The contemporary fusion of genres that led to chutney music was created around the 1940s by Indo-Caribbean people of the West Indies, whose ancestors originally were brought to the region from the Hindi Belt as indentured labourers by the British, intended to replace slaves working on sugar plantations after slavery was abolished in the region.
For the first time, Indo-Caribbeans had music that spoke to them personally, and was not specifically Indian, African, or European or American in style/roots.
Chutney music exploded, again, after 1968, with the singer Dropati releasing her album Let's Sing & Dance, made-up of traditional wedding songs.
Chutney music, until then, remained a localised genre in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname.
A young female artist named Drupatee Ramgoonai[2] from Trinidad emerged on this new scene.
During the 1990s, many "mom & pop" and indie recording companies mushroomed and set-out to profit off of the chutney craze.
Early chutney pioneers include Sundar Popo, Sonny Mann, Lakhan Kariya, Sam Boodram, Budhram Holass, Yussuf Khan, Mookraj Sahadeo, Sagar Sookraj, Rakesh Yankaran, Anand Yankaran, Devanand Gattoo, Rasika Dindial, Dhanadeya Narine, Poonia Morgan (Moosie), Cecil Funrose, Heeralal Rampartap, Halima Bissoon, Joyce Ormela Harris, Nisha Benjamin, Kassri Narine, Sugrim Gobin, Komal Ram, Bisnauth Raghubir (Papas), Manie Haniff, Ebadath Khan, Elsie Sargeant (Dougla Elsie), Johnny Mykoo, Devindra Pooran, Queen Yasmin, Ashnie, Babla & Kanchan, Dropati, and Ramdew Chaitoe.
Traditionally speaking, the lyrics of chutney are from folk, classical, and religious music, but that has changed over the years.
The origin of chutney being in the Caribbean has meant that it's been in close contact with different peoples, traditions, and other musical styles since its inception.
It was credited as the best selling Indo-Caribbean album ever, with its title track hitting the top of charts not only in the Caribbean, but in the United States, Canada, and England.