Steelpan pioneer 'Patches' passes on
Posted: Tuesday, March 29, 2005
By Terry Joseph
The Trinidadian credited with pioneering pan music in Barbados and keeping it alive there and equally revered in both countries for his work as arranger, guitarist, drummer and bassist, talents variously applied in scores of calypso recordings, Glenroy "Patches" Mendoza, died yesterday.
As news of his passing broke in Barbados, the kaiso network kicked in with Gabby calling the Mighty Sparrow who was home for the weekend, the latter-although on his way to the airport-taking time out to alert this reporter, in a voice altered by emotion as he offered condolences to Mendoza's family and briefly recounted his time working with Patches.
Mendoza will undoubtedly be best remembered here for his guitar playing with the original Sparrow's Troubadours orchestra during the 1970s but his work behind the scenes was significant. He wrote most of Sparrow's music scores in that period, his work on the album Boogie Beat (Semp-1977), which was marketed by Salsoul Records, bringing him to the attention of the American music giant.
Patches was held in the highest esteem by fellow musicians of the day, most notably the stellar group who worked on Boogie Beat, which included Bert Wharwood, Enrique Moore, Godwin Bowen, Kenneth Tsoi-A-Sue, Fortunia Ruiz and Dennis "Big D" Wilkinson (with Regeneration Now and Chester Morong as background vocalists).
"Anyone you talk to who was around at the time he worked in Trinidad will tell you only good things about both the man and his music," said Roy Cape. "He made a major contribution. The actual score we use up to today for Black Stalin with "We Can Make it if We Try" was written by Patches." Among Mendoza's favourite works was his arrangement of "Soca Pressure" for Sparrow in 1985.
During his time in Barbados, he arranged for several calypsonians including veteran Gabby. Between 1990 and 1993, he arranged at least one song for each year's calypso monarch and worked up to last year with the reigning title-holder, Kid Site, noticeably enhancing his cleverly penned "Old Songs", a tricky ditty whose lyrics relied exclusively on titles of vintage calypsos.
Mourned by calypsonians and pannists across Barbados yesterday, Patches, 58, passed away at the island's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, after a stay of two weeks there. "I feel devastated, like half the calypsonian in me has been ripped out," was the first response from Kid Site, who revealed Patches called him at 7 a.m. Sunday asking the singer to visit him. Having a prior professional commitment, Kid Site did not get to the hospital until later in the day, only to discover Patches had died in the interim.
"I call him a genius," said Gabby, who first brought Patches to Barbados to work with Battleground calypso tent in 1987. "He was highly under-rated as a musician," Gabby added. "He played guitar, bass, keyboards and pan very well and was also the fastest, most accurate arranger I have ever seen.
President of the Pan Revolution steelband in Barbados, which Patches founded and for which he was musical director and principal arranger, David Straughn shared Gabby's respect for Mendoza. "Without fear of contradiction I call him a genius," he said yesterday. "The man had a gift." The band, Straughn said, will stage a concert in tribute to Patches.
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