Pan Masters Does it Again! 2007 Steelband Jamboree a Success

Pan Masters Does it Again!
2007 Steelband Jamboree a Success

Audiences Color Show Program

Maryland - The place to be this past Memorial weekend was at the annual Pan Masters Steelband Jamboree. The show attendees were treated to high level steelband music performances by a variety of steel orchestras from across the US North east regional area. This year was particularly special as steelbands traveled from as far as Ohio to participate in the show.

This year's performers included Pantonic Steel Orchestra (Brooklyn, NY), St. Veronica's Youth Steel Orchestra (Baltimore, MD), Positive Vibrations Youth Steel Orchestra (Hyattsville, MD), Walnut Hills High School Steelband (Cincinnati, OH), Rhythm Project All Stars (Hampton, VA), DC Pan Jammers (Washington, DC), Harbor Knights Youth Steel Orchestra (Baltimore, MD), Michael George, the One Man Band (Maryland) and Pan Masters Steel Orchestra (North Brentwood, MD).

The Maryland-based Pan Masters steel orchestra, in addition to performing at the event played host, organizer and producer to the entire affair. Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. The theme of this year's event was "One Love". The performers, the audience and the organizers all embraced this year's concept. In spite of some moments of intense rain showers the show went on without as much as a hiccup. Moreover, the patrons remained after the rains and even more continued to enter the show's compound afterwards. What was interesting to note was the considerable number of young children in the audience, thoroughly enraptured by the display of the performances, and the sound of steelpans.

In tennis there is the Wimbledon, in golf there is the Masters and in basketball there are the NCAA's - and in pan one can expect that this Jamboree will become one of the première steelband music invitationals in the country in a few years. This is based solely on our personal experience and observations, the rate of improvements over the last few years - and the organizers' vision and commitment to putting thought and ideas into action. At the event all of the Pan Masters (literally from the president on down) organizational members could be seen busily working attending to tasks, 'outing fires' and problem-solving to keep the show running smoothly.

When the rain showers broke out none other than the president of Pan Masters himself came over with wood, hammer and nails and constructed a roof to shelter WST from the elements and allow us to continue our coverage of the event.

Walnut Hills High School Drum Band

As we alluded to earlier the presence of Walnut Hills High School Drum Band (WHHS) at this year's Jamboree was indeed a bonus. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based organization has more than fifty performing members. Unfortunately, for us WHHS Steel Drum Band and two additional bands had already finished performing by the time WST had arrived at the show, but by all accounts their performance was very, very well received. We caught the end performances of vastly-improved Harbor Knight Youth Steel Orchestra. Their varied and well-executed repertoire pleased the audience, and their performance of Crazy's "Cold Sweat" left the audience applauding and clamoring for more. Positive Vibrations Youth Steel Orchestra had the audience jumping with their spirited performance of "Soca Warriors" under the tutelage of none other than renowned Trinidad All stars arranger Leon "Smooth" Edwards. In addition, they displayed their versatility, as they dropped a taste of classics and gospel, with a moving version of "Oh Happy Day" on the crowd.

Pan Masters

DC Pan Jammers were on top of their game as they delivered a series of crowd pleasers. Their rousing rendition of "Band From Space" had the crowd singing. Pantonic Steel Orchestra, the provable champions, reminding everyone why they are one of New York's finest, brought their undeniably crowd-pleasing routine to the jamboree. Their well-chosen musical mix included "Don't Leave Me This Way", "Tiny Winey" and "Rebecca." As with other bands, the New Yorkers had the audience singing along with their rendition of David Rudder's "High Mas;" all the selections delivered in a very short but effective set due to time constraints. Pan Masters showed why they are one of the best steel orchestras in their region as the host band wowed the audience with an opening rendition of Explainer's "All Exclusive," with a follow-up of Len 'Boogsie' Sharpe's "Sharing Licks." Pan Masters left nothing to the imagination or in doubt - they brought all to the table.

Harbor Knight Youth Steel Orchestra

This year the organizers changed the performance area to a ground level stage and built a nice roofing that shielded the early performances from the elements. That worked real well. The organizers also moved away from the double-stage setting utilized last year, which resulted in a longer down time between bands. We are sure Pan Master's management is already on the case in terms of improving time management. Pan Masters is a special organization doing great things. If your organization is lucky enough to get an invite to perform at this function you are in good company. The Pan Masters Jamboree can easily become a Steelband Music Performing Summit involving the best bands in the USA. One thing is for sure: on Memorial weekend the place to be at for great steelpan music is the Pan Masters annual jamboree. The only item missing to put the icing on this 'cake' would have been a superb quality, professionally-produced CD and/or DVD of the entire event, to document and relive this exciting and memorable display of musical talent of May 27, 2007.

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