Amin Mohammed, senior banker and founder of the Exodus Steel Orchestra, who was also responsible for several innovations in the pan world and the 1987 reform of Carnival administration, died yesterday morning in Grand Cayman.
Mohammed, 56, who joined Republic Bank in 1961 immediately upon leaving St Mary's College, worked his way up through the system to become the bank's head of credit administration, before leaving in July 1993 to take up an appointment as executive vice-president of the Cayman National Bank.
An avid panist since 1960, Mohammed performed with the Gay Flamingoes Steel Orchestra until 1981, but became disenchanted with the band's lack of progress and walked out of the panyard, calling upon players of like mind to follow him.
The result was an historic exodus, which is why the resulting band was (and still is) called the Exodus Steel Orchestra. With pans borrowed from Witco Desperadoes, 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 organization in the pan world. Mohammed instilled a sense of business into the band and maintained an exemplary level of discipline in the organization. He retained the arranging skills of Road March guru Pelham Goddard and folk music icon, Desmond Waithe (who also does the band's classical repertoire) and insisted that the band look toward in-house compositions for the annual Panorama competition.
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 maintains an enviable list of achievements.
Last year, Exodus tied for first with the Defence Force Steel Orchestra in the Steelband Music Festival, "Pan is Beautiful IX".
But Mohammed did not limit his organizing skills to Exodus.
Arguing that full-sized steel orchestras did not enjoy enough opportunities for engagement in the of-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 10th annual edition - is scheduled for May 27th and 28th at the Grand Stand, Queen's Park Savannah.
On the national level, Mohammed's skills were also recognized by his appointment in 1986 as chairman of the (then) Carnival Development Committee (CDC), when the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) Government came to power. 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 organized the national festival.
Mohammed was also appointed to chair the interim NCC, a body which 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 forced Mohammed's resignation.
Augustus yesterday described Mohammed as 'a serious loss, although he was not in the (Carnival) mainstream over the past few years'.
Another Mohammed pan plan that is only now seeing the light of day was to hold a concert featuring (at that time) seven bands, each of whom has won one or more of he annual steelband Panorama competitions.
Mohammed, in a 1990 interview, described a show called "The Magnificent Seven", in which the bands would each line up opposite the magnificent seven buildings on the west side of the Queen's Park Savannah, turning the area into a fair-ground on a Sunday afternoon.
Next month, Pan Trinbago plans a show called "Champion of Champions', which largely follows Mohammed's concept, and at which Exodus (having won the 1992 national Panorama title) is scheduled to perform.
Former Pan Trinbago president, Owen Serrette, upon hearing of Mohammed's death, said he will be missed at every steelband event.
"He maintained a link with what was happening. He never failed to fly to Trinidad to hear his band play in a competition and was a regular at not just our Carnival, but all the Trinidad-style Carnivals in the region and Miami," Serrette said.
Mohammed, who suffered a stroke in late 1997, reportedly succumbed to a heart attack at 4 a.m. yesterday.
One of three younger brothers, Ainsworth, (who is also a credit management executive at Republic Bank) has handled Exodus since Amin's migration.
Yesterday, Ainsworth flew to Grand Cayman to make arrangements to fly Amin's body home for burial.
Exodus members planned to light candles at the band's Tunapuna panyard last night and put on display Mohammed's preferred instrument, a pair of double-second pans.
Funeral arrangements are yet to be announced.