When
Steel Talks
provides an exclusive 2003 interview with Glenda Forde Gamory. Ms.
Gamory is
currently the president for Pantonic Steel
Orchestra. Pantonic Steel Orchestra is one the premiere steel
orchestras in the world.
In addition to being one of
the founding member and leader of this four time championship musical
organization Ms. Gamory is a grandmother and respected member of the New
York community...
In her interview, Ms. Gamory
shed light on her background. Her achievements make her a role model
for young women, and most notable is her transformation into an extremely
formidable female presence, as head of one of the most popular and
powerful musical organizations in North America.
Web Posted -
Saturday January
29,
2005
When Steel Talks
*
SPECIAL
Basement Recordings
Does It Again
Pan In New York 2004
A Review
By
--Wanda McCrae
Brooklyn Panorama 2004 is long past.
We have no
official recordings
from the exciting competition at the Brooklyn Museum. The beautiful
sounds from Panorama rehearsals around the NYC area have long faded
into the air. Many of the hundreds of players who labored all summer
have already forgotten their parts, myself included. Almost all we
have left are our memories: what remain of them, that is.
Basement raised the bar with their first "Pan In NY" recording. Their
2004 release is another in a fine series of technically excellent
recordings, not to mention the only official historical record of some
of that year's Panorama presentations. As such, it is a treasure, and
deserves a place in every pan-lover's library.
[full story]
ILLINOIS STYLE: Steel band brings Caribbean to
Western Illinois
JODI POSPESCHIL Associated Press
MACOMB, Ill.
- Tropical sounds float up from the
depths of the basement at Browne Hall on the Western Illinois
University campus.
The notes are from a practice session of WIU's Steel
Drum Band, but could just as easily be coming from the beach of a
tropical island, with listeners sipping icy umbrella drinks and
sunning themselves.
Assistant professor Rich Kurasz is in his third year
teaching at WIU and in leading the school's steel drum band.
Participants in the band are actually taking a class, for which the
only requirement is that they be able to read music.
Web Posted -
Saturday
January
22,
2005
When Steel Talks Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
Ken "Professor" Philmore
Arranger
Power Stars Steel Orchestra
2005 T&T Panorama Season
Ken "Professor" Philmore is the 2005 arranger of
Power Stars
steel orchestra. Their
tune of choice for the 2005 steelband music panorama is
"Fiery" by Maestro.
Mr.
Philmore is pleased that Power Stars has made it to the Semi-finals,
and definitely with way the band has performed thus far.
Web Posted -
Saturday
January
22,
2005
When Steel Talks Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
Dr.
Jeannine Remy
Arranger
Hatters Steel Orchestra
2005 T&T Panorama Season
Jeannine Remy is the 2005 arranger of Hatters steel orchestra.
Speaking
with
When Steel Talks, the Wisconsin native and only female foreign arranger in this year's
semi-finals, shares her thoughts and experiences thus far. Their
tune of choice is "Mystery of Pan" by Eunice Peters. Ms. Remy has
committed her life to the steel pan instrument and is only the second
foreign steelband music arranger to ever participate in this
prestigious competition... In addition, Dr. Remy gave up a
tenured teaching position to follow her pan dreams.
{full
Story}
Web Posted -
Saturday
January 22,
2005
Tobago News
7 'big bands' play in Prelims
Friday, January 21st 2005
Seven Tobago conventional steelbands competed in
the 2005 National Zonal Panorama Preliminaries last Tuesday
night at their respective pan yards
Defending Tobago panorama champions RBTT
Redemption Sound Setters performed their Winston Gordon
arrangement of DeFosto's "From Beyond" before a large crowd at
their Mt. Gomery pan yard. In fact, all the bands drew large
crowds at their various pan yards as all the bands played
simultaneously, starting at 7 p.m.
[full story]
Web Posted -
Tuesday
January
18,
2005
When Steel Talks Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
Clive Bradley
Arranger
Desperadoes Steel Orchestra
2005 T&T Panorama Season
Once
again, Desperadoes Steel Orchestra is in high spirits with a Clive
Bradley arrangement of their Panorama selection
"Action"
from Emmanuel "Oba"
Sinnette. Speaking with
When Steel Talks
, Bradley calls Oba a "competent composer," and a "musician" one who
understood and knew music that was suitable for pan, and for
steelband arrangements. Oba even visited the pan yard,
as opposed to other artists who would call Bradley and tell him they
had a "pan tune." The arranger has been with Desperadoes since
1968, and he arranged for the steel orchestra for many of the years
since then. Bradley arranged six of the ten Despers
panorama winners in their history, and two of those
victories were with Oba's selections - "In My House" (1999) and
"Picture on The Wall" (2000).
Web Posted -
Tuesday
January
18,
2005
When Steel Talks Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
Michael Marcano
Manager
Renegades Steel Orchestra
2005 T&T Panorama Season
Michael Marcano,
manager of the legendary Renegades Steel Orchestra recently took time out
of his busy schedule to chat with
When Steel Talks.
It was a post-preliminary conversation, and Marca
no thought that the band "put down a very good performance" in the pan
yard event, especially from the reaction and the comments heard from
members of the crowd. For the preliminary round, they had opted to
go with one hundred players, he said, because the other musicians were in
the process of perfecting their respective parts. He noted that a
number of practice nights had been lost prior to the preliminary because
of inclement weather and that ground was being made up.
Web Posted -
Tuesday
January
18,
2005
When Steel Talks Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
Winston Gordon
Arranger
Redemption Sound Setters
Steel Orchestra
2005 T&T Panorama Season
Redemption
Soundsetters Steel Orchestra is one of the three large conventional bands
out of Tobago,
the sister isle of Trinidad. With musicians ranging from ten years of age
to the ranks of senior citizens, the steel orchestra is well underway and
full of confidence for 2005. They are just one of the bands who this year
have adopted the motto of "forward ever, backward never" in their choice
of a Panorama selection for the 2005 competition. The band's
seasoned arranger, Winston Gordon, told
When Steel Talks
that De Fosto's From Beyond
was agreed on by the band's
executive committee, and that everyone was generally pleased with how
things were progressing.
The pan community appears to be
making steps in an attempt to aid legendary pan tuner Bertie
Marshall. Both Trinidad's Diego Martin Pan Institute at http://www.paninstitute.com and
Pan-Jumbie, Swiss supporter of Trinidad and Tobago culture at -
http://www.pan-jumbie.com/News/dmpi/bertie.htm have officially
stated that they have set in motion the means to assist Marshall in
defraying his medical costs.
Photo keith
Matthews
When
Steel Talks also spoke with Pan Trinbago President Patrick
Arnold who said that his organization has already set in place
initiatives to assist Bertie Marshall as well. They may be
contacted at
admin@pantrinbago.com.
Web Posted -
Thursday, January 15,
2005
Trinidad Express
North large bands
in pan playoff tonight
By TERRY JOSEPH
Saturday, January 15th 2005
Members of
defending Panorama champion Sagicor Exodus perform The
Original De Fosto's composition "From Beyond" during the East
Zone of the National Panorama preliminaries at their panyard
on Eastern Main Road, Tunapuna, on Thursday night. Ph
TEN-TIME
national winners Witco Desperadoes will lead off tonight's
preliminary round Panorama judging of seven large northern
region conventional orchestras who, "in the sum", have won 28 of
the 40 championships held since inception of the contest in
1963.
Simultaneously, nine medium and six small orchestras will face
two other Panorama juries in the east zone and south-central
region (respectively) as the jostle for 14 spaces in each of the
three categories continues nationwide.
[more]
Web Posted -
Sunday
January
16,
2005
When Steel Talks Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
*
Duvone Stewart
Arranger
Our Boys Steel Orchestra
2005 T&T Panorama Season
At age 28,
Duvone Stewart is an extremely busy and serious-minded
individual. He has made his mark on the national stage as
a soloist and past champion of Pan Ramajay competitions.
Stewart is no stranger to arranging, having taken both
Merrytones Steel Orchestra and La Horquetta Pan Groove to the
top in the small conventional steel orchestra and single pan
band competitions, respectively, in the 2004 national Panorama.
2005 finds Duvone in Tobago, the isle of his birth, arranging
for Our Boys Steel Orchestra, led by Pan Trinbago
president Patrick Arnold.
Web Posted -
Saturday January
15,
2005
When Steel Talks Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
*
Leon "Smooth"
Edwards
Arranger,
Trinidad All Stars
2005 T&T Panorama Season
Leon
"Smooth" Edwards, arranger for Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra
chatted with
When Steel Talks
from the
All Stars' pan yard earlier on today. With preliminary judging for
the band slated for tomorrow, Saturday January 15, "Smooth" said that
the arrangement had been finished a couple of days ago, and that the pan
musicians were looking forward to rehearsals.
At this point in
time All Stars has the majority of its players. The situation is
much healthier this year than it was in 2004 when the choice of some
All Stars members to play in steel orchestras competing in other
categories for the Panorama had an impact on their availability to
commit to their primary band, Trinidad All Stars. "Smooth"
believes that the attention the band's management paid to the issue is
responsible for this positive development.
Web Posted -
Friday January
14,
2005
When Steel Talks Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
*
Junia Regrello
Manager,
Skiffle Bunch
2005 T&T Panorama Season
Skiffle
Bunch's Junia Regrello, manager of the powerhouse steel orchestra
from South Trinidad, shares his thoughts on the upcoming 2005 steelband
music panorama competition. The arranger
for Skiffle Bunch Steel Orchestra is once again, accomplished panist US-based Liam Teague. Their
tune of choice is the late Lord Kitchener's
Pan Night and Day.
Regrello says that the choice of selection was Teague's, but that the
decision by Pan Trinbago to allow selections from prior years in the
2005 season is not one he is keen on, even though he understands their
reasoning behind the move.
Web Posted -
Friday
January 14,
2005
Conway Daily Sun
Steel Dreams Welcomes
New Players
New Hampshire
— Steel Dreams, the Mountain Top Music Center's
steel drum band, is looking for new members and have opened their
January rehearsals to anyone who wants to try their hand at this
rhythmic orchestra.
Historically steel drum groups are organized in an hierarchal form.
There's a leader, section leaders, and the rest of the band. The
leader selects the repertoire and instructs the section leaders. The
section leaders in turn teach the rest of the drummers. At Mountain
Top this month, Eric Rollnick is the leader, and veteran members
instruct the new hopefuls.
Web Posted -
Wednesday January
12,
2005
When Steel Talks
Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
*
Len "Boogsie"
Sharpe
Arranger,
Phase II Pan Groove
2005 T&T Panorama Season
Veteran
champion Panorama arranger Len "Boogsie" Sharpe of Phase II Pan
Groove, sees the 2005 Pan season as one with a lot of
challenges for him and his steel orchestra. He says it has been
rough. One of his concerns is that Phase II's tune of choice - an
original composition penned by Boogsie himself and sung by Colin (Dollar
Wine) Lucas - is not receiving airplay on the radio waves of Trinidad.
So much so in fact that he says he has had to hire a DJ to play the song
"Trini Gone Wild" in the pan yard for the players to become
familiar with the tune.
Web Posted -
Wednesday January
12,
2005
When Steel Talks
Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
*
Robert Greenidge
Arranger,
Pan Knights Steel
Orchestra
2005 T&T Panorama Season
Continuing
the
When Steel Talks
series of interviews with the arrangers for the 2005 Panorama season in
Trinidad and Tobago, Robert Greenidge, arranger for
Pan Knights Steel Orchestra is next in the line up of
exclusives. As is characteristic of all the pan yards, the
case is no different in terms of the excitement that is being generated
amongst the players and arrangers alike. With the first
phase of competition - the preliminaries - beginning from Thursday
January, 13 for the conventional steel orchestras in the large band
category, Greenidge is looking forward to the performance of his band
and shares the infectious youthful enthusiasm of his musicians.
[full
story]
Web Posted -
Tuesday January
11,
2005
When Steel Talks
*
EXCLUSIVE
*
LET
US CELEBRATE THE WARLORD OF CALYPSO
by
Khalick J. Hewitt,
President & Founder International Steelpan
& Calypso Society
From Blakie’s
introduction to calypso he established his “Warlord” credentials. His
first road march tune “Steelband Clash” recorded the steelband clash
between the Invaders and Tokyo steelbands. Blakie was the first
calypsonian, to my knowledge, that identified with a steelband. The
second was Sparrow who was a mas playing member of the 1960s Trinidad Al
Stars Steel Orchestra. Blakie was a mas playing member (some said
that he was also a member of their gang) of the then San Juan All Stars
Steel Orchestra. At the time of their existence, San Juan All
Stars was known as a badjohn band. They became infamous for the
Carnival riot with the Desperadoes Steel Orchestra.
[full
story]
Web Posted -
Tuesday January
11,
2005
When Steel Talks
Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
*
Pelham Goddard
Arranger,
Exodus Steel
Orchestra
2005 T&T Panorama Season
Reigning
National Steelband Panorama champions Exodus Steel Orchestra,
looks forward to repeating their championship ways for the third
consecutive year in this 2005 Panorama season. Ace arranger
Pelham Goddard gives a candid inside look into the season from his
perspective in an exclusive interview with
When Steel Talks .
The band's tune of choice - De Fosto's
"From Beyond" - is
completed, and the band is already over the 120-player limit, according to
Goddard. Exodus is looking forward to defending its championship.
Indeed, Mr. Goddard is quite pleased with the way things are shaping up
from the Exodus perspective. However, there is much in
this season's goings-on that Mr. Goddard views as "notes that are in the
wrong key." He is totally against the new rule changes which
allow selections from past years into the 2005 competition.
Web Posted -
Tuesday January
11,
2005
When Steel Talks
Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
*
Edwin Pouchet
Arranger,
Silver Stars Steel
Orchestra
2005 T&T Panorama Season
Reigning
'medium' conventional steelband champions Silver Stars Steel
Orchestra pan players are looking to retain their title for the 2005 Panorama season. So says arranger Edwin
Pouchet during an interview with
When Steel Talks.
Pouchet is confident of his band's upcoming performance beginning at the
preliminary stage on Friday 14 January, and said that the players are
very upbeat. They fully expect to make it to winners' row
once again at the finals on Saturday February 5, 2005 at the Queen's
Park Savannah.
[full
interview
»]
Web Posted -Tuesday
January 11, 2005
Trinidad
Guardian
Stroke leaves pan legend
"low and broke"
BY
MICHAEL MONDEZIE
For
the first time in a history spanning over three decades the name
Bertie Marshall will not appear on the banner of any steel orchestra
at Panorama.
The first round of adjudication
for all but single-pan bands begins Thursday night in panyards
nationwide, with the three categories of conventional orchestras
(small, medium and large) facing the jury in all four zones.
»
Web Posted -
Monday, January 10, 2004
Trinidad Express -
'The Americans may save pan, not us'
Q&A with BC Pires
Sunday, January 9th 2005
AFTER talking
with Pat Bishop, the head of the Institute for Carnival Studies set up
last February, I felt positive about Carnival for the first time in
years.
Web Posted -
Monday, January 10,
2005
Trinidad Express - EDITORIAL
Freeing up Panorama
Trinidad - The most forceful signal of full immersion into the
national festival is commencement of adjudication of the annual
Steelband Panorama competition, which begins Wednesday.
Carnival has actually been proceeding since Boxing
Day, if we measure the season from the advent of fetes but annually,
first evidence presented to the Panorama jury alerts us to further
diminishing of the residual festival period; subliminally injecting
added excitement.
[full story]
Web Posted -
Thursday, January 6,
2005
10th Anniversary of PanKultur
Program of the week from 20th to
26th of February 2005
Germany -
10 years passed by since PanKultur e.V. was founded. The
club aiming to promote and support PanMusic became an impressive
facet of our culture scene here in Dortmund. More than 400
concerts, the opening of a steelpan-center and a membership of
over 200 active players show that a powerful idea came into being.
From 20th to 26th of February we
want to celebrate our 10th birthday with a "PanWeek", featuring
concerts, practice hours open to the public, readings, workshops
both in our pan center and in several schools in Dortmund and a
final celebration-party with international participants.
[more info]
Arddin
Herbert, arranger for T
rinidad's story-filled Invaders' Steel Orchestra and
resident arranger for New York's CASYM Steel Orchestra, has come full
circle as he now experiences a home coming.
When Steel Talks
caught up with the arranger as he shared his thoughts on the upcoming competition for the 2005
Panorama season in Trinidad
and Tobago.
Herbert grew up in Invaders'
panyard and he said he is equally at home there as with his New York
band CASYM. In fact many of the people who he knew as players
growing up, are present as onlookers in the Trinidad panyard as he
prepares the band for their 2005 presentation for the Pan season.
Tobago - Panorama in
Tobago promises to be more exciting than ever with a number of
Tobago steelbands taking up the challenge from Pan Trinbago to
use the option of playing a tune which was composed before 2005.
Already in Trinidad a number of Trinidad steelband have chosen
calypsos from yesteryear such as Baron's This Melody Sweet' and
'Tambu's Free Up'.
So far, a number of Tobago steelbands have
gone back in time to revive some of the great calypsos of a
previous era. Among the Tobago bands which have chosen the "back
in time" route are Pan In the 21st Century Champions Black Rock
Katzenjammers, who will be doing Short Shirt's 1979 monster hit
"Tourist Leggo".
[full
story]
Web Posted -
Wednesday, January 5,
2005
When Steel Talks Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
*
Patrick Arnold,
President of Pan Trinbago
- on the 2005 T&T Panorama Season
Trinidad - Patrick
Arnold, president of Pan Trinbago, had his
customary update for the global pan community
via
When Steel Talks
when he chatted
and shared his thoughts on the upcoming competitions for the 2005
Panorama season in Trinidad
and Tobago. Noting that the season was short, he spoke about the new
rule which allowed bands to choose a selection from previous years,
once it was not part of their own past panorama repertoire.
Arnold noted that quite a number of bands have opted to go with "classical
calypsos" from previous years. He believed
that this would work in favor of the bands and the competition, as pan
lovers would be more familiar with the music. The songs normally
written for pan suffered from lack of airplay, according
to Arnold, and as a result, were not always well known.
[Full Interview]
Web Posted -
Monday, January 3,
2005
When Steel Talks
* EXCLUSIVE *
- In The SPOTLIGHT -
PAN IN NIGERIA
Xcel Steel Band
Steelpan In Nigeria
Nigeria - The first appearance of these Steel Instruments in
Nigeria was in 1977, when a Steel Band from Trinidad and Tobago came in
for the African festival of arts and culture (FESTAC). They manufactured
their own instruments at the Nigerian Army Band Corps Head quarters in
Lagos, as a result of the bulky nature of the instruments and perhaps the cost of transporting them all the way down.
XCEL Steelband has it's own chrome and pan
factory
XCEL STEEL BANDwas established in February 2001 and
registered with the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria.
The pan manufacturing, chroming
factory and training school is located at Ljanikin, Badagry Express Way, Lagos
Nigeria. [Full
Story]
Web Posted -
Monday,
December 6, 2004
When Steel Talks
Trinidad's Panorama 2004 In Review
Earlier this year
When Steel Talksmet with some of the
movers and shakers behind the world largest steelpan
event... Click here>>
Pan Trinbago in Pictures
Web Posted -
Monday January 31, 2005
Trinidad Express
St Augustine Senior wins
Junior Panorama
By Hayden Mills
This member of St
Margaret's Boys' Anglican School seems to be singing as he
plays Christopher "Tambu" Herbert's composition of "Dis Party
Is It" in the primary schools category during the Junior
Panorama Final at the Queen's Park Savannah, yesterday.
Web Posted -
Monday January 31, 2005
Trinidad Express
Sat settles with pan out of court
Monday, January 31st 2005
trinidad Publisher of The Bomb newspaper, Sat
Maharaj has settled a matter involving Pan Trinbago out of court
one day before his appeal was due to be heard.
Maharaj, who is also general secretary of the
Sanataan Dharma Maha Sabha, was sued by Pan Trinbago for libel
resulting from an article published in The Bomb. The pan body
won the suit and while Maharaj did not appeal the verdict, he
filed on grounds that costs also awarded were unfair.
However, after several attempts at finding
settlement of the issue, Maharaj agreed Thursday to pay Pan
Trinbago some $212,000 and an additional $74,000 to an official
of the organization (at the time of the libel). The appeal was
due to be heard Friday. -TJ
Web Posted -
Monday January 31, 2005
When Steel Talks
Pan-ACEA?
By REGINALD DUMAS
Monday, January 31st 2005
Trinidad - In one of
my many previous incarnations I was in the early 1990s the first
Chairman of the Steelband Foundation established by Pan
Trinbago, of which Owen Serrette was then president. We had a
strong board - among others, Joe Esau, Clarry Benn, Allan
Alexander, the late Arnim Smith, Serrette himself-and, as you
can well imagine, one of the matters we considered vital was the
patenting of the steelpan. I asked our then Permanent
Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ravi Permanand, to seek the
views of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
Art & Soul performers celebrate black culture at the
Artsgarden.
Khabir Shareef spent three weeks in the West
African nations of Senegal and Gambia in 1999 to learn about
the griot tradition and returned to help found the Griot
Drum Ensemble. "It gave me a better perspective for how
(storytelling) really fits in the culture," he says of the
trip. -- Robert Scheer / The Star
By David Lindquist
Caribean Consort
Steel Band
Indiana -
Jimmy Finnie says there's more to the steel drum than what tourists
hear on the high seas.
"Many people's first encounter with
steel drumming is on cruise ships," says Finnie, an associate
professor of music at Indiana State University and co-founder of the
Caribbean Consort Steel Band. "I wish I could say that's not the case,
but it seems to be."
So if the instrument's sweet
combination of melody and rhythm is common knowledge, its relative
short history is not.
Web Posted -
Sunday January 30, 2005
Trinidad Newsday
National Junior Panorama Final
Ten-year-old girl arranges for Panorama
By SEAN NERO
TEN-YEAR-OLD Keisha Codrington will etch her name into steelband
history today, as the youngest arranger in a National Panorama
Competition. Success Stars Pan Sounds will premiere Keisha’s first
effort as a Panorama arranger at today’s staging of the National
Junior Panorama Competition, at the Grand Stand Queen’s Park Savannah,
Port-of-Spain. “Dead or Alive,” vocalised by reigning Road March
Monarch Shurwayne Winchester is the tune-of-choice chosen by Success
Stars Pan Sounds. The band will appear in position number 16 at the
contest.
Web Posted -
Sunday January 30, 2005
Barbados Daily Nation
Chinese Play Pan
Leroy Boyce (second from right)
setting the musical tone for the afternoon to Chinese businessmen
(from left), Yang Chao, Ma Zhiwn and Wang Zuoming.
Barbados - More than 50 investors drawn
from various chambers of commerce across China are loving every moment
of their familiarization tour of Barbados, and yesterday, the treat
continued at historic Harrison’s Cave in St Thomas
Web Posted -
Saturday January 29, 2004
Gazette Times
OSU
Steel Band brings Caribbean warmth to Music a la Carte
By The
Entertainer
Oregon,
CORVALLIS — The Oregon State University Steel Band will warm up the
Memorial Union Lounge with music rooted in the Caribbean in the
University's noontime brown bag concert series Music a la Carte. The
band will play at noon Thursday, Feb. 3 in the Memorial Union Lounge.
Specializing in Caribbean rhythms such as soca, calypso and reggae,
the band will perform the soca party hit "Hot, Hot, Hot" by Arrow and
music by artists ranging from Jimmy Buffett to Lord Kitchener
Web Posted -
Sunday January 30, 2005
Terry Joseph At "I" Level
Quiet Riot
By Terry Joseph
January 29, 2005
Trinidad
- Over the past few years, Government developed a multiplicity
of strategies for dealing with uncomplimentary remarks appearing in
foreign media references to Trinidad and Tobago, its responses ranging
from diplomatic initiative to fiery rebuttal but this week, none of
those options was invoked when seriously damaging statements
originated right here at home.
After all, information coming from
the scene of a brouhaha and reported by locals, is much more credible
than, say, CNN parroting impressions from a transient correspondent
but interestingly, while local media bashed its host country, the
Atlanta-based global news network was trumpeting the magnificence of
our Carnival, even unto proposing "a bake and shark on Ash Wednesday,
while lying on the beach in Tobago".
Web Posted -
Sunday January
30,
2005
Trinidad Guardian
Pan In
Danger
by
Martin George
Trinidad - Once
again, our governing body for steelband has conspired to make a royal
mess of our national Panorama festival and in the inspired words of
the late US rapper the Notorious BIG, it clearly seems to be a case
of, “more money, more problems.”
From
media reports it appeared that the Government’s subvention to Pan
Trinbago was a whopping $16 million , and what have we to show thus
far for this money? Three Tobago steelbands, stranded and left out in
the rain with no accommodation or provisions made to house them or
cater for them for their brief stay here in Trinidad to compete in the
national Panorama semi-finals.
Web Posted -
Tuesday
January
25,
2005
Trinidad Guardian
Boogsie bounces back
By Denyse Renne
Ace pan
arranger Len “Boogsie” Sharpe plans to return to his Woodbrook panyard
today, to continue practising with Petrotrin Phase II Pan Groove in
preparation for the National Panorama final.
Sharpe,
51, had collapsed during Sunday’s semifinal at the Queen’s Park
Savannah in Port-of-Spain, almost immediately after Phase II had
finished the performance which earned it the No 1 spot in the
conventional large band category.
He was taken to Port-of-Spain General Hospital, where he eventually
discharged himself hours later
The young
graduates of the 2004 John John and Environs Foundation pan course are
now the pannists of Tokyo Steel Orchestra.
Photo:
Keith Matthews
By
Essiba Small
John
John steelband Tokyo is not dead. It is sick, and captain Phillip
Vesprey-Williams is committed to nursing it back to health.
One of
the oldest bands in the country, Tokyo took a blow in 2002 when it
parted ways with sponsor Carib Brewery.
The
band hasn’t been the same since.
“We
stopped touring, stopped getting gigs, people left the band to go to
other bands and those who stayed became disenchanted,” was Vesprey-Williams’
glum recollection.
Wednesday
January
19,
2005
When Steel Talks Panorama 2005
*
SPECIAL
Let The Music Play
by
Khalick J.
Hewitt
Khalick J. Hewitt, President &
Founder
International Steelpan & Calypso Society
January 18, 2005
Dear Panjumbies:
The controversy about Pan Trinbago’s
decision to permit the steelbands to play calypsos from yesteryear in
this year’s Panorama is
much ado about nothing. I congratulate
Pan Trinbago for their decision. They don’t get a lot of things right
but they got this one right. Yet, it is a decision whose time has
come. Over the years since the 1990s the caliber of music played by
the steelbands in the Panorama left much to be desired. That is
because the Soca composers are not writing music with the steelband in
mind. Unlike the late Kitchener or De Fosto and some other
calypsonians, who composed music with the steelband in mind, the music
being composed today has a different audience in mind. The era of
calypsonians producing pan music for the steelband is dead.
Web Posted -
Saturday January
15,
2005
When Steel Talks Panorama 2005
*
SPECIAL
Back in Time –
What does it mean?
by
AH
As a sometimes player, hearing last year that Pan
Trinbago was introducing a new rule in the Panorama that bands could
play older selections, I must say that I was intrigued. Images of
playing Woman on the Bass or Sa Sa Yea
ran through my mind.
I
am reminded of how the
forces that control
sports leagues have contrived to make the games (soccer not
withstanding) more palatable to the viewing audience. A basketball game has
been adulterated by TV time outs, making the running game different.
We seem to be trying to make the Panorama more palatable to some
audience, but the target market is undefined.
Web Posted -
Saturday,
January
22,
2005
I955.fm News Articles
Tobago bands scheduled to take part in tomorrow’s
Panorama semi finals are furious by Pan Trinbago’s treatment.
Several steelbands
from Tobago scheduled to participate in tomorrow’s Panorama semi
finals are stranded at the Princess Building Grounds.
Some of the bands have
been there from early this morning with more due to arrive on the
port.
Manager and Public
Relations Officer of the Katzenjams Steel Orchestra, Beverly
Ramsey-Moore says Pan Trinbago has the responsibility of providing
accommodation for the bands coming to Trinidad for the competition.
She says up to this time
no one has communicated to them regarding their stay.
In an interview with i95
News now a short while ago a very frustrated Misses Ramsey-Moore
said they can only tolerate so much.
Misses Ramsey-Moore also
said the performance of their bands will be affected because they
have been unable to practice due to the conditions they are
subjected to.
She says Pan-Trinbago
should automatically place them in the finals as it is no fault of
theirs to be placed under this unfortunate circumstance.
MEMBERS of
defending Panorama large band champion, Sagicor Exodus, run
through their selection "From Beyond" Friday night at the
band's Tunapuna panyard in a special presentation and party for
their sponsors, which was later attended by Culture Minister
Even as medium and large
conventional steel orchestras engage in musical battle on the
Queen's Park Savannah turf at Panorama today, another quiet war
is being fought offstage between protagonists of a new rule
allowing bands to select any calypso and traditionalists
clinging to the old format that limited choice to current
releases.
Intense arguments have been
flying ever since rule 5.1 was varied to now read: "Music
Selection-For the purposes of the competition, each
participating steelband may select and perform any calypso
(whether from the current year or any previous year), as long as
the same composition has not been played by said band in a
Panorama competition."
Web Posted -
Saturday January
15,
2005
When Steel Talks
Steeling the Show Steel drum corps wow Lady's Island students
Published Sat, Jan 15, 2005
By REBECCA QUIGLEY
Gazette staff writer
Lady's Island
Middle School gymnasium rang and boomed with the sounds of a
steel drum orchestra playing Santana's "Evil Ways" at an
all-school assembly Friday.
A deafening
round of applause followed a one-hour performance of drumming,
singing and West African dancing by more than 30 third-,
fourth-, and fifth-graders from Logan Elementary School in
Columbia.
London - The Bartlesville
High School Bruin Brigade Band made an international appearance during
the 19th annual London New Year's Parade.
The 128-member marching band, under the direction of Ron Lewis and
Jeff Lawless, was invited by the London Mayors Association and Youth
Music of the World to perform in the parade. The parade is watched by
more than one million people in London and around the world.
The students, along with staff members, chaperones, family members and
supporters, flew overseas on Dec. 28. While in London, the students
had the opportunity to tour major attractions such Stonehenge, Windsor
Castle and the Tower of London.
The band and the BHS steel drum band also performed at a gala benefit
concert for the Lord Mayors of London.
Web Posted -
Friday
January 14,
2005 Beaufort Gazette
Steel
drum band delights middle school students
From staff reports
South Carolina - The
Lady's Island Middle School gymnasium rings and booms with the sound
of a steel drum orchestra playing Santana's "You've Got to Stop Your
Evil Ways" at an all-school assembly Friday.
A deafening round of applause followed a one-hour
performance of drumming, singing and West African dancing by more
than 30 third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders from Logan Elementary
school in Columbia.
"We're here to show you what is possible when you
dedicate yourself to this art," Logan Elementary's music teacher,
Chris Lee, told the audience.
Another round of applause came after Lady's Island
Middle Principal Priscilla Drake and band director Eric Terry
announced a secret they have been keeping for several months --
Lady's Island Middle will soon have its own set of steel drums from
Trinidad.
Panorama 2005 begins —
Shortage of players hurting bands
By SEAN
NERO
Trinidad - A
PAUCITY of players among steelbands registered to compete in this
year’s National Panorama Competition has forced Pan Trinbago to relax
the rules governing the minimum number of pannists, which bands are
allowed to utilize — at least during the preliminary round of the
contest. Bands unable to attract the minimum number of players for
this round of the competition, in the various categories, will be
allowed to perform before a panel of music adjudicators according to
Pan Trinbago secretary Richard Forteau.
Web Posted -
Wednesday January
13,
2005
When Steel Talks
Panorama 2005
*
EXCLUSIVE
*
Trinidad Steel
Band Panorama by the Numbers
New York -
In an attempt to improve
the entertainment content value and overall product last year, Pan
Trinbago (producers of the steelband event) instituted some
revolutionary changes into the annual steelband music panorama
competition show. Those rules include categorizing of steel
orchestras into small, medium and large groups and the reduction in
the performance time of the competing orchestras from the previous
standard of 10 minutes to 8 minutes. This reduction was done as a
means of shortening the overall length of the show, which in the past
at times had gone into the wee hours of the morning. The result was
the audience losing interest and patience. When Steel Talks monitored
last year's show at the Panorama finals and took a close look at the
performance times and data related to the 2004 event. [Full
Story]
Web Posted -
Thursday, January 6,
2005
Trinidad
Express
Iron man ‘Maifan’ passes on
His death a loss to the steelband movement
By Terry Joseph
Trinidad
- The steelband community yesterday continued to mourn the passing of
legendary steelband percussionist, Carlton “Maifan’’ Drayton who,
after a long illness, died on Old Year’s Day at the Port of Spain
General Hospital.
Among his many credits as an
iron-man, Maifan was hailed for having conceptualized the
“double-strike’’ movement, using two instead of one of the pencil-thin
steel poles with which the instrument is struck, creating a stand on
which it was mounted, putting the engine-room of the steelband on a
rack for the first time. This innovation premiered as Starlift played
its outstanding rendition of Sparrow’s “Jane’’ for the Panorama
competition of 1968, the style maintained to this day by steelbands
nationwide.
Web Posted -
Tuesday January
4,
2005
When Steel Talks
Live In The Pan House - A
Global Hit...
New York - January 4,
2005
When Steel Talks (WST) continues
to rock the internet waves with stellar steelband performances from
the best groups in the world! Its new series "Live In The Pan House" has
attracted viewers from every part of the globe. The dedicated
steelband music promotion organization, WST, has amassed through the
activities of Basement Recordings, Inc., a catalog of performances
from the Orient, the Caribbean and the USA. The instrument, which
has captured the imagination of the youth world wide continues to
make unprecedented strides. Proof of the instrument's appeal and
meteoric rise is the prevalence of the Pan instrument
in schools (K-12) and institutions of higher learning throughout the
USA and around the world. Live In The Pan House provides insight and
"on-demand access" into a non-traditional but extremely effective
avenue to learning and appreciation, by means of authentic steelband
music performances by the originators of the steelband music art
form. Music professors in United States universities mandate the
video performances as part of courseworks for student study and
workshops.
The advancement in new internet technology
with the availability of economical high-speed internet connectivity
has contributed to the success and mass appeal of "Live In The Pan
House." WST already has a stable of successful steelband music
related-initiatives including PanRadio, an internet broadcast
dedicated to nothing but steelpan music. The show has received
praise for both its educational and entertainment value.
[Full Story]
Web Posted -
Sunday,
January 2, 2005
The Desert Sun
We won! Valley float a beaut
January 2, 2005
PASADENA
-- The Coachella Valley’s first entry in the Rose
Parade came away a winner.
Representing the desert cities, sponsored by the Coachella Valley Arts
Alliance and featuring the steel drum playing
of Pantasia, the "desert paradise" float took the
prize for "Most Beautiful Float by a Non-Commercial Group."
The float was more than just a prize-winner. It provided a
once-in-a-lifetime experience for the students in Pantasia, mostly
Desert Unified School District students.
Sophia Arellano of Indio -- the mother of Joaquin Arellano, 14, who
plays tenor drum -- said the group returned to the desert at about
6:45 p.m. Saturday.
"He loved it," she said. "He loves this stuff. I kept trying to tell
him how big this was. He said it was awesome."
The group raised $50,000 to participate and build the float that was
55 feet long, 25 feet tall and 18 feet wide.
It featured palm trees, suspension bridges, foliage and tiki torches
with huts housing steel drummers.
Darlene Dolan, president of the Coachella Valley Arts Alliance,
spearheaded much of the organizing and fundraising for the float with
the theme "Bringing the Family Together Through the Arts."
The purpose of the float, she has said is to let the public know that
the "valley is full with the arts, visual and performing."
And the local message was in some big company before a huge audience.
Web Posted -
Sunday,
January 2, 2005
The Press-Enterprise
Youth steel drum band hits all the
right notes in parade
TOURNAMENT OF
ROSES: Students from Coachella Valley and Moreno Valley show off their
rhythms.
12:25 AM PST on
Sunday, January 2, 2005 By KARIN MARRIOTT /
PASADENA California -
Jose Rodriquez was a little tired and a
lot excited Saturday as he prepared for the Tournament of Roses Parade
to begin.
The 14-year-old Indio High School
student was awake the previous night mentally rehearsing rhythms for
his steel drum performance and reminding himself to smile when he
played as part of the Inland area Pantasia Steel Drum Orchestra.
"I just couldn't sleep," Jose said,
shivering in the brisk morning air. "It's like a rush of exhilaration,
just all of these people that are going to be seeing us. It's crazy."
AP photo
The operator of the
Palm Springs Desert Resort Cities' float said the
entry, called Bringing the Family Together Through
the ARTS, won the most beautifully decorated
noncommercial award.
Jose was one of nearly two dozen
youths to perform in the orchestra during the 116th annual parade in
Pasadena.
The ensemble, comprised of students
from the Coachella Valley and the city of Moreno Valley, is the first
steel drum band in the parade's history to ride on a float, parade
officials reported.
The students rode on the Palm
Springs Desert Resort Cities' tropical-themed float, which won the
most beautifully decorated noncommercial award, said operator Michael
McIsaac.
Four huts with thatched roofs made
of palm sat on stilts and sheltered the ensemble. The 65-foot-long
float was decorated with tropical vegetation such as orchids, ferns
and other plants. Fronds of the palm trees on the float were covered
in white cornmeal to provide a fantasy garden appeal, McIsaac said.
Web Posted -
Thursday,
December30, 2005
Trinidad Guardian
Calypsonians not singing for pan - Arnold
Neal & Massy Trinidad All Stars
arranger Leon “Smooth” Edwards, left, assistant manager Daryl Joseph,
next to Edwards, and others listen as a player practices the band’s
Panorama 2005 selection, Christopher “Tambu” Herbert’s 1989 Road
March, Free Up.
Photo: David Wears
BY
MICHAEL MONDEZIE
Trinidad - Local artistes are no longer
creating music with the pan in mind, Pan Trinbago president Patrick
Arnold has said.
“Calypsonians are more interested in brass and soca monarch than they
are in making music for the pan,” he said yesterday during a telephone
interview.
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-
Glenda Gamory -
The beautiful
sounds from Panorama rehearsals around the NYC area have long faded
into the air. Many of the hundreds of players who labored all summer
have already forgotten their parts, myself included. Almost all we
have left are our memories: what remain of them, that is.
Photo keith
Matthews
e
club aiming to promote and support PanMusic became an impressive
facet of our culture scene here in Dortmund. More than 400
concerts, the opening of a steelpan-center and a membership of
over 200 active players show that a powerful idea came into being.
gy
with the availability of economical high-speed internet connectivity
has contributed to the success and mass appeal of "Live In The Pan
House." WST already has a stable of successful steelband music
related-initiatives including PanRadio, an internet broadcast
dedicated to nothing but steelpan music. The show has received
praise for both its educational and entertainment value.
