Meet
Abigail Hadeed/Photo coourtesy bpTT
a Trin i
Jit Samaroo In Trinidad and Tobago at Carnival time one of the most keenly contested competitions is known as Panorama where steelbands from around the nation vie for top steelpan honours. Panorama’s large steelband’s most prolific arranger with nine wins to his name is Jit Samaroo from the sleepy village of Surrey, Lopinot nestled in the Northern Range, where he was born in 1950. Dr Ranjit Sukha Samaroo, musical director emeritus of the Charlotte Street, Port of Spain-based (bpTT) Renegades since 1971, is a quiet unassuming man widely regarded as one of Trinidad and Tobago’s musical geniuses. He is best exemplified by his Panorama-winning 1989 arrangement by calysonian Baron, “Somebody.” He innovatively crossed cultures incorporating as many as seven different rhythms including: soca, calypso, meringue, samba, zouk, disco and “some kind of Indian stuff” (his words). The year 2009, was hailed as “a celebration of his work” according to his son, Amrit, who has taken over the mantle
by Nasser Khan
— Panorama’s most prolific arranger
as arranger following his dad’s thirty-sixyear stint. Now the consulting arranger and musical director of the band, Renegades, he will be gunning for the band’s tenth Panorama win in 2010. Jit is the holder of the national awards, Humming Bird Medal of Merit (Silver) in 1987, and the Chaconia Medal (Silver) in 1995. He is one of thirteen children and received his honorary doctorate from UWI in 2003 for his accomplishments. It has been a long musical ride for the modest pan genius who started in 1963 with the strumming of a quatro with the Lopinot-famous paranderos (a group of Parang players). A year later, he joined the Camboulay steelband of Tunapuna, and then formed the family band The Samaroo Kids after the passing of his mother when he was just twelve years old. The Kids became the Samaroo Jets, recording its first album in 1975 titled, The Samaroo Family Steel Orchestra Classics, featuring the works of Bach (his favourite composer), Mendelssohn and Prokofiev. As a composer, Jit has demonstrated his versatility with selections such as: • “A Day in Surrey,” “Rhapsody in Pan,” as well as the test pieces “Pan Patterns” (1985) and “Song of Lopinot” (1987) for
the schools steelband music festival, Saag Sameelan. • “Pan Paranda” for the Indian Orchestra Festival • “Steelband Coup” for the Parang-on-Steel competition • “Pan Man Vibration” and “The Gaping Season” for Panorama • “La Trinite” for the National Steelband • “Milap” (1994) and “Utsar ki Awaz” (1995) at the Pan Is Beautiful music festival • “Jaago” (1997) for the National Chutney Competition. All these, along with “Coleman’s Jam,” culminated in 2003 with the launch of his CD Jit Samaroo: Original Notes. His favourite recordings are Voices of Spring/ Samaroo Jets, Tico Tico/Samaroo Jets and Pan in A Minor/Renegades. He has travelled globally with Renegades, taking T&T’s national instrument to far-off places like Italy, Israel, Morocco, India, Brazil, La Réunion, Madagascar, Jordan, Japan and France, where he performed before a live audience of more than two million. These days Samaroo concentrates his musical talents on writing and scoring for children to aid and enhance the use of the steelpan instruments in the schools of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Ins & Outs of Trinidad and Tobago
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