f Paria - Ins and Outs of Trinidad & Tobago 2013
f Paria - Ins and Outs of Trinidad & Tobago 2013
f Paria - Ins and Outs of Trinidad & Tobago 2013
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Meet<br />
a Trini<br />
Abigail Hadeed/Photo coourtesy bpTT<br />
Jit Samaroo<br />
by Nasser Khan<br />
— Panorama’s most prolific arranger<br />
In <strong>Trinidad</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>Tobago</strong> at Carnival<br />
time one <strong>of</strong> the most<br />
keenly contested<br />
competitions is known<br />
as Panorama where<br />
steelb<strong>and</strong>s from<br />
around the nation vie<br />
for top steelpan honours. Panorama’s large<br />
steelb<strong>and</strong>’s most prolific arranger with nine<br />
wins to his name is Jit Samaroo from the<br />
sleepy village <strong>of</strong> Surrey, Lopinot nestled in<br />
the Northern Range, where he was born in<br />
1950.<br />
Dr Ranjit Sukha Samaroo, musical<br />
director emeritus <strong>of</strong> the Charlotte Street,<br />
Port <strong>of</strong> Spain-based (bpTT) Renegades since<br />
1971, is a quiet unassuming man widely<br />
regarded as one <strong>of</strong> <strong>Trinidad</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Tobago</strong>’s<br />
musical geniuses. He is best exemplified by<br />
his Panorama-winning 1989 arrangement<br />
by calysonian Baron, “Somebody.” He<br />
innovatively crossed cultures incorporating<br />
as many as seven different rhythms<br />
including: soca, calypso, meringue, samba,<br />
zouk, disco <strong>and</strong> “some kind <strong>of</strong> Indian stuff”<br />
(his words).<br />
The year 2009, was hailed as “a<br />
celebration <strong>of</strong> his work” according to his<br />
son, Amrit, who has taken over the mantle<br />
as arranger following his dad’s thirty-sixyear<br />
stint. Now the consulting arranger <strong>and</strong><br />
musical director <strong>of</strong> the b<strong>and</strong>, Renegades,<br />
he will be gunning for the b<strong>and</strong>’s tenth<br />
Panorama win in 2010.<br />
Jit is the holder <strong>of</strong> the national awards,<br />
Humming Bird Medal <strong>of</strong> Merit (Silver) in<br />
1987, <strong>and</strong> the Chaconia Medal (Silver) in<br />
1995. He is one <strong>of</strong> thirteen children <strong>and</strong><br />
received his honorary doctorate from UWI<br />
in 2003 for his accomplishments.<br />
It has been a long musical ride for the<br />
modest pan genius who started in 1963<br />
with the strumming <strong>of</strong> a quatro with the<br />
Lopinot-famous par<strong>and</strong>eros (a group <strong>of</strong><br />
Parang players). A year later, he joined the<br />
Camboulay steelb<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Tunapuna, <strong>and</strong><br />
then formed the family b<strong>and</strong> The Samaroo<br />
Kids after the passing <strong>of</strong> his mother when<br />
he was just twelve years old. The Kids<br />
became the Samaroo Jets, recording its<br />
first album in 1975 titled, The Samaroo<br />
Family Steel Orchestra Classics, featuring<br />
the works <strong>of</strong> Bach (his favourite composer),<br />
Mendelssohn <strong>and</strong> Prok<strong>of</strong>iev.<br />
As a composer, Jit has demonstrated his<br />
versatility with selections such as:<br />
<br />
as well as the test pieces “Pan Patterns”<br />
(1985) <strong>and</strong> “Song <strong>of</strong> Lopinot” (1987) for<br />
the schools steelb<strong>and</strong> music festival,<br />
Saag Sameelan.<br />
<br />
Festival<br />
<br />
competition<br />
<br />
Season” for Panorama<br />
<br />
<br />
at the Pan Is Beautiful music festival<br />
<br />
Competition.<br />
All these, along with “Coleman’s Jam,”<br />
culminated in 2003 with the launch <strong>of</strong> his<br />
CD Jit Samaroo: Original Notes. His favourite<br />
recordings are Voices <strong>of</strong> Spring/ Samaroo<br />
Jets, Tico Tico/Samaroo Jets <strong>and</strong> Pan in A<br />
Minor/Renegades. He has travelled globally<br />
with Renegades, taking T&T’s national<br />
instrument to far-<strong>of</strong>f places like Italy,<br />
Israel, Morocco, India, Brazil, La Réunion,<br />
Madagascar, Jordan, Japan <strong>and</strong> France,<br />
where he performed before a live audience<br />
<strong>of</strong> more than two million.<br />
These days Samaroo concentrates his<br />
musical talents on writing <strong>and</strong> scoring for<br />
children to aid <strong>and</strong> enhance the use <strong>of</strong><br />
the steelpan instruments in the schools <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Trinidad</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Tobago</strong>.<br />
The <strong>Ins</strong> & <strong>Outs</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Trinidad</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Tobago</strong> 37