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Pelham Goddard at WST Headquarters |
PELHAM GODDARD was born in Clarence Street in
St. James, Trinidad on December 12, 1946. The
son of a seaman and a school teacher, he
attended St. Crispin’s EC school. His love
affair with music began early, with the first
instrumental object of his affections being the
piano which he played at school. Pelham
remembers that ‘when the rhythm got the better
of him’ and he ‘beat’ it out on the school
benches, punishment followed because of the
noise he created.
On a 1959 trip back from Germany, his
seaman father brought back a piano to
the Goddard household - and Pelham never
looked back. With the rhythm in his
soul, he had become very involved with
the Tassa drumming for the Hosay
festival, but as he puts it "the day the
piano came, I made my choice, and
started learning the piano". Pelham’s
mother, now in her nineties is a
Graduate of Trinity and Royal School of
Music, and his late father both read and
played music by ‘ear’. After a few tips
from his mother, he started to pick up
notes from songs then heard on the
radio, some of which he says he can
still remember. Pelham’s older brothers
were already into steelbands like
Tripoli, Crossfire, Starlift and Silver
Stars, so music ran in the family, to
say the least!
In 1967 he went on to play in bands like
Pete de Vlaught orchestra - where he met
Earl Rodney who at the time was with
Solo Harmonites. He also played with
combos like The Clan, and The Flames.
Pelham’s career in pan started one year later
when he went to ‘hangout’ in Starlift’s pan yard
one night with his brother, and ended up playing
a five bass. He got ‘picked’ for the National
Panorama - no easy feat for a first time pan
player, and he realized then that his talent was
expanding - to the Steelpan.
His opportunity to try his hand at arranging for
a brass band came in 1972 when ace arranger
Clive Bradley asked Pelham to ‘hold the fort’
for him with Esquires Brass, as Bradley had
commitments ‘up on the hill’ with Desperadoes
Steel Orchestra. Pelham capitalized on the
opportunity, while at the same time going
through an arranging course at Berklee College
of Music. Later that year he toured St. Thomas
with top calypsonians and became a main figure
in the recording studio arena.
National Lottery 3rd World Steel Orchestra was
formed in July of 1972 and they wanted Pelham to
arrange for them, which started off his then
latest successful forage into music - arranging
for steelband. He put his mark on the
steelband’s hits like Gold and American Patrol,
and the results sated on the charts for weeks,
and also went over well in North America.
The name Pelham Goddard can be found in numerous
album credits of musical heavyweights such as
the late Ras Shorty I (formerly known as Lord
Shorty) - the undisputed father of SOCA music
(Pelham was involved in the creation of the SOCA
music art form), and other calypso legends like
Mighty Shadow, Mighty Sparrow, Calypso Rose,
Super Blue, Singing Francine and also Charlie’s
Roots. In his years he has also combined his
talents with those of Ed Watson and the late Art
de Couteau.
In 1983 he arranged for Invaders Steel
Orchestra, and then again for Starlift Steel
Orchestra in 1986. That same year he arranged
David Rudder’s music, giving Rudder the crown
for every calypso competition he entered. Pelham
is the only musician in history whose
arrangements won thirteen ‘Road Marches’. His
talents as a composer are well documented,
especially for selections that were played by
other steelbands for National Panoramas. The
Hammer, Savannah Party, Happy Song, Panama,
Dedication, Play My Music, The Band Plays On,
The Unknown Band - all flowed from the musical
pen of Pelham Goddard. His synthesizer solo on
‘Woman On The Bass’ is just a ‘sample’ of his synth work, being the first musician to use the
synthesizer in calypso music.
Since 1989 he has been part of the Exodus Steel
Orchestra ‘stable’ as their resident arranger,
and to date the band has won three panorama
titles. The latest was for Panorama 2003. The
arrangements for the band have also brought them
multiple Panorama ‘East Zone’ (Trinidad) titles
and a World Festival championship, to name but a
few of the band’s Goddard-led accomplishments.
Despite his hectic work commitments, for the
past ten years Pelham has found time to found
and run his own recording studio called Agra 9
Production Studio, from which he has produced
the most songs written especially for pan, among
them winners like In My House, Picture On The
Wall, Fire and Steel and Freedom. Also
forthcoming was a CD collaboration called Sticks
and Fingers, with Pan legend Len ‘Boogsie’
Sharpe, (himself an ace steelband arranger). A
Musical Stew, Case Of the Disappearing Panyards,
Simple Ting and Parade, also came to life in
Pelham’s studio.
Years of hard work and extraordinary
accomplishments have been recognized by the
Trinidad and Tobago government with Pelham
Goddard receiving one of the twin-island
republic’s highest awards, the Hummingbird
Silver Medal, along with many others including
the Sunshine Award for arranging and producing.
Pelham Goddard continues to brew up a storm of
hits and arrangements in his studio, as resident
arranger for Exodus Steel Orchestra and abroad.
by
C. Phillips -When Steel Talks |
David
Rudder (pictured recording at Basement/
When Steel Talks studios) was born in Belmont, Trinidad on May 6, 1953. One of nine
children, he spent much of his early childhood with his
grandmother, a spiritual Baptist, growing up near a pan yard
and a Shango yard, in a neighbourhood where boys dreamed of
being entertainers. It was at school that he discovered how
much art, painting and sculpture really interested him.
Rudder began singing at the age of 11 with a group called
The Solutions. In 1977, he joined the brass band Charlie’s
Roots and began charting his musical career.
In the early days,
Rudder acquired a reputation as a back-up singer in the
calypso tent run by Lord Kitchener, while earning his living
as an accountant with the Trinidad Bus Company. Rudder’s
first big break came when Christopher "Tambu" Herbert, lead
singer with Charlie’s Roots, fell ill after an exhausting
tour of Guyana and suggested his friend Rudder as a
temporary replacement. Rudder stayed on as a co-lead singer,
and built a reputation for his scintillating performances.
His exposure to Shango and the Pan Yards influenced his
music, he was also influenced by Jazz and African artists
such as Yossou N’Dour, Alpha Blondy. He is known as one of
the few band singers who wrote all his own songs. |
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