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Examining the Roots of Steel Band Activity in New York

Trinidad & Tobago Folk Arts Institute

New York - Four pioneering participants from the steel band movement’s infancy in New York will be featured in a panel discussion focused on the art form in its New York incarnation, which will be presented Thursday evening March 18 by the Trinidad & Tobago Folk Arts Institute in conjunction with the School of Professional & Community Development of Medgar Evers College.

“The Origins and Early Growth of New York’s Steel Band Movement” takes place from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM and will be held in Room S122 of the School of Professional and Community Development, located at 1637 Bedford Avenue (between Crown and Carroll Streets) Brooklyn, on the Medgar Evers campus. It is part of an ongoing series of forums centered on Trinidadian art and culture, involving collaboration between the Folk Arts Institute and Medgar Evers College.   The four scheduled panelists are Caldera Carabello,  Rudy Estwick,  Lennox Leverock  and Roy Sangster. This foursome has aggregated a formidable record of involvement in steel band happenings in New York going back to the 1950s. After he arrived in New York from Trinidad, Carabello’s involvement in the New York steel pan scene included a stint playing and touring with Harry Belafonte, in addition to later leading his own group. Estwick, Leverock and Sangster were all actively in the mix in the early stages as the New York movement attempted to gain a foothold. Eventually the early New York-originated bands would provide entertainment not only within the West Indian community but in all manner of occasions outside of it, including innumerable engagements for white audiences captivated by the alluring island sound.  

“There is no finer resource at our disposal in our pursuit of proper documentation than individuals who had such a hands-on connection to steel pan development in New York,” said Les Slater, chairman of the Folk Arts Institute’s board of governors. “We are grateful for this input from legitimate contributors.”   

One of the sparks responsible for the birth of the New York steel pan movement was Rudy King, now deceased, who arrived from Trinidad in 1949, already initiated in the budding steel band culture to which he had gravitated as a youngster in Port of Spain. King formed one of New York’s earliest steel bands, and all of the panelists for the upcoming forum either played with his group or interacted with him on some level.  

Admission to the panel discussion is free. For information: 718-252-6161.

  3522 Farragut Road, Brooklyn, NY 11210

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