The legendary pan pioneer, bandleader , arranger, tells his life story and of his associations with two great San Fernando steelbands, Guinness Gondoliers, and Guinness Cavaliers.
"At the age of 22 in 1965, Lennox “Bobby” Mohammed became the youngest arranger to win a Panorama title with the San Fernando-based band Guinness Cavaliers.
They would repeat this in 1967 after placing second in 1966. In 1992 Mohammed was honoured with one of this country’s highest national awards, the Humming Bird Medal Gold. Now a sprightly and very spiritual 71-year-old, he reflects on and tell us of his re-emergence on the music scene."
Read more..............
http://www.guardian.co.tt/entertainment/2013-07-06/bobby-mohammed-steelpan-legend-re-emerges
Replies
So , according to Bobby Mohammed, he was introduced to pan when champion ping pong (tenor pan) soloist and Southern All Stars panist Nearlin Taitt brought a tenor pan to his home, and he and his brother started playing.
This obviously led to the eventual creation of the great Guinness Cavaliers Steel orchestra.
Nearlin also played guitar with the Dutchy brothers, and then Started his own band, the Nearlin Taitt orchestra.
And then to top it off, he moved to Jamaica where he started a band, the legendary rock steady group "Lynn Taitt and the Jets", and is credited as one of the musicians that created the rock steady/ reggae genre.
Talk about an unrecognized, underappreciated cultural contributor and pan pioneer!
I was a little boy in my father's band when I heard "Is Paris Burning" on the road - heading back up Coffee Street, to be exact. I can't recall if that was the same year with the clash with Silvertones. But that tune has stuck in my for all of these years. Thanks Bobby!
Brian, "Is Paris Burning" would have been 1967 and I remember it well.
For Carnival that year I played with Scarlet Symphony from Marabella, and I joined Silvertones later that year after Scarlet Symphony became defunct.
I am not aware of either Silvertones or Cavaliers ever being involved in a clash.
Could you be referring to the clash a couple years earlier between Guinness Gondoliers and Southern Marines?
That's probably the biggest steelband clash that I'm aware of that happened in south.
Yes - this is when Guinness decided that 'discretion was the better part of valor' and made their was back home by rolling up Pointe-a-Pierre Road to Circular Road to get back to home base. The normal route would have been to roll up Coffee Street to Royal Road.
Those were great times and memories....