Trinidad and To­ba­go’s crossover band Dil-E-Nadan will once again make his­to­ry when they head­line the first ever Chut­ney Fu­sion Fes­ti­val in South Africa, in June 2025.

The beloved Gas­par­il­lo band, led by Ray­mond Ram­nar­ine, will per­form two full con­cert sets at the Dur­ban Ex­hi­bi­tion Cen­tre in Dur­ban on June 15 (Fa­thers’ Day), and at Em­per­ors Palace in Jo­han­nes­burg June 21, 2025.

The in­vi­ta­tion to lead the ground-break­ing cross-cul­tur­al mu­si­cal show­case fol­lows the group’s sold-out de­but in South Africa last year—a per­for­mance that not on­ly made head­lines but sparked a de­mand for more chut­ney so­ca in African mar­kets.

Ac­cord­ing to Ray­mond Ram­nar­ine, the re­sponse was over­whelm­ing and un­for­get­table.

“Africa feels like home in so many ways,” Ray­mond shared. “There’s an en­er­gy in South Africa that’s mag­net­ic, and to be in­vit­ed back—not just to per­form, but to head­line a fes­ti­val de­signed around chut­ney so­ca—is some­thing we don’t take light­ly. It’s big­ger than us. It’s about our cul­ture, our sound, and our sto­ry.”

The Chut­ney Fu­sion Fes­ti­val, cre­at­ed by South African-based pro­duc­tion house Fu­sion Life SA, promis­es to be a vi­brant dis­play of In­do-Caribbean pride and glob­al artistry.

Along­side Dil-E-Nadan, the line­up will in­clude Dutch-born Suri­namese-Hin­dus­tani Baithak Gana singer Shiv­am Ra­jaram; In­di­an play­back pow­er­house KK (Kr­ish­naku­mar Kun­nath); genre-blend­ing In­di­an group De­si­Blue; ris­ing singer-ac­tress Aad­hya; and South African-based per­form­ers Shay Ramji, Risa Raeanne, and dance troupe Kashvi­ta.

Ram­nar­ine be­lieves this dy­nam­ic blend of tal­ent un­der­scores the grow­ing reach and rel­e­vance of chut­ney so­ca.

“What once be­gan as a lo­cal fu­sion of Bho­jpuri folk and Caribbean rhythm is now com­mand­ing in­ter­na­tion­al stages—res­onat­ing with di­as­po­ra com­mu­ni­ties and at­tract­ing new fans across con­ti­nents,” he said.

Com­ing home for In­di­an Ar­rival

But be­fore tak­ing the mu­sic to the Moth­er­land, Dil-E-Nadan will first touch home.

The band re­turns to T&T this week to cel­e­brate In­di­an Ar­rival Day with fans. They are billed to per­form on TipSea, the Har­bour Mas­ter’s sig­na­ture cruise, this Fri­day (May 30)—bring­ing the par­ty back to lo­cal wa­ters be­fore jet­ting off again.

Band­leader Richard Ram­nar­ine not­ed the tim­ing of the events is deeply sym­bol­ic.

“To be back home for In­di­an Ar­rival Day is spe­cial,” Richard said. “It re­minds us of where this jour­ney start­ed. From our fore par­ents to our fans… This is for every­one who’s car­ried the flame of all forms of our mu­sic. We're just tak­ing that fire to new places now.”

The group’s 2025 tour al­ready has seen suc­cess­ful stints in Cana­da and the Unit­ed States. Fol­low­ing the South African leg, they are due to play a se­ries of shows across Eu­rope.

With the Ram­nar­ine broth­ers at the helm, Dil-E-Nadan con­tin­ues to strike a bal­ance be­tween tra­di­tion and in­no­va­tion—bridg­ing gen­er­a­tions, ge­o­gra­phies, and gen­res with their unique sound.

“This isn’t just about en­ter­tain­ment any­more,” Ray­mond stat­ed. “It’s about build­ing bridges. Whether it’s a back­yard in Trinidad, a stage in Toron­to, or a dance floor in Dur­ban—our mu­sic be­longs every­where peo­ple en­joy hav­ing a good time.”