This album celebrates one of the most successful partnerships in
pan history. Jit Samaroo is a towering arranger in the steelband
world — musically towering, that is, since his slight, unassuming
figure says little about his talents. Samaroo comes from an Indian
family in Lopinot, outside Port of Spain, and was recruited to
arrange for the legendary Renegades steel orchestra in 1970, soon
after the Amoco Trinidad Oil Company became the band’s sponsor. It
was a brave choice — Jit was only 19, and was plunged in at the deep
end with one of the country’s oldest and toughest groups. But it
paid off. There was a long apprenticeship during which both sides
stuck to each other with admirable loyalty. But by 1980, Renegades
were clearly a formidable threat in the fierce competition of the
annual Panorama competition, and they won their first title there in
1982 with Jit’s arrangement of Pan Explosion — he has always
favoured tunes by Kitchener. Since then, Renegades have won the
championship six times more under Jit’s direction. Jit himself is a
virtuoso player himself, leader of a small family-based ensemble
(the Samaroo Jets), and no mean composer either, in demand
especially for competition test pieces. This tribute album features
Renegades playing some of his most memorable arrangements: Winston
DeVines’s Somebody, plus six Kitchener tunes — Pan
Earthquake, Mystery Band, The Bees’ Melody,
Iron Man, The Pan In Me, and Pan In A Minor. No
pan fan will want to miss this one. [Caribbean Beat] |