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Global
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Always
thought-provoking,
educational
and
interesting,
here is an
introspective
from Master
arranger
Clive
Bradley on
his approach
to the
creation of
one of his
most
interesting
music
arrangements
for
Desperadoes
Steel
Orchestra
before
Trinidad and
Tobago’s
National
steelband
panorama
music
competition.
The piece is
Shadow’s
“Whap
Cocoyea” and
the year is
2004.
Award-winning
journalist
Dalton
Narine again
captures a
precious
moment and
history for
the steelpan
music
fraternity
as Master
Bradley
briefly
shared on
the creative
visions and
methodology
in play for
the musical
selection.
Although
Desperadoes
with “Whap Cocoyea” did
not win the
competition,
it is one of
the most
fascinating
arrangements
ever made
for the
steel
orchestra.
Moreover,
the marriage
between
arranger,
band and
community
through that
song is the
ultimate
realization
of a
panorama
piece.
Intro from
Dalton
Narine,
interviewer
Desperadoes’ supporters wave golden cocoyea brooms in the Savannah in 2004
“When I went
up the hill
to interview
Desperadoes’
arranger
Clive
Bradley two
days before
the 2004
panorama
finals,
there were
two panists
hanging
around, and
I thought
about
Calvary.
Will they
crucify him
down there
on the
recycled
wooden stage
set up in
the Cyclops’
eye, the
Savannah,
the maco
vision of
Port of
Spain? Will
they bring
back karma
to him just
for
releasing
Shadow’s
Whap Cocoyea?
Will they
treat him
with
witchcraft,
not for the
music, but
for the
cocoyea
broom posse
that could
be raking
and sweeping
the big yard
in their
face, this,
the most
interesting,
no, make
that
colorful,
band to
perform in
any
panorama,
puffing its
chest and
blowing
dust? With
brooms
fashioned
from the
spines of
coconut
leaves?”
Clive Bradley on stage with Desperadoes in 2004;
pan stands adorned with golden cocoyea
“But, no,
Bradley has
never been
an Obeah Man
or the
Messiah, and
Despers’
aficionados
are not the
Calvary
crosses some
people make
them out to
be. Listen
to Bradley
speak
candidly
about his
choice of
tune, his
wariness to
push the
music to a
realm far,
far from The
Hill to an
area of the
soul only he
knows well;
and hear him
talk also
about iron
men. Then
see for
yourself how
literate and
outspoken,
well, not
that, but
how
inventive
and
experimental
an arranger
he was. ”
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