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Legendary showgirl Pita Pyaree dies
Pita Pyaree, dead at age 94
Pita Pyaree, the Essequibo runaway lass who rose to fame as one of the most popular singers and dancers in Guyana and the Caribbean has died, relatives confirmed. She was 94.
She died peacefully at her home in D’urban Street, Georgetown Wednesday.
When Kaieteur News interviewed her in January of this year, Pita was still able to smoothly sing one of the hits that made her the dream girl among Indian indentured labourers and their descendants:
“When I was a young girl
I heard my mother say
Never have a woman friend
She’ll take your man away
Hiday hyray balamawa,
Mein Tak a guyare
Hiday hyray balamawa’
The song was covered by Indian singer Kanchan, and remains one of the popular “Chutney” songs to this day.
When she had lost both her parents and was left in the care of her brother, ill-treatment caused her to run away from home and she ended up living with a step-sister in Georgetown. That afforded her the opportunity to audition for radio shows that propelled her from a national dream girl to Caribbean hotshot.
From then on, it was a life on glamour-street for the unassuming Essequibo runaway lass.
She performed extensively in Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname as both singer and dancer, and she was a regular on radio shows.
Pita Pyaree was married to popular singer Tulsiram. At the time of his death in 1998, they had spent 67 years together.
Pita has been credited with promulgating, through her songs and dance, the culture that Indians brought with them from the motherland (India) at a time when the Indian film industry did not have as much influence as it does now.
She has received awards from the National Ramnamvi Committee, the Indian Commemoration Trust, the Indian Arrival Committee and the Guyana Folk Festival Committee.
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