The lo­cal and in­ter­na­tion­al mu­sic com­mu­ni­ty is mourn­ing the loss of leg­endary pan­nist, arranger, com­pos­er and pro­duc­er Robert “Rob­bie” Greenidge, 76, who died yes­ter­day.

Trib­utes have poured in from cul­tur­al or­gan­i­sa­tions, gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials and fel­low mu­si­cians, all prais­ing Greenidge’s im­mense con­tri­bu­tion to the de­vel­op­ment and glob­al recog­ni­tion of the steel­pan.

In a state­ment, the Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment de­scribed Greenidge as a beloved na­tion­al icon whose in­flu­ence ex­tend­ed far be­yond Trinidad and To­ba­go’s shores.

“To­day, we mourn the loss of a beloved lo­cal icon, Robert ‘Rob­bie’ Greenidge, whose lega­cy will con­tin­ue to live on through the lives he touched and the con­tri­bu­tions he made to our na­tion and the world,” the min­istry stat­ed.

The min­istry al­so ex­tend­ed con­do­lences to his fam­i­ly, friends and loved ones dur­ing what it de­scribed as a dif­fi­cult time.

Pan Trin­ba­go al­so paid trib­ute to the cel­e­brat­ed mu­si­cian, recog­nis­ing his decades of ser­vice to the steel­pan move­ment.

“Pan Trin­ba­go, un­der the lead­er­ship of pres­i­dent Bev­er­ley Ram­sey-Moore, to­geth­er with mem­bers of the Cen­tral Ex­ec­u­tive, Re­gion­al Ex­ec­u­tives, staff and the wider steel­pan com­mu­ni­ty, ex­tend heart­felt con­do­lences on the pass­ing of Robert Greenidge, renowned steel­pan leg­end, arranger, com­pos­er, pro­duc­er, record­ing artiste and cul­tur­al am­bas­sador,” the or­gan­i­sa­tion said.

The body not­ed that Greenidge’s im­pact on the steel­pan fra­ter­ni­ty was im­mea­sur­able and that his mu­sic and in­flu­ence would con­tin­ue to res­onate in pa­n­yards and on stages around the world.

“We ho­n­our his life, his lega­cy and his im­mea­sur­able im­pact on the steel­pan fra­ter­ni­ty. His mu­sic and in­flu­ence will con­tin­ue to res­onate across pa­n­yards and stages glob­al­ly,” the state­ment added.

Pan Trin­ba­go said an of­fi­cial con­do­lence state­ment would be is­sued at a lat­er date.

Among those re­flect­ing on Greenidge’s lega­cy was in­ter­na­tion­al­ly ac­claimed pan­nist and ed­u­ca­tor Liam Teague, who de­scribed him as both a mu­si­cal gi­ant and a gen­er­ous men­tor.

“Rest in Peace, Robert Greenidge. One of the great­est mu­si­cians and kind­est peo­ple I’ve had the plea­sure of know­ing,” Teague wrote.

“He was such a huge in­spi­ra­tion, and I will nev­er for­get his gen­eros­i­ty. Rest well, leg­end.”

Greenidge was wide­ly re­gard­ed as one of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s most ac­com­plished steel­pan mu­si­cians.

Over a ca­reer span­ning sev­er­al decades, he helped bring the na­tion­al in­stru­ment to in­ter­na­tion­al au­di­ences through per­for­mances, record­ings and col­lab­o­ra­tions with lead­ing artists around the world.

His death marks the loss of one of the steel­pan move­ment’s most in­flu­en­tial am­bas­sadors, whose artistry and ded­i­ca­tion helped el­e­vate the in­stru­ment to glob­al promi­nence.

Fu­ner­al arrange­ments have not yet been an­nounced.