80-year-old mechanic/musician, Roy Malcolm Hinds, is a ‘Special Person’

Mar 03, 2019 Features / Columnists, Special Person

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“I always liked working with my hands and I loved the engine. So I decided to become a mechanic.”

 

As a seasoned musician and mechanic, he has given his fair share to society. Yet, if you happen to cross paths with Roy Malcolm Hinds, you would never assume this of him.

Despite his contributions to the skill and art departments, the week’s Special Person leads a very simple life with little recognition for his work.
In fact, the Guyana Police Force just recently honoured Hinds, who, at 80, is working as a Liaison Personnel to the Force, playing a critical role in their music department.
Hinds, a mechanic by profession, enthralled crowds with his musical talent for more than fifty years. His love for the craft even led to the formation of the “El Dorado Steel Orchestra” in the 1960s.

He explained that his passion for this musical art form began decades ago while he was still a lad learning the tenets of life from his father.
“My father took me to work very early. I was just sixteen and he worked in copper trading (building items from copper) at the Demerara Distillers Limited. In those days, the old folks never used to play, they ensured that as a young man you were not idle, but that you understood responsibility”
He recalled that his parents, Iris Sealey and Samuel Hinds, ensured that he and his eleven siblings were afforded the essentials needed to succeed in life.
“Education was important to them. But as soon as I finished school, I couldn’t idle; it was time to find work.”
However, even as he set out, alongside his father in the coppersmith business, the young lad daydreamed of playing the steel pans.
The sound of the steel pan mesmerized him the first time he heard it.

“I would go to listen to a band called the Penguins play in Kingston and then there was one called Quo Vadis. I remember I get in plenty trouble for straying far to see these bands play, but I still wanted to see them in action.”
The steel bands left such a lasting impression on the young Hinds that, much to the annoyance of his father, the youngster would often find himself hitting the copper metal in the workshop, in imitation of playing a pan.
“I would hit on the items trying to find the beat on a song.”
When he decided to learn to play the steel pan, Hinds noted that he had to “get away” from home to do it.
The octogenarian reminisced that the decision cost him “nuff licks” from his father, but it was a sacrifice that he was willing to make.
“I would follow steel bands all over until one day I met two brothers, McCalmont and Hydar Khan of Gordon Street, Kitty.
The brothers and Hinds became close friends and business partners. Their partnership led to the formation of the El Dorado Steel Orchestra.
According to Hinds, the band played throughout the country.
“We entertained groups of distinguished and ordinary Guyanese all across the country. We travelled a lot from Belvedere to Liliendaal. We played for the Penthouse, the Carib Hotel and at various dances. It was a good thing and we had control of the band.”

The band life was however short-lived as the brothers soon migrated.
By this time, Hinds was nineteen years old. He recalls that his elder sister encouraged him to continue his education.
“After the band broke up, I decided to go back to school. I already had a foundation at St. George‘s Primary and Christ Church School. So my sister at the time encouraged me to further my studies at the Government Technical Institute.
“I always liked working with my hands and I loved the engine. So I decided to become a mechanic.”
During that time, Hinds gained employment at a company called Sandbach Parker.
“I later worked at Marics and Company Limited before moving on to the Guyana National Automotive Company. There, I had the opportunity and scope I needed to perfect myself as a mechanic. I spent nineteen years with that automotive company.”
Hinds noted that he trained a number of young persons, and work-study students to repair and build engines.
“I would build motorcycles from scratch – using parts from other unwanted cycles. I built a bike that was the envy of many. Everywhere I went, people would ask me about my motorcycle,” he said beaming with pride.
Owing to his commitment to the work, Hinds recalled that his Manager, Mr. Simms, afforded him opportunities to travel to other countries to be further trained in mechanical engineering.
“I visited several countries. I went to Santo Domingo – the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil.”
Although his work took him beyond these shores, Hinds stayed committed to music. In his leisure, he would hook up with various bands.
Hinds recalled that his appetite for the art form never diminished, rather it expanded. By that time he was a 28-year-old father of four, and had delved into playing percussions; simple but peculiar instruments in the band.

“The instruments included the tonga drums, bongo drums, the scratcher, musical triangle and so on. I played the drums, the scratcher and the triangle,” he explained.
“I still continued to play in various bands.” The highlight of his experiences would come in 1988, when he joined The Invaders to play at the World Music Festival in Trinidad and Tobago.
“The band placed 9th from 50 bands in the World Music Festival Competition.”
“I loved travelling and playing out. I would revisit many of the places I mentioned. I recall specifically, a group of us went on an exchange programme to Boa Vista in Brazil.”
Hinds continued to lend his talents to the bands, which won many competitions.
In 2008, he joined the National Steel Pan Orchestra.

“I played and did some more travelling with them until 2016.”
Although he recently turned 80, Hinds still believes that he can use his talent to serve others. About three years ago, he became Liaison Personnel to the Police.
Despite his achievements, Mr. Hinds is going through some tough times. Late last year, his small wooden house collapsed. He has been struggling to rebuild. Hinds explained that most of his earthly treasures no longer exist.
“After the house fell, the yard flooded, and the furniture and so got damaged. And because I don’t have the finances to do that right now. I don’t want much, just a flat one-bedroom concrete structure. I am a simple man,” Hinds said clinging to photographs, which he regards as his most cherished item

s.
“There are all I have left to remind me of the life I had before.”
Nevertheless, the elderly man has not been sitting around, feeling sorry for himself.
Instead, he continues to ply his trade and assist the Police Force’s musical band. He believes that it would really be good if more young people got involved in playing pan and other instruments.
“It would be good for them to have their village and community group bands. I think it would help the youths to stay out of trouble.”

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