THE GENESIS
AMIN MOHAMMED, the bank executive who founded the Exodus Steel Orchestra, was also responsible for several innovations in the pan world and the major 1987 reform of Carnival administration.
Mohammed, who migrated to Grand Cayman in 1993, then left the band in care of his younger brother Ainsworth, who is still manager of the orchestra.
An avid pannist since 1960 (his preferred instrument being the double-second pans), Mohammed the elder performed with the Flamingoes Steel Orchestra until 1981, when he fell out with the management of that band and formed Exodus.
With pans borrowed from the Witco Desperadoes Steel Orchestra, Exodus won Pan Trinbago’s 1982 East Zone competition and secured a place in the national final, mere months after its formation.
Under Mohammed, Exodus soon became the model music organisation in the pan world. Mohammed instilled a sense of business into the steelband and maintained an exemplary level of discipline in the organisation.
He retained the arranging skills of the agreed Carnival tempo guru, Pelham Goddard and insisted that the band look toward in-house compositions for the annual panorama competition.
But Mohammed did not limit his organising skills to Exodus. Arguing that full-sized steel orchestras did not enjoy enough opportunities for engagement in the off- season, he conceived the Pan Ramajay competition; a contest among small ensembles, comprising each band’s most skilled players.
Now a concert, this year’s Pan Ramajay - the tenth annual edition - is scheduled for July 13 and 14 at the Grand Stand, Queen’s Park Savannah.
On the national level, Mohammed’s skills were also recognised by his appointment in 1986 as Chairman of the (then) Carnival Development Committee (CDC).
He pioneered reforms of Carnival administration, pulling together an advisory committee, which eventually came up with the National Carnival Commission (NCC) concept, to give greater autonomy to the body that organises the annual national festival.
Mohammed was also appointed to chair the interim NCC, a body whose authority was not written into law until well after he handed the function over to Roy Augustus in 1989.
Coupled with the demands of his substantive job at Republic Bank, growing concerns about the distance between his own plans for Carnival and those of the central government, Mohammed stepped down in 1992.
As a visible tribute to its administration, most of the band’s current membership has been with Exodus from inception. The band has toured extensively. And at home, Exodus maintains an enviable list of achievements.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Exodus is the best steel orchestra on earth, a title conferred on the band in October 2002 at the conclusion of the second World Steelband Music Festival (WSMF II); the final round of which was held in Trinidad and Tobago.
For its rendition of Tchaikowsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” and the test-piece “Pan Talent” (by calypsonian Terror), the orchestra placed first with a total of 564 points, dethroning the TCL Group Skiffle Bunch.
The WSMFII victory was the second international triumph for Exodus in ten months, the band having won the Caribbean ‘Panorama’ title in December 2001.
And while Exodus was victorious at the World Festival as an orchestra, it was not the extent of the band’s successes in that contest.
In the ensemble category, the Exodus group came in second for its interpretation of Enrique Iglesias’ “Bailamos”. The band also fielded four quartets, placing first, third, fourth and fifth in the final standings. Winners Kernon and Kerron Ross, Melissa Harripaul and Clement Springer topped the lot with 259 points for their interpretation of Guillermo (Anthony) Prospect’s “Intermezzo In E Flat”.
Exodus also entered four duets for WSMFII, the Ross twins (Kernon and Kerron) placed first for their work on Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” and two other Exodus duets tied at second position. Kern Summerville & Ronnie Ross performed Handel’s “Air and Variations in B Flat” and Kenneth Joseph & Shenelle Abraham did Mozart’s “Le Nozze de Figaro”.
Although unplaced, the fourth duet, Melissa and Marisa Theodore were rapturously received for their rendition of “Sisters”, a piece composed especially for them by Maureen Clement-Moe.
Exodus also entered six soloists, including defending champion (from WSMF I) Sophia Subero and a novel approach by Andy Husband, who performed his solo (Kitchener’s “Pan in A Minor”) on a six-bass cluster, a feat argued by pan historians as a first.
Three Exodus players made it to the final reckoning. Subero came in fourth for her performance of “Czardas”, Marc Douglas was fifth with Kreisler’s “Praeludium And Allegro” and Shenelle Abraham seventh for her interpretation of “Sonata”.
It was the kind of sweep of which most steel orchestras could only dream but Exodus, represented in every category of the World Festival, came away with a bag of trophies and accolades that vindicated months of rehearsal and the dedication of its players.
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