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Anthony Caplan
– Composer, Music Director,
Performer
PAN TUNING IN AFRICA
 By shear
coincidence, Rainbow High School Steelpan Ensemble of Botswana happened to be
doing a musical presentation before the assembly at Broadhurst Primary School
when we ran into one Anthony Caplan who was at the time blending pans for the
host school. Anthony took time off from his schedule to do a
presentation/demonstration on the Origins of The Steelpan.
It soon became apparent that the young steelpan enthusiast did
his research well.
But just who is this Anthony Caplan
who appears to be living quite comfortably off an artform which happens to be
the only musical invention of the 20th century? An African Diasporal
Creation invented thousands of kilometres away (in Trinidad and Tobago) from his
[Caplan's] native South Africa?
Caplan graduated from Rhodes
University with a B.Mus (hons) in History and Theory of Western Music in 1997.
His first exposure to the steelpan was in 1993 as a member of Professor Andrew
Tracy's Steelband.
As for the acquisition of the art
of tuning pans, this romance began a few years ago when he associated with one
Wellington Snooks who in turn was trained by Steve Lawrie - the tuner of
Broadhurst's instruments. Steve is now domiciled in the USA where he now plies
his wares at Panyard in Akron, Ohio. /
According to Anthony, Wellington
Snooks is probably the only person in South Africa currently capable of
"sinking" and "shaping" a pan up to a professional standard.
After about six months of trial and
error and making a lot of rubbish pans Anthony eventually managed to get an
instrument which was playable. He, however, remains ignorant of the quality of
steel needed to tune pans as he simply had nothing to compare with.
Caplan intimated - "I only know that I can compare my pans
with the ones I have heard, most of which are in South Africa and made by Steve
Lawrie". He admits that he has a lot to learn and would be willing to get
professional tutoring to improve his technique.
The diminutive pan
enthusiast claims that he's capable of blending pans back to what they used to
be and sometimes can improve the original tonal quality; but tuning from scratch
still remains a massive challenge for him.
Over the past year Anthony has been
blending pans around South Africa as he has done at Broadhurst Primary and to
date, he has sold two sets of pans in South Africa in addition to a few
replacements to Orapa English Medium School in Botswana.
In 2005 Mr. Caplan started his own
business called "Music Workshop" which focuses on the manufacturing of
steelpans.
Hollis Clifton
Africa Correspondent
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