f Paria - Ins and Outs of Trinidad & Tobago 2013

Meet
a Trini
Abigail Hadeed/Photo coourtesy bpTT
Jit Samaroo
by Nasser Khan
— Panorama’s most prolific arranger
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
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:
as well as the test pieces “Pan Patterns”
(1985) and “Song of Lopinot” (1987) for
the schools steelband music festival,
Saag Sameelan.
Festival
competition
Season” for Panorama
at the Pan Is Beautiful music festival
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 37