Kavita Maharajh sings pop, rock and reggae

“It is no longer just learning a few songs and rehearsing for the stage. It is about chutney, soca, reggae, rock, R&B, pop, jazz and film songs,” Kavita told Good Living magazine recently.

This vivacious performer had the crowds cheering as she entertained at the popular 103 FM Curry Duck Competition at Manzanilla Beach recently. Kavita has been a performer for the past ten years doing solo gigs as well as performing with top bands Karma, Dil-E-Nadan and many others.

Kavita is well known for her ability to do pop and rock songs as well as the latest Bollywood tunes. “It is not about just the traditional Bollywood tunes, you must be able to master all the western rhythms while looking good on stage. Otherwise there will be no gigs coming your way,” she said. She notes that outside of the Chutney Soca Monarch there are scores of artistes that shy away from competition but excel in the music.

Kavita is the host of three radio programmes at 103 FM — Riverlime, Silsila and Joshila. She is the owner and leader of the band Divya.

New York-based promoter, Farouk Juman said Kavita has an awesome voice that can sweep you off your feet with her singing prowess.

“I just love to see how she is able to switch from the Bollywood tunes to pop and rock with ease,” Juman said, adding that it is her ability to switch over smoothly that singles her out of the lot of singers in TT. He noted that she has a lot of potential and with that magnitude of talent she has hundreds of options open to her.

“In order to excel in music you have to be at it at least twelve hours a day. You must then think about the audience you are reaching out to and look for appropriate songs that will please the people,” Kavita explains, adding that a lot of time goes into choosing wardrobe and accessories for any given show.

Having mastered her singing career and having realised her dream of being a radio announcer Kavita says she is ready to do more. “I want to do more CDs and to be able to reach Bollywood and add my name to the list of stars there,” she said. With such a positive attitude and bubbly personality one can surely expect a lot from Kavita.

The singer admires the voices of Alisha Chinhoy and Falguni Pathak. “Alisha is a leading Indian pop singer. A number of her songs often intermix sentences in Hindi and English. This is why her songs are songs are so popular in the west,” says Kavita.

Alisha Chinhoy’s initial foray into the Hindi music was through her album Jadoo which was marketed throughout Western countries. Kavita remember fondly that in 1995, Alisha sang with Remo Fernandes in the album Old Goan Gold. The songs she sang in this album became very popular and Kavita often listens to them.

Falguni Pathak is based in Mumbai India and her music is based on traditional musical forms from the Indian state of Gujarat. “Her debut album was released in 1998, and was the first of at least a dozen bearing her name. She has also recorded numerous songs that have been featured in Bollywood movies,” Kavita indicated. She noted that most of the themes in Pathak’s songs are about love.

The band Divya is celebrating it’s fifth anniversary this year. The band is constantly in demand and busy with performances every weekend throughout the country. They are already booked for two major Carnival events, Chutney Brass and Chutney Glow (Sting) 2011. Apart form this the band has been performing at several private gigs for the corporate community in TT.

Frontline singer of the band is O’Neil Bhajman who placed fourth in Synergy Chutney Star in 2008 and third at the Chutney Monarch 2009. Calvin Ramsawack, a semi finalist in Synergy Soca star 2007, is also one of the performers with Divya. Kavita says Ramsawak has a deep voice that can do any dancehall, soca, chutney/soca and R&B.

Kavita has penned her own tunes including “Wine up For Me”, and her version of bangra music called “Sha Na Na Na” for Carnival 2011. She has been performing a lot of soca music including the top soca songs released by soca stars Fay Ann Lyons and Destra Garcia.

Other members of the band include Joseph Khell (bass guitarist); Ethon Gonzales (drummer and percussionist) and Zahir Khan (sound Engineer and co-owner).