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St. John’s, Antigua &
Barbuda
- Meet Khan Cordice,
the eighteen year-old youthful arranger for the National Youth Pan
Orchestra of Antigua & Barbuda. As fate would have it, WST conducted an
interview one day before Cordice would make history by
winning the 25-A-Side
competition at the Moods of Pan Festival 2008, beating out other
seasoned and previous winning arrangers to do so.
He is talented as his presence is
unassuming. Khan Cordice is a young man that the steelpan, and
wider music
world will be hearing from for years to come. As arranger for
the Antigua & Barbuda National Youth Pan Orchestra, he led the
gifted ensemble to a significant victory against seasoned
competition in the 25-A-Side competition with his arrangement and
the orchestra’s rendition of
Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke.”
 Khan indeed does have - as he is quick to
tell you - a passion for the steelpan instrument. The
extremely earnest musician, who
practices as many as eight to ten hours a day on the pan, is looking forward to having a career in music involving
the steelpan instrument. He credits not only noted Antiguan arrangers Veron
Henry and Aubrey “Lacu” Samuel as providing guidance and
inspiration in his rapid development on the steelpan instrument, but
also former National Youth Pan Orchestra band captain Gavin Francis,
now away studying.
Cordice himself has been involved in the steelband arranging aspect
for mere months, when it was a necessary component within the CXC
(Caribbean Examination Council) examination. But as a result
he was smitten with that facet of steelpan music, which overall has
been part of his musical landscape since 2002. In 2006, Gavin
Francis invited Cordice to become part of “Just Six,” a band of six
steelpan musicians. Cordice's intrigue with the innards of the
steelpan instrument grew, and Francis was only too gracious, willing
and patient to share his knowledge with the young pan acolyte.
With a love for singing and versatile on the saxophone, Khan also
mastered the recorder while at school; but it is the pan which has
superseded all other instruments to develop into his primary
passion.
Khan Cordice calls himself a “double seconds” fanatic. He
loves to see double seconds specialists Len “Boogsie” Sharpe and Robert Greenidge
at ‘play’ and at work. Even though he has been
arranging for less than a year, but his rapid rise is consistent with the
talented youth movement sweeping through the steelpan music
fraternity globally. |
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