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Death of a Panman

by Dalton Narine

Cumberbatch
Henry “Bendix” Cumberbatch

Henry “Bendix” Cumberbatch, who succumbed to heart failure Feb. 29, arranged for three steel bands in the 1980s. He reached his peak with an arrangement of Chalkdust’s “Ash Wednesday Jail,” which placed Casablanca second in the 1983 Panorama. Desperadoes won with Clive Bradley’s treatment of Blue Boy’s “Rebecca.”

Cumberbatch was born in Chaguanas and owned a bar there.

“It was his principal profession,” says Vernie Theroulde, a secretary of Flamingoes, the St. Augustine band that showcased Cumberbatch’s arranging skills. “But you wouldn’t know it in the panyard, where he excelled in phrasing and innovation.”

When Exodus emerged from Flamingoes in 1981, Cumberbatch was its first arranger, cobbling together the band’s first repertoire.

“At the same time he was also arranging for Casablanca,” says Exodus’ manager, Ainsworth Mohammed. “He was exceedingly affable, a competent and efficient musician. What stood out was his affinity for weaving a Latin flavour into his work.”

In an interview with Kim Johnson two years ago, Cumberbatch said he learned to play pan when the captain of Central All Stars of Edward Street, Port of Spain, called out to him on his way home from school. He asked Cumberbatch to accompany him on the guitar pan while he scratched out a melody on the tenor. Once Cumberbatch learned how to strum the heavy drum, Pan was already coursing through the bloodstream.

But his new pursuit exacted a toll.

“I get licks like peas from my father,” Cumberbatch told Johnson. “Not my mother. [She] walking on the side of the road when we playing.”

Cumberbatch is included in Johnson’s forthcoming work, “The Illustrated Book of Pan.”

by Dalton Narine

Contact Dalton Narine - narine67@bellsouth.net 

 



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