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| FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: DONNY GAYADEEN, RISHI GAYADEEN, VIDESH GAYADEEN & CAPIL GAYADEEN | ||
This is just the start of all performers arriving for the event. The entire event is comprised of 13 performers plus 2 surprise artistes.
Performers include: the band, Nadia Madoo, Neeshad Sultan, Oscar B, D’ Hitman, Soca Elvis and Avinash Maharaj.
All performers will be in Toronto by Friday for their dress rehearsal. The band is led by Rishi Gayadeen. Rishi Roland Gayadeen is a musician of extraordinary talent. At the tender age of six he began taking piano lessons and at twelve he began his musical career with the band T&TEC Gayatones.
For the past twenty years Rishi has performed around the world as Trinidad’s top keyboardist. He has performed in Canada, New York, Miami, Boston, Atlanta, England and India.
At home in Trinidad he is a well known arranger and producer for all the top chutney as well as some of the most popular calypso artistes, for example: Rikki Jai, Drupatee, Rooplal G., Vedish Sookoo, Rakesh Yankaran, Rasika Dindial, Iwer George, Ronny Mc Intosh, Marcia Maranda, Machel Montano, Just to name a few.
When travelling abroad he has had the previllage to perform with Baron and top Indian artiste such as Sonu Nigum, Bankim Pattak and Anu Malik. Rishi has also worked with Reggae artiste Maxi Priests’ musicians, as well as Elephant Man, Lady Saw, Buju Banton, Sizzler, Capleton and many others.
Rishi Gayadeen and his band is one of the most well known Indian / crossover bands in Trinidad, performing at all the top Carnival events, chutney shows, night clubs, wedding receptions, farewell nights and concerts.
You can expect nothing less than the best of him and his band.
The founder of the band was Balwant ‘Capil’ Gayadeen. From early on he knew he was destined to play music and once encouraged by his musically gifted family, the sky was the limit for this multi-talented artist.
Capil was the fouth of eight children of a singing mother who also played the dholak. Facinated by just the look of the instruments it was not long he began to play them that he knew his calling. Armed with a toy piano, harmonica and xylophone, Capil began mimicking the many film songs he heard on television and in movies.
By the age of thirteen he attended a friend’s band rehersal and was in awe of the music they produced. He begged to join their band as an apprentice or anything. It was then that he got his his first opportunity to play with a true band wasted no time in learning to play other instruments such as the accordian and began playing with them on stage.
After some time, he left to join a larger band, Naya Andaz in Princes Town where he was their keyboard player for four years. Always searching for better opportunities, Capil then joined the prestigious AMAR Sangeet Orchestra as the the keyboard and bongo player. During this time he carefully watched their guitar player ply his trade and within a year taught himself to play the lead guitar. And with this newfound instrument he would occasionally play with the BWIA National Indian Orchestra.
Then came the birth of “GAYATONES”.
Two of Capil’s most memorable moments in music were performing at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground for the 1999 World Cup Finals in England and India for the second annual Insian Diaspora in 2004.
The lead female singer is Nadia Madoo. She won the national ladies singing competition at the age of 17. In the face of competition from experience female singers, most in their twenties and thirties with many years of professional singing behind them, Nadia took the top prize. She repeated that feat the following year with ease. She is currently our undisputed female singing champion.
The competition among the seventeen entrants was very stiff. All of the women in the competition had the prior advantage of performing before large audiences. Nadia was one of the youngest, and her performance was remarkable, said one of the event organisers.
When she came on the stage, the audience was captivated by her poise, grace, elegance, charm and charisma. What struck all though, was her humble manner. She is a simple, well brought up young lady. She made a powerful impact on everyone that night, with hardly any effort, just by being herself, but this was not the last in Madoo’s journey to distinction.
Nadia Madoo won the first place in the Children of Mastana Series and was a finalist in the 1997 Mastana Bahar Programme. She combines her work with the T&Tec Gayatones Indian Orchestra with freelance work for some of the country’s top indian music bands, and manages to balance all this with her studies. She has toured extensively and is today one of the most sought after female singers.
As mentioned before, the big event will be taking place on Saturday September 24 at Soca Savanna in Mississuaga. All $20 earlybird tickets are sold out, bringing the price up to $25. Kids under 12 are free.
For more information please contact 416-919-5770 or 647-701-0406.
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