What would Pat think?

The words which the citizens of this twin-island state sing with much pride is as follows:

“Forged from the love of liberty, in the fires of hope and prayer

With boundless faith in our destiny we solemnly declare

Side by side we stand islands of the blue Caribbean Sea

This our native land we pledge our lives to thee

Here every creed and race find an equal place

And May God Bless Our Nation. (REPEAT THE LAST TWO LINES)”

Mahase-Samaroo, or “Miss Mahase” as the dignified and talented woman who has been married to Reverend Ethelbert Samaroo for 53 years, is still called by members of her St Augustine Girls High School Chorale (formerly the Alumnae Choir and Friends), is quick to explain that she was invited to be a member of the Committee appointed to select the National Anthem, of which Helen Mae Johnstone, former music director at Bishop Anstey High School in the forties; and founder of the Biennial Music Festival and Queen’s Hall, was chairman.

Once again, last Monday, she explained “I didn’t really make the final selection. There were lots of entrants and Mrs Johnstone gave everybody a little pile to take home and choose the best for final presentation to the Committee. Pat Castagne’s music was in my file. I took it home to Guaico, where I still lived with my family, and played them all, but knew immediately that Castagne’s entry was the one. I called the entire household to come and listen to the National Anthem of Trinidad and Tobago, and played it for them.”

At the presentation meeting, the chairman chose “Miss Mahase”, which she still was at that time, to play all the music chosen by the various members of the committee. “It really was from the beginning the anthem, it was so majestic. I did not write it but I chose it and the others in making the final selection, agreed it was the best.”“Of course I knew my choice well as this is the one I was playing at home most of the time. Castagne had really written this anthem for the formation of the Federation of the West Indies which fell through. It didn’t last long and no anthem was chosen so when a request was made for one for Trinidad and Tobago’s Independence in 1962, Castagne submitted it, which would explain his thoughts of ‘side by side we stand islands of the blue Caribbean Sea’ but it worked well for us as we are islands of the blue Caribbean.”

Through the years there have been many discussions as to the grammatical correctness of the use of the verb “find.” Should it be “find” or “finds” an equal place. Not even Mahase-Samaroo, who made the final selection can remember what the composer wrote. “It’s too long for me to remember exactly what Mr Castagne wrote but I always say “find.”

Castagne, who passed away in May 2000, will therefore forever remain in the country’s history books as the man who wrote our National Anthem. Lenore Mahase sometimes wonders what Castagne’s thoughts would be when he hears the music being changed. “Some of the people change the tune, or the timing, to suit themselves. Being a national anthem I think that if you change any part of it the melody should always be predominant, it must come out, even though in music it is possible to add another tune called a descant, it happens moreso in churches, I have written hundreds of descants for church music, it’s where you write another tune above the original melody.

That’s all very well and good for church and other songs but when it comes to a national anthem the second tune must not overpower the original melody. It does happen, although not often.”

Singer/crooner Kelwyn Hutcheon also shared memories of his dear, departed friend, Pat Castagne, who he remembers meeting through the legendary and deceased Sam Ghany during performances at Radio Trinidad’s Sunday Serenade programme in the mid-50s,. long before Independence Day August 31, 1962.

Hutcheon reminisced “Pat loved music. His best known song after the National Anthem is the classic ‘Kiss Me for Christmas’. A versatile composer, he is said to have written more than one hundred songs which have never seen the light of day. But then there are those which some of us will never forget, such as, “Ice Man” for calypsonian Melody and “Nimble like Kimble” for the Merrymen of Barbados. Pat even wrote a Mass called Missa.”

Born in Guyana, Pat Castagne came to live in Trinidad at age two. This kind and generous man who loved his adopted country as much as he loved his music, is reported to be in some illustrious company of those who composed national anthems. For example India’s anthem “Jana-Gana-Adhinayaka” was composed by Rabindranath Tagore in 1911 and adopted formally by an independent India in 1950. The English translation is “Those are the Rulers of the Minds of all People, dispenser of India’s destiny.”

Germany’s anthem “Deutschlandlied” is said to be based on a melody by Franz Joseph in 1797, to which the words of a well-known Anglican hymn are also set.