RHON­DOR DOWLAT

Pop­u­lar Chut­ney crossover singer and Ra­dio DJ Anil Bheem passed away yes­ter­day morn­ing hours af­ter per­form­ing in south Trinidad. Plans are un­der­way to ho­n­our him at this year's Chut­ney So­ca Monarch Fi­nals as it will be ded­i­cat­ed to him.

Bheem, who has been hailed by his peers as a gi­ant in the In­do Cul­tur­al In­dus­try, is be­ing re­mem­bered for his tal­ent and ded­i­ca­tion to the art form.

Just hours be­fore his death, Bheem, 48, was do­ing what he loved best–singing. Af­ter re­turn­ing to his home in Curepe yes­ter­day morn­ing, Guardian Me­dia was told that he be­gan feel­ing un­well and sub­se­quent­ly passed away.

Chut­ney queen Dru­patee Ram­goon­ai said the news was shock­ing, "Anil Bheem nev­er looked sick or any­thing like that." She said that shar­ing the stage and spot­light for years, Bheem al­ways re­mained ground­ed.

"Any­time I go to the ra­dio sta­tion or wher­ev­er he is, and he meets me up, he al­ways says aun­ty Drups," Ram­goon­ai said.

For most of his life, Bheem "The Vo­cal­ist" had been belt­ing out tunes, even­tu­al­ly ris­ing to be­come one of the most recog­nised In­do singers and en­ter­tain­ers lo­cal­ly, re­gion­al­ly and in­ter­na­tion­al­ly.

Chief ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cer of Southex Event Man­age­ment Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed, George Singh said Bheem was card­ed as the open­ing act at this year's Chut­ney So­ca Monarch com­pe­ti­tion. Singh added that while the show will go on, spe­cial recog­ni­tion will be giv­en to the artiste.

"We are still plan­ning to do some­thing in mem­o­ry of Anil Bheem at the fi­nals. It's very like­ly we will ded­i­cate the fi­nals of the Chut­ney So­ca Monarch to Anil Bheem.

Singh said Bheem's voice will live on, "I think it's a big loss to the in­dus­try, his songs will def­i­nite­ly live on for­ev­er. If I had to pick one of the top voic­es–Anil Bheem was def­i­nite­ly one of the top voic­es in the In­do Caribbean Mu­sic In­dus­try."

Artistes, col­leagues, and co-work­ers al­so took to so­cial me­dia to ex­press their dis­be­lief over Bheem's death, many prais­ing him for his con­tri­bu­tions to the art form.

Ray­mond Ram­nar­ine of Dil E Nadan wrote: "Gone from our sight but nev­er from our hearts. A dear broth­er who showed his love for our cul­ture, loved his fam­i­ly and graced the air­ways bring­ing joy to our lives. Just a cou­ple of months ago we were in New York to­geth­er, and I told you to come and sing with my band. I re­mem­bered how we joked around at sound­check bro. Ray­mond Ram­nar­ine and Dil E Nadan send our thoughts and prayers to the fam­i­ly and loved ones of our dear broth­er. Fly high with the an­gels. RIP."

Nishard Mayrhoo wrote: "Nev­er thought in a mil­lion years I'd be us­ing these pics to wish your soul a peace­ful jour­ney broth­er. Here to­day, gone to­mor­row. Sing with/like the an­gels boi Bheemos. Tru­ly one of the great­est in our time."

A neigh­bour Jlynn Jen­na Roop­nar­ine wrote: "Just last night (Fri­day) you per­formed, and you looked per­fect­ly well. This one is a great shock­er. I have great mem­o­ries to live with but one thing. I don't have a self­ie with us be­cause you were my neigh­bour and I saw you every morn­ing walk­ing your huskies, so I told my­self why would I need that. Sad truth to­day I wished I just had one."

De­tails of Bheem's fu­ner­al are yet to be re­leased.