Music scene mourns passing of the original Afro-Celt

The sight of a black man with an Afro in a silver flared pants-suit wearing platforms fronting a band may not raise an eyebrow now – but in Ireland of the seventies, in local ballrooms, it was quite an exotic sight to see.

The band was The Philosophers and the man with the Afro was Galway man Mike Cazabon, who succumbed to a long illness last week.

The eldest of nine, Mike’s family arrived in Galway from their native Trinidad in 1955, and were to become an important fabric of their new community.

The dad, Roy, who is still hale and hearty at the age of 89, qualified as a surgeon and his with his wife Yvonne raised a musical and artistic family.

Mike and his two siblings, Dave and Judy, settled in to school, the Convent of Mercy and St Pat’s. The rest of his siblings were born in Galway.

Being influenced by the music of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones while they were pupils of The Bish, both Mike and Dave joined bands — they both started with The Spoonful, (named after a Cream song), along with PJ Duggan, Damian Hanley, the late Brendan Glynn and Séamus Kelleher.

That band won a Young You talent competition in the Claddagh Hall beating Irish dancers, ballad singers and classical instrument players with their rendition of Proud Mary and Love Like a Man.

Spoonful supported Thin Lizzy twice in the Hangar, but Mike left the band to concentrate on his Leaving Cert but continued with his summer job — dancing reels and jigs for American tourists in the Great Southern Hotel.

Posting on Facebook from his US home, on hearing of Mike’s death, Séamus Kelleher described him as ‘a wonderful character, a great frontman and always good and kind to people’.

Read the full obituary in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or download our digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie