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‘Benjie Darling’ singer dies

Mar 21, 2010 News

Nisha Benjamin, the singer of the iconic Chutney tune “Benjie Darling” has died, her son Shahab said yesterday.
The woman who could be best described as the “Mother of Chutney,” sprang to fame in the 1970s and became the first major Indo-Guyanese performer. She became popular around the same time Trinidad’s Sundar Popo emerged with “Nana and Nani” and held claim to being the Chutney King.
Sadly, Nisha Benjamin’s sterling contribution to the very beginning of Chutney music and its evolution in Guyana has not been recognised locally and several of those who knew her work thought she deserved a national award.
In the late 1970s, Nisha Benjamin came out with her most memorable song “Benjie Darling,” a beautiful love song to her second husband “Benjie.”  She thought of the words for the song while on a ferry in the Essequibo River.
She was born on the island of Leguan and that hit single spawned a series of other hit songs that most now associate with Kanchan, the Indian singer who worked with her husband Babla and who remixed most of Nisha Benjamin’s popular songs.
Among her other hits were Dharmat Karo, Na Manu Na Manu, O’Maninja, Sandrowta, Romeo, and Loving Darling.
In O’Maninja, she described the hardships of a woman working and living on a sugar estate. Subtly, she told the story of the political and economic situation in Guyana. She was also the first artiste to record a song with her father, Eaton Drepaul.
Nisha Benjamin migrated to the United States 26 years ago and up to the time of her death continued to receive royalties for her music.
She also continued to record music in the United States, with her latest collection being Darshan Bhajans.
So popular is Nisha’s Benjamin’s “Benjie Darling” that a clue on the popular game show Jeopardy was based on the song.
Nisha Benjamin was laid to rest in the United States last Tuesday.

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