Both Brother Resistance and Winston Devine loved the steel-pan.
By Aquil Arrindell
Trinidad and Tobago recently lost one of our greatest writers and composers/musicians, Dr. Winsford Devine. Today, it is with great regret that we are forced to accept the passing of another icon in culture, Mr. Lutalo Masimba aka Brother Resistance.
Without a choice we had to know of him from his monster hit song Mother Earth as it played on radio and television in the early 90’s regularly. I had one unfortunate interaction with him as a young producer which became a life lesson in my producing career. He came to my studio with the artist called Revalation to do a remix on that hit song Mother Earth. After all was done and he left, the project on my computer shut down and I lost all the files. Though we rescheduled a few times, we never got him back in the studio. Other than learning that you must save and back up all that you do on the computer immediately, I also learnt that some things are meant to be and some things are not. Fast forward years later, as an officer of Pan Trinbago, I learnt that he was a friend of the organization and a lover of the instrument.
Both Brother Resistance and Winston Devine’s calling, love and labour, went into the calypso fraternity. Mr. Devine as a writer and Brother Resistance as a performer and President of the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organization(TUCO) were defined by their identity in the eyes of the public. However, what is dear to me is their relationship with the steel pan. Mr. Devine, other than writing many songs that crossed the Savanna stage for Panorama, he also arranged for a band from George Street, Port of Spain called Blue Diamonds Steel Orchestra. Brother Resistance’s conventional band, Network Rythm Band, always featured a panist although it was not the norm at that time.
On behalf of the pan movement, I would like the say thanks for your contribution to Trinidad and Tobago’s cultural landscape. Condolences to their immediate family and to our sister organization TUCO. We love you both and may you Rest in Peace.
Pan till I die,
Aquil Arrindell
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