The Saga of Jit Samaroo - From Nobody To Somebody to Iron Man to the Great Beyond

 

The humble, reserved, unassuming musical genius Jit Sukha Samaroo was born in the village of Surrey in Lopinot, a tranquil valley of Trinidad’s Northern Range, on February 24^th 1950. A blend of French, Spanish, African and Amerindian ancestry and a watershed of cross-cultural fertilization lay in waiting.

From birth, Jit’s musical skills were inculcated and influenced by his mother and the old Parranderos with traditional rhythms of Parang and Castilian. Over time, he honed his craft under the tutorship of Dr. Patricia Bishop, Dr. Gordon Maliphant, Landeg White, Winifred Sitahal and Fr. John Sewell.

Steelpan Master Craftsman Bertram ‘Birch’ Kellman introduced the 17-year old fledgling to the Renegades Steel Orchestra of La Cou Harp, one of the most feared areas of Port-of-Spain, in 1967. With a wry sense of humour, Jit tranquilised these Bad Johns on the opening night of his legendary association with an arrangement of The Osmond Brothers’ One Bad Apple; they played until round about midnight. Within two decades, he was king of counter melody, orchestration, dynamics and rhythm for the elephantine ensemble that was Renegades at the annual Panorama competition.

“Somebody will win this Panorama” quipped Keith Matthews of Trinidad All Stars as no fewer than nine bands played Winsford ‘Joker’ Des Vignes’ title song of 1989. In 1990 Jit whipped the field again with Lord Kitchener’s immortal classic. At last, my ‘King Arthur’ of the round table of Panorama arrangers had ‘earned his spurs’ through painstaking but seamless transition from nobody to somebody to iron man.

Enjoy and share Jit’s palpable arrangement and my real-time technical analysis of ‘Somebody’

Alas, Jit has embarked upon his timeless journey on ‘A Ship Called Love’ to cross The River Styx from Thursday January 07^th 2016. ‘Steadfast’ is the call, my Liege.

CREDITS

•  EP - SLS ·        
•  A/V - GA ·        
• Music - Somebody ·        
• Composer - Winsford ‘Joker’ Des Vignes ·        
• Performers - BP Renegades Steel Orchestra ·        
• Album -  The Golden Era ·        
• Performers -  BP Renegades Steel Orchestra ·        
• Source -  SANCH CD0502-2
• Etc

THE STRUCTURE OF A TYPICAL PANORAMA ARRANGEMENT

The Song – ‘Somebody’
The Composer – Winsford ‘Joker’ Des Vignes
The Calypsonian – Timothy Watkins Jr. known as ‘The Baron’
The Orchestra – Amoco Renegades led by Patrick ‘Dougla’ Penco. 1989 Panorama Champions
The Arranger – Jit Samaroo
The Players – 28 Tenors; 8 Double-Tenors; 12 Double-Seconds; 6 Double-Guitars; 6 Triple-Cellos; 6 Four-Cellos; 4 Quads; 8 Tenor-Bass; 8 Six-Bass; 3 Nine-Bass; 11 Rhythm Section; Total 100
Recording Date – February 1^st, 1989 at 11:30 PM
Venue – Panyard, Charlotte Street, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Engineer – Simeon L. Sandiford

REAL TIME	MUSICAL STATUS	COMMENT
0:00	‘Count’ and Introduction	First Key, B-Flat
0:34	Verse	Cellos and Quads play counter melody
0:58	Chorus
1:37	Double Seconds solo on Melody, repeated at 2:01	Soca and Calypso rhythms. Melody repeated
2:26	Cellos and Quads play chorus, repeated at 3:05
3:44	Calypso ‘Jam’
4:08	‘Bridge’ to change to second key, A
4:16	Merengue in A on verse, repeated at 4:40
5:05	Merengue ‘Jam’. Change to third key, G
5:25	Samba in G on the chorus. Bass takes lead
5:49 6:05	Rhythm changes to Zouk Rhythm changes to Samba
6:28	Change to fourth key, C, with Zouk ‘Jam’
6:52	‘Stop’ to change to fifth key, D.	Rhythm stops for a few seconds
7:12	Tenor solo on verse, repeated at 7:36	to change key
8:01	Tenor solo on chorus,  repeated at 8:40
9:19	Change back to original key, B Flat. Tenors take the lead.	Cellos and Quads play counter melody
9:41	Soca ‘Jam’ with voices	Sweet (x8) …. Bad (X8) signifies that “this music is sweet too bad” – a favourite Trini slang
9:57	Crescendo
10:00	Des Vignes’ original introduction.
10:10	Unison chorus
10:50	Zouk ‘Jam’
11:24	Finale

Notes:

1. Verse starts on a minor chord throughout while chorus starts on a major chord.

2. Preparation time 3-4 weeks.

3. Multiplicity of Rhythms – Calypso, Soca, Merengue, Zouk, Samba. Others used by arrangers include Reggae, Jazz, Afro and Indo-Caribbean genres.

4. Keys – B Flat; A; G; C; D; B Flat

5. The section solos are called ‘Runs’

6. Typically, arrangers would repeat ‘Runs’ in order to ‘stretch’ their arrangements to 10 minutes and satisfy judging criteria for maximum performance time on stage. This is no longer applicable since maximum performance time is now 8 minutes.

I wish to acknowledge the technical assistance rendered by Jit Samaroo in compiling these notes.

Simeon L. Sandiford

Dec 1^st 1989,  revised October 17^th 2015

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