Carisa Lee

Re­porter

carisa.lee@cnc3.co.tt

Rik­ki Jai (Sam­raj Jaimun­gal) did not ex­pect to re­ceive an hon­orary doc­tor­ate from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Trinidad and To­ba­go (UTT) but hopes it opens doors for oth­er cre­atives to be recog­nised.

“I didn’t see it com­ing and I am very thank­ful for it. I hope this sets a prece­dent for oth­ers. I know Machel had got­ten one pri­or to me but it’s re­al­ly nice for us in the arts to be ho­n­oured like this and I hope that this trend con­tin­ues with an­oth­er de­serv­ing artiste in the fu­ture,” he said.

The pop­u­lar en­ter­tain­er re­ceived an Hon­orary Doc­tor­ate of Fine Arts and was one of four re­cip­i­ents this year. The oth­ers were Pro­fes­sor Ken­neth S Julien (Emer­i­tus), Hon­orary Doc­tor­ate of Sci­ence; Cap­tain Rawle AR Bad­daloo, Hon­orary Doc­tor­ate of Sci­ence; and Ravin­dra “Rav­i­ji” Nath Ma­haraj, Hon­orary Doc­tor­ate of Hu­mane Let­ters.

“It was very hum­bling, to be hon­est with you. I am grate­ful and ap­pre­cia­tive to be on the same stage as an en­ter­tain­er, mu­si­cian, song­writer, and pro­duc­er. Be­ing on stage there amongst such greats, I felt very ho­n­oured,” Jaimun­gal said.

The UTT did not on­ly award the nine-time Chut­ney So­ca Monarch ti­tles for his achieve­ments in en­ter­tain­ment but al­so his con­tri­bu­tion to T&T’s cul­ture.

“Rik­ki Jai is al­so a cul­tur­al am­bas­sador and has vis­it­ed In­dia in an of­fi­cial ca­pac­i­ty twice in recog­ni­tion for his work in the field of In­di­an mu­sic out­side of In­dia (1997/2004),” a uni­ver­si­ty rep­re­sen­ta­tive said dur­ing the in­tro­duc­tion of Jaimun­gal’s award.

The en­ter­tain­er, who has more than 30 years of ex­pe­ri­ence in the en­ter­tain­ment in­dus­try, said look­ing back at his ca­reer he would not change a thing.

“Giv­ing up was nev­er an op­tion for me, fail­ure was not an op­tion, I nev­er be­lieved that I was go­ing to fail, I al­ways be­lieved that I would suc­ceed,” he said.

Jaimun­gal said his fa­ther’s sup­port was one of the things that kept him go­ing.

“My dad ac­tu­al­ly told me when I was go­ing to sing, he said that you know you will not make any mon­ey from it, but if you like it, then go right ahead son,” he re­called.

He urged par­ents to bless their chil­dren the way his fa­ther blessed him.

Jaimun­gal said he has al­ready re­leased a so­ca parang, Once a Year, as well as songs for Car­ni­val 2024.

“I have a col­lab­o­ra­tion with Col­lege Boy Jesse,” he said.

Mu­sic is not the on­ly taste of T&T that Jaimun­gal is pro­mot­ing. Six months ago, he opened the Caribbean and Chi­nese Style Sher­iff Street Restau­rant and Lounge in New York City.

“I’m ac­tu­al­ly get­ting to meet fans from 40 or odd years back in the busi­ness,” he said.