Steelpan icon of ‘Guinness Cavaliers’ now listens to gospel music
Lennox Bobby Mohammed as he looks today
FORTY-SEVEN years ago, a youthful Lennox Bobby Mohammed emerged from the Southland to become an icon of the steelpan.
He had led the Guinness Cavaliers in 1965 to a National Panorama Finals victory in Port of Spain, a victory that sent shock waves throughout the steelband fraternity.
Bobby Mohammed was only 23 years old at the time, and that victory made him the youngest musical arranger ever to win a Panorama.
What made that victory more memorable was Cavaliers’ defeat of the invincible Pan Am North Stars, the band people in the North touted as the greatest steelband.
Cavaliers’ tune of choice was Melody’s Mas.
Those who witnessed the event recalled seeing black pans rolling out on to the stage at the Savannah.
The colour of the pans was rough, unusual. Other bands sported bright colours like red, blue, white and green.
Hugh Borde, captain of the St James-based Esso Tripoli, recalled at the annual Pan Pioneers celebrations in Belmont that “when Cavaliers done play, we know who was the winner.”
“Everybody get dumb. Everybody shock. All bad john panman in town put dey tail between dey leg,” said Borde.
“Just imagine, I living St James and I heading for Belmont to go home,” Borde recalled.
“I get dotish. I get tutulbay. I get bazodee. I forget whe I living,” he said.
Lennox Bobby Mohammed was born on June 2, 1942 at Siparia Old Road. At the age of seven he moved to 25 Lazzari Street, Mon Repos, San Fernando and has resided at that location to this date. He attended Mon Repos RC school and later Presentation College.
Music always fascinated Mohammed and he started playing the piano and guitar at an early age.
In 1958-59 he turned to the steelpan and his musical career changed forever, becoming one of the brighter stars in the local musical galaxy during the 1960s.
Mohammed was firstly involved with a band called Gondoliers.
That band split in 1960-61 and the other half, named Cavaliers, led by Bobby Mohammed won the sponsorship of Guinness.
“We played in Panorama 1964 but we didn’t do well,” Mohammed noted.
“Then in 1965 we come in town and take the crown,” he said.
“You see, in the 1965 Panorama we introduced new musical techniques like the Bosanova beat in the middle of the tune. Then we changed from a major key into a minor. We used the bass to play Latin beat. We used the crescendo and crowned that with a classical finish,” explained Mohammed.
“The band used to practice right here, in the yard, under the house,” he recalled earlier this week at his San Fernando home.
“For the first year we had about 45 players. The next year the number of players doubled,” he said.
Guinness Cavaliers again took the National Panorama title in 1967 with Kitchener’s “Sixty-seven”.
Steelpan icon LENNOX BOBBY MOHAMMED (centre in white jacket), leader/arranger of Guinness Cavaliers, during one of their performances in the 1960's
The band also won a number of competitions in San Fernando during the decade of the 60s and toured countries like Venezuela, USA, Canada and Caribbean.
“Cavaliers was one of the pioneering bands in classics and carols,” said Mohammed.
“The other pioneering band was Pan Am North Stars. Then other bands like West Side Symphony, Esso Tripoli and Desperadoes came in,” he added.
In the mid-1960s Mohammed was selected to play with the National Steelband, a prestigious band comprising the best players from the top bands in the country.
By the 1970s many of his players had left the band, some migrated and Cavaliers was reduced to a mere stage band.
Today, Bobby Mohammed still plays his music … gospel music.
He speaks a lot about God and the coming of Jesus Christ.
His room at home is adorned with lots of framed photographs and plaques.
Awards from the City of San Fernando, the National Carnival Commission, Pan Trinbago, Carifesta and the Hilton grace the walls of his room.
There are two tenor pans, one rusting and the other clean and shining.
Two guitars, a keyboard, a bench, an old Singer sewing machine make up the complement of instruments at home.
Today, Lennox Bobby Mohammed is virtually a nobody.
With sunken eyes, protruding belly, Lennox Bobby Mohammed soldiers on with his gospel music.
He is sure that his music career is not over yet.
