia, Armina is the daughter of the late Ustaad Sulaiman Khan. Although she only started her career as a singer in 1986, Amina has already established herself as one of the best in this Country.

She has achieved tremendous success in several ladies singing competitions and on television's Mastana Bahar. Employed as an Auditor with the Magistry Division and is the mother of two lovely children.

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Rooplal Girdharie (Rooplal G)

Rooplal Girdharie who is better known as Rooplal G in the entertainment industry has been singing for most of his life. He comes from a talented family of singers and musicians who have made invaluable contributions to the development culture in Trinidad and Tobago over the years. He has been inspired by his father the renowned Indian Classical singer, Sohan Girdharie and mother Rookmin.

He received formal training in vocals from Mungal Patasar and the Caibbean School of Indian Music.He began singing Bhajans and Local Classical Songs and has since extended his repertoire to include Geets, Ghazals, Film, Calypso, Chutney and Soca Chutney. Because of the wide range of music that he performs, he is readily recognized as one of the most versatile singers in the industry and a force to be reckoned with amongst his contemporaries.

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Birthday: July 29,
Hobbies: Singing, Listening to Music, Exercising, Spending Quality Time with Family and Friends, Travelling.
Marital Status: Happily Married to Ann Marie and the proud father to 18 year old Shivann and 12 year old Vishaal.
Personal Motto : “Believe in youself and you can move mountains”

CONCLUSION
Rooplal G. is an artiste extraordinaire who continues to strive for excellence in the arts and is willing to assist in the further development of Culture in Trinidad and Tobago via his performances , locally, regionally and internationally . He invites your questions and general comments through his email address rooplal_g@hotmail.com.

INTERNATIONAL TOURS
Rooplal has performed extensively throughout North America (USA and Canada), South America, (Guyana, Suriname) the Caribbean (Barbados, Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada) the United Kingdom and India. One of the highlights of his career was in 2004 when he performed at the Bollywood Music Awards at the prestigious NASA Coliseum, New York where he shared the stage with several International artistes including the highly acclaimed musician/composer AR Rahman.

HIT SONGS
Sweet Dulahin
Tassa Man
Lawa
Dulhania Chale
Aye Mausam
Balam Gaye
Las Jump Up
Dum Dum Baje
Mere Piya
Sweet Music
Aja Aja
Jalak Dik Aja
These are just of a few of the many songs that Rooplal has released during his musical career and he continues to churn out top quality songs on a regular basis.

COMPETITIONS
Chutney Soca Monarch Competition
Winner in 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007.
Second place in 2001, 2003, 2004
Winner -Independence Classical Singing Competition- 1999.
Winner Pichikaree Competition 1996.

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Nirmal Adesh Samaroo

Nirmal “ Adesh” Samaroo burst on the local scene with the controversial hit Rum Till I Die towards the end of 2002. His popularity continued well into 2003 and from all indications, he will continue to be the most sought after singer for the year 2004. He has shown that he is no fluke or one song hit, his 2004 release provides several outstanding hits, the chief among them Rajender Jheem Jheem, a remake of H

aniff Mohammed’s classical masterpiece. What is amazing about Adesh is his simplicity and his performing capability making him a hit not only with the East Indian audiences but also the Calypso fraternity. All the big events feature this Dinsley Village youngster.

In June of 2003 he demonstrated his skill as a comedian par excellence at the Anil Bheem Concert. His travels have so far taken him to North America and Guyana where he proved his brilliance. A glance at his engagements for this year will see Adesh spending most of his time oversees.

Rafimohammed.com wishes him all success and look forward to his comedy and performances in the future.

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Rajlal Samaroo

Rajlal Samaroo and Guru Mehdi Hassan

Rajlal was a member of the Sissons Nayasansar Orchestra up to 1980. He migrated to New York and has been living there since. Rajlal Samaroo was recently indoctrinated as an offical student of the Legendary Mehndi Hassan.

He continues to be very active in the cultural sphere, maintains a very close relationship with the cultural happenings of Trinidad and Tobago, and offers immense assistance to Trinidad artists whenever they are in New York. His fan following is tremendous.

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Nalini Sankar

Nalini was born and grew up in Sangre Grande, Trinidad. She attended the Sangre Grande Hindu School, Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College and the Students’ Accounting Center before moving to Florida, USA in 1998. Even though Nalini comes from a family of musicians and singers and has been around music her entire life, it was only in 2001 when her husband Nigel started the Band Dimensionz, did she begin her singing career.

When most people hear her sing, the question is always asked…why didn’t this young woman start singing sooner? Like her dad, brothers and sister, Jeewan, Anil, Ravi and Nisha of the Band Karma, this young lady is extremely versatile and can sing anything from film to pop.

Together with her amazing voice and her charming charisma, when she performs you can see that she was simply born to music. In addition to being a singer Nalini also works full time in the Accounting Industry and she is also a full time student at Florida Atlantic University, her major being Accounting and minor Music. She is the extremely proud mom of two boys; Rahul & Rajeev who she says is her inspiration in everything she does.

In the short space of time that Nalini has been singing she has already graced many stages through out the United States and won many hearts with her melodious voice and enchanting presence.

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Andy Singh

It is quite amazing the kind of talent that continue to emerge in Trinidad when you consider the absence of any institutions for grooming such talent. It is also quite amazing, the talent that comes from many families in our blessed land. I am sure you have heard of Ras Nancoo Singh, certainly one of our living legends in songs. Ras is also responsible of providing to Trinidad and the world two brilliant sons Ian and Andy. Ian now resides in Toronto, Andy lives in Trinidad and every weekend is in every nook and cranny entertaining his hordes of fans with his melodious voice.

Andy is a proud son of the little village known as Rambert situated just on the outskirts of San Fernando. He was born on the 28th of July 1969.He career began quite surprisingly only in 1991. In 1992 he was already a force to be reckoned with reaching the finals of the first ever Film and Chutney Finals. In 1994 he entered Mastana Bahar and reached the finals where he placed fourth. In his relatively short career he has performed with most of the top bands, Gayatones, D Rampersad and presently is the lead singer with the SSL MELOBUGZ Orchestra.

He has represented Trinidad in several inter-national venues, Miami, New York, Washington, New Jersey, Toronto, Montreal and the Caribbean.

He is currently employed as a salesman with a leading Industrial firm Southern Supplies Limited as a marketing representative.

He is eternally grateful for the support and guidance that he received from his dad Ras, mom and his charming wife Sherry who supports him in all his endeavors. Andy’s inspiration comes from his three daughters- Ahalia, Selena and Selest. He adores his fans both here and abroad and cherishes their admiration. His mission is to bring the people together through song and is hoping that peace and unity prevails.

Andy is today one of the most sought after singers especially with the success of the album Klymax by his band Melobugz in which he renders most of the songs.

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