MORE THAN A QUARTER CENTURY OF PAN MUSIC
Amoco Trinidad Oil Company became associated with the Renegades Steel Orchestra in 1970 as a direct result of fierce ‘black power’ protests in Trinidad and Tobago at that time. Prime Minister Dr. Eric Williams, concerned about the social unrest among suburban youths sent a message to Amoco: “Would you be interested in sponsoring one of our community steel bands?”
Amoco responded positively. The company had just discovered oil off the east coast of Trinidad and was preparing to produce its first barrel. As it turned out, the company got into the exciting business of steel band sponsorship even before we produced our first barrel of crude oil. The initial contract with Renegades was signed in June, 1970.
Amoco did not select Renegades from those bands interested in a corporate sponsor. It was, for us, simply the luck of the draw. And what phenomenal luck it was for Amoco! The relationship between the sponsor and the community steel orchestra has been exemplary and nothing less than fantastic.
Renegades was advised by Amoco in their initial sponsorship that it was not conditional that they append Amocoto the band’s name. But the Renegades wanted to be known as Amoco Renegades. It was a tremendous source of pride then to have a corporate sponsor of stature. It meant respectability, acceptance and assurance for the future. And, I guess, the band felt that it was the least it could do in return for promised financial and administrative support.
This was the beginning of an enduring relationship. A beginning that also led to other important relationships.
With its newly acquired sponsorship, Amoco Renegades was in a position to hire a musical arranger to prepare the band for the carnival season. Whom should they hire? Bertrand ‘Butch’ Kellman, then a young tuner who prepared the Renegades’ pans, recommended strongly that the band consider a relatively unknown and untried pannist, 19-year old Jit Samaroo.
Mild mannered and slightly built, Samaroo accepted the challenge to work with Renegades, which had the notoriety then of being one of the toughest street gangs in Trinidad’s capital city of Port of Spain. It is an incredible sight even today, to see Samaroo at work orchestrating the Renegades. Full credit must be given also to the Renegades, for their decision to accept Jit as their arranger. The band recognised his potential. And although it took almost 12 years before their first Panorama win, they never lost faith in him.
The first ten years of the Amoco-Renegades-Kellman-Samaroo saga did not produce any musical success, except for that time in 1976 when the band posed a Panorama challenge with Samaroo’s arrangement of The Mighty Sparrow’s Statue. Perhaps the most notable circumstance of those early years was that Amoco Renegades was, at last, gradually shedding its street gang image.
There is a very significant story in the fact that today, more than 25 years later, the team of Amoco, (now BPTT) Renegades, Kellman and Samaroo remains firmly intact. Very few steel bands, if any, could claim such a consistent relationship with arranger, tuner and sponsor. After a few dry years most bands are usually tempted to turn to another musical arranger in their anxiety for Panorama success. But Renegades, through a culture and tradition passed down from more turbulent times, always remain fiercely loyal to their own. These Renegades always stick to their guns.
©1995, Revised 2001
Frank Arlen
THE RENEGADES STEEL ORCHESTRA
The Renegades Steel Orchestra was founded somewhere around 1945, at the end of the Second World War. This makes them one of the oldest surviving steelbands in Trinidad and Tobago today. The name Renegades was chosen on V.E. Day when steelbands selected names from films shown during the period, other examples being Casablanca, Destination Tokyo, Rising Sun, Desperadoesand Invaders. The number of members averages 45, but at Carnival time for the Panorama Competition this increases to as many as 120. The touring size varies according to need.
In the early years, the band received sporadic assistance from several corporate citizens. From 1970, BPTT Corporation, formerly Amoco Trinidad Oil Company became the band’s sole sponsor. This relationship has been harmonious and unbroken and has contributed to phenomenal growth. Renegades has won the fiercely competitive National Panorama Competition nine times in the past twenty-one years. They have also performed at the biannual Pan Is Beautiful festival under distinguished conductor, the late Fr. John Sewell, and in 1984 received highest marks for the test piece, placing second overall. In 1988, they topped the field with their tune of choice (Fr. Sewell’s adaptation of Mars, the Bringer of War by Gustav Holst) and placed second overall.
Renegades has developed into an ensemble of outstanding musicians that has written its name indelibly on the musical landscape of Trinidad and Tobago and of the international arena. In the process it has became one of the country’s most travelled cultural ambassadors. Since the 1960s they have toured Venezuela, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Tunisia, Morocco, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Austria, Portugal, Holland, France, Japan, Canada, Jordan, Gabon, Argentina and the United States. They have also performed on the island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean (more of this fruitful visit later). In 1990, they performed at one of the largest outdoor concerts in the world before a record crowd of two million people in France, accompanying the renowned composer and conductor, Jean Michel Jarre. The band was also the opening act at the Nelson Mandela Welcome Rally held at Yankee Stadium, New York, in 1990.
Renegades has received several awards, including the National Chaconia Gold Medal (1992), a Sunshine Award from the USA (1990), a Pan Trinbago award for outstanding contribution to the development of the steelband movement (1990) and a Port of Spain City Corporation Award (1986). In the National Panorama Competition, Renegades struggled for thirteen long years before reaching the finals in 1976 playing The Mighty Sparrow’s Statue and placing second. Thereafter they failed to reach the Big Yard – The Queen’s Park Savannah, on Carnival Saturday night – until 1980. Since then, there has been no looking back, and as the following table shows, the band and their ace arranger, Jit Samaroo, have grown from strength to strength during the period which I have dubbed The Renegades Era.
THE RENEGADES ERA
| Year | Calypso | Composer | Position |
| 1980 | Jean the Netball Queen | Kitchener | 3rd |
| 1981 | More Pan | Kitchener | 2nd |
| 1982 | Pan Explosion | Kitchener | 1st |
| 1983 | 50 Years of Steel | Kitchener | 5th |
| 1984 | Sweet Pan | Kitchener | 1st |
| 1985 | Pan Night and Day | Kitchener | 1st |
| 1986 | Pan Here To Stay | Kitchener | 5th |
| 1987 | Pan In ‘A’ Minor | Kitchener | 2nd |
| 1988 | The Pan In Me | Kitchener | 6th |
| 1989 | Somebody | Devine | 1st |
| 1990 | Iron Man | Kitchener | 1st |
| 1991 | Rant and Rave | Tambu | 2nd |
| 1992 | The Bees’ Melody | Kitchener | 3rd |
| 1993 | Mystery Band | Kitchener | 1st |
| 1994 | Pan Earthquake | Kitchener | 3rd |
| 1995 | Four Lara Four | de Fosto | 1st |
| 1996 | Pan In A Rage | de Fosto | 1st |
| 1997 | Guitar Pan | Kitchener | 1st |
| 1998 | Pan For Carnival | R.Robinson / A.Daniell | 4th |
| 1999 | Toco Band | Kitchener | 5th |
| 2000 | Jump for Joy | Superblue | 4th |
| 2001 | Sound of the Ghost | K. Roberts | 6th |
It is interesting to note that for the entire history of the Panorama competition, Renegades played non-Kitchener calypsoes on thirteen occasions only, the most notable being: 1972 Rope – Sparrow, 1976 Statue – Sparrow, 1989 Somebody – Devine, 1991 Rant and Rave – Tambu, 1995 Four Lara Four and 1996 Pan In a Rage both by de Fosto. When asked to comment on his affinity for Kitchener’s calypsoes, Jit said, “Kitchener’s unique chord progressions and rhythmic patterns are best suited to my style of arranging.”
In 1993, during Renegades’ Panorama performance of Lord Kitchener’s Mystery Band, the audience was titillated by a new rattling sound – harmonised with the double-tenors, cellos, guitars and rhythm section to create a unique musical interpretation of a river coming down. Commentators and even judges guessed all sorts of things and even credited Renegades with inventing a new instrument. It was, in fact, a Kayamb, a type of shaken idiophone, indigenous to La Reunion. Band members were so impressed with it that they returned to Trinidad with 26 Kayambs from their tour in 1992.
This is a perfect example of the way in which the Renegades Steel Orchestra continues to experiment, expand and evolve. They are truly one of the most professional, dedicated and exciting steelbands of Trinidad and Tobago, and consequently, the world.