imported>Lancepark: /* External links */

2025-06-26T13:13:50Z

External links

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
'''Jit Sukha Samaroo''' (24 February 1950 – 7 January 2016) was a [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidadian]] composer and [[steelpan]] musician.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seetobago.org/trinidad/pan/panpeep/pp30.htm|title=Reference: Biography: Jit Samaroo: Pan Player, Arranger, Composer|date=|website=Seetobago.org|accessdate=2016-05-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.basementrecordings.com/nap/tnt/2004/results.htm|title=2004 Trinidad Panorama Results Complete|date=|website=Basementrecordings.com|accessdate=2016-01-10}}</ref>

==Life and work==
Jit Samaroo was born in Surrey village, in Lopinot, Trinidad and Tobago, the seventh of 13 children in a family of [[Indo-Trinidadian|Indian]] origin. At the age of 10, he joined the short-lived Village Boys pan-round-the-neck side. His mother, who loved playing the [[dholak]], died in 1962, and so, young Jit, appointed the task of taking care of his
younger siblings, formed the Samaroo kids combo.

They were initially [[Parang music|Parang]] players but by the age of 14, already a self-confessed "slave to steelpan", Jit joined the Lever Brothers Canboulay Steelband. There he learned and mastered all the orchestra's instruments. Recognising young Jit's talent, the musical director Landeg White allowed him to help arrange the band's calypsos, and also arranged for him to have music lessons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecaroh.com/profiles/jit_samaroo.htm|title=Jit Samaroo - Profiles of Caribbean Artistry|date=1950-02-24|website=Ecaroh.com|accessdate=2016-01-10}}</ref>

He was hailed as the country's most clinically accurate [[arranger]], arranging one tune by the instrument and composing additional tunes to accompany it.

He was a versatile composer and occasional bass player in his family band the Samaroo Jets, Jit was awarded the [[Hummingbird Medal]] of Merit (Silver) in 1987, as well as the [[Chaconia Medal]] (silver) in 1995. In 2003, Samaroo was given an [[Honorary degree|Honorary Doctorate]] from the [[University of the West Indies]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecaroh.com/pan/jitsamaroo_originalnotes.htm|title=Jit Samaroo - Original Notes|date=|website=Ecaroh.com|accessdate=2016-01-10}}</ref>

==Music==
Victories with the Renegades Steel Orchestra.
{| class="wikitable"
|- class="hintergrundfarbe5"
! Year !! Song
|-
| 1982 || "Pan Explosion"
|-
| 1984 || "Sweet Pan"
|-
| 1985 || "Pan Night and Day"
|-
| 1989 || "Somebody"
|-
| 1990 || "Iron Man"
|-
| 1993 || "Mystery Band"
|-
| 1995 || "Four Lara Four"
|-
| 1996 || "Pan in a Rage"
|-
| 1997 || "Guitar Pan"
|}

==Death==
Professor Jit Samaroo died at his home on 7 January 2016. He was 65 years old.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pan legend Jit Samaroo has died|url=http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160107/news/pan-legend-jit-samaroo-has-died|website=Trinidadexpress.com|accessdate=7 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160209104719/http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160107/news/pan-legend-jit-samaroo-has-died|archive-date=9 February 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Further reading==
''Renegades!: The Story of the BP Renegades Steel Orchestra'', Macmillan Caribbean, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-333-73311-0}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
Verba D. et Mrejen JJ, Pan in A minor, Iskra Films, 1987, Silver music film award, Cannes, 1988.

==External links==
* {{YouTube|1i68jp5yqZI|Jit Samaroo speaks}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samaroo, Jit}}
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:Steelpan musicians]]
[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago musicians]]
[[Category:2016 deaths]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Chaconia Medal]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Hummingbird Medal]]
[[Category:Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian people]]

Jit Samaroo - Revision history

imported>Lancepark: /* External links */