Pan and The People at the House
of Jazz at Lincoln Center
New York -
After three years, the city's pan fraternity have now become
accustomed to having access to high-class steelpan entertainment
as part of their choice of Father's Day weekend celebrations.
This year's show was held on Saturday, as opposed to Sunday
(Father's Day), previously the case in 2004 and 2006.
Many patrons arrived at
Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rosehall about an hour before the
8:00 PM for the complimentary pre-concert reception hosted by
event organizers Abstract Entertainment Inc. (AEI).
Various event sponsors such as Moneygram were hand to inform
guests about their services, and to distribute product samples.
A shrewd initiative on
the part of AEI was to include personnel at the reception who
showcased techniques on the steelpan for interested lookers on,
with some even trying their hand at the instruments. Music
instructors
Ricardo
Greenaway (former Renegades tenor player/now solo
performer), and Keith Green (pannist,
Utopia Pan Soul: the
Next Generation) gave their full attention to the steady
stream of people who stopped by.
Of equal importance was
the social atmosphere of the 'carpet' - afforded by both the
pre-concert reception and post-concert inter-mingling, which saw
many people who had been perhaps out of touch for a while, now
getting together. There wre out-of-town visitors who made
the trek exclusively for the show. Well-known personages
included host Lenny Green of 98.7 Kiss FM-fame, 2007 AEI Life
Time Achievement Award recipient Neville Jules; All Stars
pannist and arranger for Sforzata in Trinidad and Sonatas in New
York - Yohan Popwell; key women in New York's pan movement -
Glenda Gamory, president of New York's powerhouse steel
orchestra
Pantonic; Claudette Baptiste, president of New York's
all-female orchestra
Women In Steel;
Sherma Thomas of Moods Pan Groove; pan prodigy and budding
arranger Iman Pascall and family; Caribbean Youth Panoramic's
Franklyn Gerald with his family, Dr. Myrna Nurse, who was on
hand to promote her recently-released book on the history of the
steelband, Unheard Voices, and so many more. After
the show, the artistes were on hand and they too socialized with
members of the crowd.
When Steel
Talks was on hand to capture and
commemorate highlights of
some of the pre- and post-event to
share(below)
with the
global pan community.
