Pan Prodigy Lands in Italy

Trinidad - Recently on “Pan Diaspora” on the one-hour segment inside “Pan in Yuh Puefen” on WACK radio 90.1 FM, the guest of honour was the intriguing Atiba Chike Williams (pictured at right in red, with Clifton and DJ Heshimu to the left and right, respectively).

The 18 year-old wonder boy is now a second-year student at the United World College of the Adriatic (UWCAd) in Italy in pursuit of his IB (International Baccalaureate Diploma).

As has always been the case Atiba was accompanied by his sister, Nubia.  Atiba explained that pan on the peninsula is still a novelty.  And Italians are still taken aback at the mellifluous sounds emanating from the only percussion instrument invented since the twentieth century.  Chike now finds himself in an institution - UWCAd - which is a reservoir of gifted youngsters who have excelled in areas inclusive of piano, violin, Mathematics, Physics among others.

Nubia explained that her brother’s gifted ability was noticed back in 1990 when he was merely 18 months old. She iterated that the family was practicing for a show whereupon Atiba started to cry and misbehave.  Instead of giving him a rattle or tambourine, she gave him a pair of pan sticks just to let him play around with the notes on the instrument.  To everyone’s astonishment he played the piece they were practicing “Where There Is Faith.”  Everyone was shocked.

Their mother was a bit careful and cautioned all seven siblings that Atiba’s performance at home should be kept under covers.  When he was 2 years old, he performed before his local church Thanksgiving celebration – his first public performance.

On another occasion when the family took a break during one of their performances, Atiba coolly went to the steelpan and played “Amazing Grace,” causing quite a stir, with people gathering around.  Then and there it was established that the two-year old was destined for great things.

By the time he was four, Trinidad and Tobago’s National Carnival Commission acknowledged his pan-playing prowess by having him perform the national anthem for the opening of Dimanche Gras 1994.  He would go on to make his mark as a composer at age five.

In the arena of panorama he was merely nine years old when he arranged a calypso entitled “The Tenor Player” for a conventional steelband - Panasonic Connection - in Trinidad.  That was in 2002.

According to Nubia, her baby brother’s special abilities have afforded him unique opportunities for education outside of his normal peer group.  He was allowed to sit in on a Jazz Theory Course at age fourteen in 2004, at the University of the West Indies and passed along with adult musicians who were in pursuit of their degree.  In 2006 Atiba topped a class of Music Teachers at a course for Music and the Computer.

These achievements must have been the impetus behind Nubia’s research on “gifted musicians” in Trinidad and Tobago – inclusive of Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, Keisha Codrington, Anselm Walters, Earle Pierre (deceased) and of course Atiba.

The ‘Pan Prodigy’ performed his latest composition on the soprano [tenor] pan for the millions of listeners for its maiden airing on WACK Radio. The piece was entitled “Impressions of England.”  Atiba revealed that the inspiration for the composition occurred on his visit to the UK during his winter break, Christmas 2007.  According to the young pannist composing is a rather lengthy process since he’s usually working on more than one piece at a time.

Atiba revealed some of the challenges he experienced during his student tenure in Italy. One of these included having to attempt to blend his pan with a shampoo bottle after it was mishandled by an airline.  In offering a rationale he claimed that even though he had pursued a pan tuning course years ago, he really had no experience in pan tuning, nor did he have access to pan tuning gadgets in Italy.  This created great laughter in the studio among Hollis, Heshimu and Nubia.

As a composer Atiba iterated that he might be ‘strutting’ down the street and if an idea comes to him, it may stay in his head for years where he seldom toys with until it eventually spits out when he is able to assemble it into a piece.  “Ideas flow from almost anywhere.  Sometimes pieces are discarded simply because they are too raw or green.”

When quizzed about his vision, he expressed that it is to become a psychologist, performer, composer, and arranger.  He iterates, however, that his brand of psychology would be through music therapy i.e. playing music for terminally ill patients or differently-abled students, in a similar vein as a previous guest of Pan Diaspora – German-based John Innis - as well as Jeff Barnes who did some work with south Trinidad-based Skiffle Bunch steel orchestra a few years ago.

Many WACK FM listeners congratulated Atiba through the shout box as well as by phone on his amazing achievement in such a short space of time. These included Stephen Valentine who remembered the budding genius and his performance at the Cheshire Home many moons ago.  Then there was Valerie from New York who claimed that he blew her mind and left her in awe.  She felt that the experience was so refreshing in view of so many negatives being bandied around about youths.

Then there was the ‘Bake and Shark Specialist’ who was so excited of Atiba’s Cocoyea Village heritage.  She was quite emphatic in urging parents to take heed and to stand by their children adding that with Nubia, Atiba is in good hands.  The ‘Lady on the Hill’ also felt that with the likes of Atiba “the culture of pan is in safe hands.”  Peter Warner from New York was also in high praise for the young Williams.


Hollis Clifton
Pan Diaspora Visionary
hollisclifton@yahoo.com

+1-868-462-2738

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