Dr. Jit Sukha Samaroo - The Man - The Arranger - The Composer
The Man
Jit Sukha Samaroo was born on 24 February, 1950 in the village of Surrey, Lopinot, one of the most elevated valleys in Trinidad’s Northern Range. This valley was settled in 1805 by the French soldier, Charles Joseph, Compte de Lopinot, who established a thriving cocoa plantation. Lopinot’s home is now a famous tourist attraction and the valley has inherited his name. Today it is inhabited by people of different races - East Indian, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish and African, whose cultural influences have all enriched Jit’s music.
Jit attended St. Pius Boys’ Roman Catholic School in Arouca, journeying six miles daily to and from, on foot. His love for music manifested itself at a very early age and was influenced by his mother, who was a versatile dholak player. It was also particularly influenced by Parang, a Spanish-derived musical art form for which Lopinot is famous. On evenings, Jit would play his cuatro or guitar and at Christmas time, he would accompany the village parranderos with traditional house-to-house serenading into the wee hours of the morning. While barely a teenager, he formed a combo with some of his brothers and sisters. Baboolal played the maracas, Girlie the cowbell, Vidya the drums and Sonalal the scratcher. Jit played the guitar. This group eventually disbanded in favour of the steelband. However, Jit’s knowledge of the cuatro and guitar continues to influence his complex arrangements of chord progressions for steelband music.
Jit’s involvement with the steelpan began at the age of ten when he joined the Village Boys, a pan-around-the-neck steelband. At fourteen, he became a member of the Lever Brothers Camboulay Steel Orchestra. His role models are steelband arrangers Tony Williams, Ray Holman, Clive Bradley and Earl Rodney. Ironically, his arrangements have won the National Panorama Competition on nine occasions, more that any one of them. His specialty instrument is the tenor pan. In 1972, he won the Ping Pong (solo) Category at the Steelband Music Festival. As an arranger, he is intimately familiar with all other instruments of the steel orchestra. Occasionally he plays bass for the Samaroo Jets. Jit has no formal training in music. Much of his knowledge has been acquired from music icons Dr. Gordon Maliphant, Landeg White, Winifred Sitahal, Pat Bishop and the late Fr. John Sewell. As a reward for his outstanding contribution to Trinidad and Tobago’s culture, he was awarded the National Hummingbird Medal of Merit (silver) in 1987, and further honoured with the National Chaconia Medal (silver) in 1995.
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