Chutney singer Sarika says the success of her hit making collaboration with Soca Monarch Bunji Garlin has left her sailing on cloud nine.
By Michael MondezieThe petit JMC 3Veni front-liner said, however, the overwhelming response by soca fans to the remix of her hit Chutney Soca single "Doi Festival" (better known as Sidiki) is yet to really sink in.
"It's amazing. The feeling of performing the song with Bunji Garlin, for me, was like floating on cloud nine. I am overwhelmed with joy and I just can't wait to sing it on the road with Trini Revellers," the 23-year-old performer said with a giggle during a recent interview at 3Veni's Barataria band room.
"Doi Festival," which was initially a collaboration between Sarika and band-mate Keisha Stewart was first released in Novemeber.
Band leader and producer of the track Veerendra Persad invited Garlin to be featured on the remix to the single after the song became very popular in chutney circles.
Since its Boxing Day release the remixed version has propelled the song into a whole other zone that has bridged the ethnic and cultural gaps of the season.
Sarika, who daylights as a radio broadcaster, however, said the collaboration with the two-time defending soca monarch was a long time in coming.
"We've been asking Bunji for the past three years to work with us on a collaboration and I guess with Doi Festival the time was right because from the instant he heard it he was interested," she said with another smile.
But what is she really saying in the song and what's the "Doi Festival" really about.
Sarika said there were several misinterpretations of the song. For one the language is Sri Lankan and not Hindi and the chorus line starts Siriki not Sidiki.
"It sounds like Sidiki because you have to roll the 'r' but Siriki really means 'naughty girl' in Sri Lankan," she explained.
The song, she said, is really about a girl who wants to go and party for Carnival but her parents refuse to permit it and so she runs away and joins the festivities.
"We really did the song as a festival song specifically for Carnival, Doi is slang for hey so it's really hey festival" Persad explained.
He said the song has begun to attract international interest and he was currently working on having a professional video shot for foreign promotion.
"We're looking forward to having a good year outside of T&T. We're fully booked until Carnival and it's all because of the success of the song," he said.
The 3Veni album titled "The Future" scheduled for release next week, will feature the original version of the song while the remix will be released as a single he said Sarika, meanwhile, has already begun to think about following up on the accomplishment.
"Honestly yes I am worried and who isn't because when you have a big song the first thing you think about is matching that momentum for the coming year, but we already have a song in mind for next year and I think it's going to do just as well" she said with a nervous giggle.
The success, however, seems to have given her a newfound self-confidence as she says she's inspired to try her hand at more traditional versions of soca music.
"I want to do soca music like Destra and Candy Hoyte that's the direction I want to go, I will do my chutney yes but I want to try the soca in its purest form and see what happens," she concluded.
