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.