Dike Samai

Hailing from South Trinidad, Dike Samai began his musical path in his first choice secondary school, Presentation College. There, under the direction of Mrs. Cynthia LeeMack and the deceased Anthony LeeMack, he began to grow musically as his involvement in the various choirs and musicals in the college opened his eyes to his future.

After graduating from Presentation College, Dike attended the University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus where he attained a Certificate in Pan with distinction, and two years later graduated with a BA in Musical Arts with Upper Second Honours.

Dike is also the Captain and Arranger of his band Fusion Steel Ensemble, a band comprising of panists as well as vocalists which has perfected many genres of music over the 4 years of their existence. He is able to play any steelpan placed in front of him with relative ease but excels mainly at Double Seconds and 4 Cello.

During the last year of his tenure at the University of the West Indies, Dike began showing a strong interest in Film Music and its effects on the listener with regards to emotion and mood. With this interest, he began learning how to compose for movies and other media and is currently enrolled in two separate online certificates in Composition for Film and Media.

Dike plans on becoming a professional Film Score Composer and raise the level of music found in local and international movies to those found in Hollywood Blockbusters. He is currently a Music Teacher under the Ministry of Education at St. Benedict's College La Romaine where he has taken the school's Pan Ensemble, St Benedict's Steel from non-existent to the final round of Junior Panorama in each of the 2 years they have taken part, (2013 and 2014) as well as 5 Certificates of Excellence in the annual NGC Sanfest competition. In 2013 they won with his arrangement of Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and in 2014 won again with his arrangement of The Mighty Sparrow's "Jean and Dinah" beating second place by 26 points.