Dominica's Quiet Giant -
Mr. Edward André
A Look At The Man, His Mission and Passion

Roseau, Dominica - Often one can look back in history and identify a single event, time and/or a single person whose presence, sacrifices and deeds were so enormous and critical to a movement, that we are simultaneously happily amazed and frightened - at the fragility of the survival of subsequent dependant events and cultural occurrences.   There are similar stories throughout the Caribbean of steelpan people who were the only entities that stood between life and death of the steelband movement in their midst.

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The University of Arizona and University of Texas-Austin Steel Bands
performed at the 2006
Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC)

Texas - The University of Arizona and University of Texas-Austin Steel Bands performed at the 2006 Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) held in Austin, Texas on Saturday, November 11. Under the direction of Mike Sammons and Thad Anderson, the two groups presented a clinic/concert entitled New Music for Steel Band, attracting over 500 attendees. Guest artists for the event included Ray Holman, Chris Wabich, and Darren Dyke. The program included new music from various publishers such as Pan in Education, LTD., Pan Press, Pan Ramajay, Smarty Pans Music, Honeyrock, and House Panther Press.

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and Dominica's Young Musicians
Take Center Stage

Dominica, W.I. - The first day in November was a memorable day-into-evening experience, and one filled with immense excitement for scores of young Dominican pannists hailing from around the island.  While national celebrations were underway for the republic's twenty-eighth year of independence, steelband groups had been in preparation for this chance to show off their skills and talents achieved through months of practice.  The Dominica National Steel Pan Association in collaboration with the country's National Cultural Council & Division of Culture were the organizers of the evening's upcoming event - Independence Pan Festival 2006 also known as Pan by The Bay

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Trinis welcome
Shekhawat with salsa
 

Trinidad - Heads of state are usually welcomed with a guard of honour. But the first thing Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago did as soon as India’s Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat landed in Guyana on Thursday was to make him listen to steel pans right on the Piarco international airport tarmac.

Pan Trinbago To Host --
“Honouring The Panguard”
 

Pan Trinbago T.C. Inc. will be hosting an Award Function “Honouring The Panguard”, a tribute to the surviving members of a group of pannists who, fifty-five (55) years ago, introduced to the wider world the music of what is now our national instrument.

Independence Pan Festival 2006
 Pan By The Bay - In Pictures

Pan by The Bay
Raises Steelband Music Expectations

Undaunted, driven and focused, Dominica remains on course to having not only a major resurgence in steelband activities within the island, but also becoming a dominant force in the near future.

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Seeking Pan Music, Will Travel
A Look At Dominica's Steelband Music Festival
 

Dominica's steelpan music community is burgeoning.  Moreover, Dominica's musical influences, styles and tastes are similar in some respects to other Caribbean nations, but its flavoring is very unique because of its history, impacting greatly on the people's approach to steelband music.  This is one of the reasons steelpan music enthusiasts will be frequently visiting Dominica to hear their brand of pan music big time.

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Independence Pan Festival 2006
 Pan By The Bay - Video Clips

Independence Pan Festival 2006
 Pan By The Bay

Roseau, Dominica - On November 1, 2006 the annual Pan by The Bay steelband music festival took place in the Caribbean nation of Dominica.  The event, traditionally held in Roseau, Dominica's capital, showcases the island's steelbands.  This year eight groups from Dominica's rebounding steelband movement performed to a large and enthusiastic crowd under the full moonlit sky.  The festival was organized by the Dominica National Steel Pan Association in collaboration with the National Cultural Council & the Division of Culture.  The impressive turnout was made up primarily of local fans and many tourists who had traveled to the island.

Play one for Patrick

Trinidad - Nobody in the steelband know would have been surprised at the Patrick Arnold's slate being returned to the executive of Pan Trinbago. Keith Byer's candidacy was hardly sustainable given that, as the former vice-president, he was part of the very executive that he attempted to ditch on the eve of the elections.

It was a point that Arnold stressed from early and, clearly, the larger than expected crowd of steelbandsmen who turned up at the Crowne Plaza, Port of Spain, elections agreed with the incumbent president's view that Byer's washing of the steelband body's dirty linen in public could not be countenanced in that it amounted to a kind of insider betrayal.

$10m for Pan Trinbago

Trinidad - GOVERNMENT has agreed to pump $10 million into Pan Trinbago to facilitate the completion of its Trincity headquarters and the setting up a chrome factory at the same venue.

This was disclosed to scores of delegates yesterday by the organisation's secretary Richard Forteau during the annual general meeting held at Crowne Plaza, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.

As a result of the large turnout of delegates the meeting was shifted to the ballroom from the Calypso Lounge on the 12 th Floor.

Preliminary results issued late yesterday indicated that Patrick Arnold was returned to the post of President, Clarence Mitchell elected as Vice President and Forteau returned as secretary of the organisation.

Patrick Arnold Wins!!
Returns As Pan Trinbago's President
Breaking News

Trinidad - Patrick Arnold has won an unprecedented fourth consecutive term as president of Pan Trinbago, the world governing body for pan. At elections held Sunday October 29, 2006 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Arnold trounced his rival, Keith Byer, the organization's former vice president in a bitter defeat of one hundred eighty-two votes to Byer's fifty-four. Speaking after the elections, Arnold said that his opponents did an "injustice" to the pan body with their campaign tactics, and he would now implement "damage control." Clarence Mitchell, one of the organization's new officers, is Pan Trinbago's new vice president.