Description

Jahaji Bhai by Anthony Batson (2019 Chutney Soca). Originally by Brother MArvin

Jahaji Bhai: The emergence of a Dougla poetics in Trinidad and Tobago
Rhoda Reddock
Pages 569-601 | Published online: 04 May 2010
Download citation https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.1999.9962630

This paper explores the issues of ethnicity and identity in the post‐colonial Caribbean with special reference to Trinidad and Tobago. As with other multi‐ethnic post‐colonial societies, the collapse of post‐World‐War II promises of unified national projects based on the nation‐state or class politics has seen the re‐emergence of racial/ethnic based trajectories. In the context of the contestations of ethnicity, class, and gender in Trinidad and Tobago, the voice of the “Dougla,” or those projecting “dougla identities” of mixed African and Indian ancestry, has been largely missing. Unlike in the North, conceptions of “mixed” identity have existed in the region for many decades. A concept of multiracial identity, however, is relatively new and underdeveloped. This paper explores tentative attempts through the popular culture to express such multiracial identities, especially through the medium of Calypso and Soca and the contestations that greet such an emergence. The dynamics of the changing social, political, and cultural context are also taken into consideration. It does so through the contrasting 1996 “hits” of two singer/songwriters in the Calypso /Soca genre, Brother Marvin and Chris Garcia.

Key words: Dougla, Ethnicity, Culture, Gender, Trinidad and Tobago

Lyrics

Kumayaho Zindaweyo
Kumayah Zindawey Aya-Ayayo
I am the seed of meh father
He is the seed of meh grandfather
Who is the seed of Bahut Ajah [great grandfather]
He came from Calcutta
Ah stick and ah bag on he shoulder
He turban and he kapra
So I am part seed of India

The indentureship and the slavery
Bind together two races in unity
Achcha dosti (good friend)
There was no more Mother Africa
No more Mother India, just Mother Trini
Janmabhoomi (my home)
My Bahut Ajah planted sugarcane
Down in the Caroni plain
So Ramlogan, Basdeo, Prakash and I
Is Jahaji Bhai
Brotherhood of the boat, Jahaji Bhai
Brotherhood of the boat, Jahaji Bhai

I would be ah disgrace to Allah
If I choose race, creed or colour
Bahut Ajah had to make that journey
For I to have Zindagee [life]
So it is ah great privilege
To have such unique heritage
Fifty percent Africa, fifty percent India

I have “do chuttee” (two holidays)
Emancipation and Arrival Day
Aant bhala so bhala
Since Fatel Rozack made the journey
150 years gone already
Bahut achcha… [very good]
Whether you’re Hindu, Muslim or Christian
Let’s walk this land hand in hand
We could only prosper if we try
As Jahaji Bhai
Brotherhood of the boat, Jahaji Bhai
Brotherhood of the boat, Jahaji Bhai

Kumayaho Zindaweyo
Kumayah Zindawey Ayayo
Kumayaho Zindaweyo
O mera dost mera saathi [o my friend, my companion]
Kumayah Zindawey Ayayo
Chal tahalna ek matt [let’s stroll together]
Kumayaho Zindaweyo
O mera dost mera saathi [o my friend, my companion]
Kumayah Zindawey Ayayo
Chal tahalna ek matt [let’s stroll together]
Agal bagal…. [side by side]

For those who playing ignorant
Talking bout true African descendant
If yuh want to know de truth
Take ah trip back to yuh roots
And somewhere on that journey
Yuh go see ah man in ah dhoti
Saying he prayers in front of ah jhandi
jhandi

Then and only then you’ll understand
What is ah cosmopolitan nation
Haat melawo [let’s join hands]
There’s no room for prejudice at all
United we stand, divided we’ll fall
Bete baat ko garro [child, pay heed to what I’m saying]
So to all races here in Trinbago
Aapko kalyan ho dhaniaho [may you be blessed, may you prosper]
Let us live as one under the sky
As Jahaji Bhai
Brotherhood of the boat, Jahaji Bhai
Brotherhood of the boat, Jahaji Bhai

Indo and Afro Trinibgian,
We should learn to be one
Our Ancestors came by boat,
is the salt water in yuh throat
–?
Great grand pa and grand mama
One was ah slave and one was indentured

But the religion or color
Didn’t interfere with their love for one another (nahe nahe)
I am the proof of racial unity
And that is the way everybody should be (Achcha sante)
Everybody should have the tone in their prayer
Let show each other we care
As we all know –?

Jahaji Bhai
Brotherhood of the boat, Jahaji Bhai
Brotherhood of the boat, Jahaji Bhai

Kumayaho Zindaweyo

Listen