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- Steelpan music without compromise

A When Steel Talks Review

Rather than getting into any deep musical analysis of the music or any specific track, let's just 'say' Sakésho's We Want You To Say is required listening and a welcomed addition to any music lover's collection.  These cats are dropping some serious music.

Web Posted - Wednesday March 23, 2005
Delaware Coast Press

Students steel instruction after school By Darrell Neale Coast Press News Editor

Coast Press photo by Alan Piñon Olivia Henning, sixth-grade student at Mariner Middle School, plays the steel drums during practice. Delaware - The halls of the Ninth Grade Campus of Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes have been echoing this month with the sounds of the world's newest instruments. As part of the Cape Carousel Program, an after-school enrichment for students in grades four through eight, 23 children have been learning about steel drums. Ken Schleifer, instrumental music instructor for the four Cape Henlopen School District elementary schools, is the teacher for the classes held Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the past six weeks. Student musicians will present a concert Wednesday night. Schleifer took part in a Delaware Department of Education cluster workshop on steel drumming this past summer and is now sharing what he learned with the students. [Full Story]

Steel drums make sweet music at WRV-Lyons

Indiana --What began as a small steel drum group at White River Valley Lyons Elementary/Junior High School has grown tremendously over the past three years.

Virgil Franklin, WRV-Lyons band director, said he was introduced to steel drums, or pans, three years ago by Tony Kluesner from Linton.

"The Kluesner family had a pan ensemble based in Linton for years. I played in church praise band with Tony and had never played a pan before three years ago," Franklin  said.

Now, Franklin has a number of students from grades three through eight involved with pans.

After the first year of the steel drum program, Franklin said it has received an overwhelmingly large amount of support from the community.

"Everyone loved it because it was so different," Franklin said.

[full story]

Fisheye watched for it to go beyond this. He watched for the bands, the warriors to come together to do something, to make some dent in the real world. And for years he walked the lines of his band on Carnival days, with his black hat with the bullet holes he had cut in it, his face unsmiling, his shirt unbuttoned down his chest, his unclenched hands Lifted above his head in that gesture of triumph and acknowledgement, trying singly to summon into the presence of this masquerade, ideas, feelings, memories of warriorhood back again, so much so that Terry and Reds felt moved to tell him: 'Take it easy, man. Enjoy yourself. We ain't expecting no war; we in peace with Desperadoes.' [more]

Now Playing

Memories and Current Thoughts Related to Women
in the Steelpan World

Clive Bradley, Arranger

New York - Bradley reminisces about the early days of women in pan:

"The first time that I remember seeing women play Steelpan was around 1968, somewhere around there -  when three women joined Desperadoes; one of them was Ursula, on the tenor pan, and she still plays with the band today. The other, Carol, played tenor pan too, and the third, whose name I can't recall right now, played the Bass. It was a sort of status symbol for those guys because there were not too many bands with women playing. They were good players. As a matter of fact, I believe that Scrunter (Owen Reyes Johnson) wrote Woman On the Bass for particularly that girl.
 
Legendary, producer, artist and master steelband music arranger Clive Bradley, shares his personal thoughts and memories on Women In Pan in a special interview for Women's Month.  

Iman Pascall
A Steelpan Virtuoso In The Making
Angela Howard
When Steel Talks

New York - Iman Pascal - Steelpan Virtuso -Iman Pascall is easily one of the most talented female steelpan musicians in North America. At the tender age of 17, Iman accomplished what few have in a career... Having already worked with the greats of the steelpan art form.

New York - I have been playing pan since I was four and now I’m 18; being part of the steel drum community has become my life.   It is something that I have never stopped enjoying; I have grown to realize that whatever I do in life, I can never forget something [pan] that is part of where I am from.   It’s now the 21st century and having women in pan is nothing unusual; the steel pan world has made very rapid progress in the way the steel drum is created, and most of all the people who play it.

Maryland - Kristen Jones grew up near Albany, NY in a musical family.  She studied piano and cello up through high school, and was principal cellist in the prestigious Empire State Youth Orchestra.  She attended summer music studies at the Tanglewood Institute, Hartwick College, and University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  She always assumed she would eventually become a professional cellist--until she discovered pan!  That was at Oberlin College, in Ohio. Since 1980, Oberlin has had a student-run steelband--first called the Can Consortium, now called Oberlin Steel.  Kristen took the "Introduction to Steel Drums" class that the band offered, and subsequently joined the band. In her sophomore year (1997), she and three other students went to Trinidad. They played with the Renegades Steel Orchestra for Panorama, and that experience pretty much sealed the deal for Kristen (this was the year of Renegades' historic "three-peat" win).  The pan jumbie was born!

USA -  It is not an accidental or chance occurrence that women are now active participants in the steelpan movement in Trinidad and Tobago and throughout the pan-playing world. Women are the majority population in most countries and consequently, it is only natural that they become involved in the social, political and cultural dynamics of their nation. Steelpan music therefore is no exception.

Steelpan music – one of the music of Carnival - is going through its own metamorphosis and like calypso, soca and chutney music – there is no longer a gender partiality in the musical culture because females are encouraged to be active partners in the movement. For example, about 90 percent of the revelers (masqueraders) in Carnival bands are female and they have added not only beauty but also color and excitement to the festivities. Obviously, females have taken over Carnival and are the driving force behind the national festival of Trinidad and Tobago hence the tremendous success and growth of Carnival.

Canada - In 1997, Joy began studying the steel drums under the instruction of Vince Cato at the Anglican Church of the Nativity in Toronto.  As a prodigious talent, she was soon dubbed "the princess of the pan."  Her efficiency with the tenor pan and her diverse performance range have led to great audience reception, and flattering recognition from seasoned professional pannists.

Though Joy specializes in gospel, classical and old school rhythm and blues, her range reaches into calypso, reggae, hip hop, and other forms of popular music. This musical range is rooted in five years of high school band and music theory studies, a mastery of the tenor and baritone sax, university courses in West African Drum Ensemble and Caribbean Ensemble, and a life long love and dedication to music.

The 'Nursing' Pannist
by Robbie Joseph

United Kingdom - She gets great enjoyment from playing the steelpan and looks forward to Panorama because of her cultural heritage and also the musical challenge it presents.  One of her treasured moments was in the 1987 Panorama when Stardust came third beating Ebony, Europe’s finest.   In fact her father was a founding member of Ebony before leaving in 1983 to form Stardust.

Tara is joint manager of their family band, Stardust, with her brother Adrian and sister Rhonda.  She is responsible for arranging their gigs and looks after the financial matters of the band whilst assisting Adrian and Rhonda with the musical arrangements.  She also lends her help to the Mas making side of Stardust which is also a Masquerade Band; in fact Randolph always boasted that he was the only steelband manager/arranger who also made Mas.  [full story]

An Exclusive  Interview with - Glenda Gamory,  one of the most committed and influential figures in the New York  steelband movement..

- Glenda Gamory -

In The Spotlight

Glenda Forde-Gamory president of Pantonic Steel Orchestra ©2005 

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.

[Full Story]

The Birth of A Panist
by Roxanne Glasgow-Pope

New York -
Conceived in the fever of carnival,
Born after Labor Day,
A joyous blessing from above,
This child heralds a new beginning,
A new inductee to pan. 
Her father a double tenor,
Her mother a bass,
From two opposing bands
Blend together to create one.

Pan.

In vitro selections of
War 2004 vs. Whap Cocoyea
Resonate in the uterus,
New limbs dancing on stage
In the womb panorama day.
 
Pan. 
 [full story]

Woman On Pan
Dotsie Isaac Gellizeau

Antigua - In Antigua and Barbuda, that special dot on the world map, where I’m from, it is an exciting time for women.  We have found our voices and unveiled our talents and we are unstoppable.  We have taken on the men in traditional “men” activities and are excelling.

The steel pan is just one small area that we have challenged and taken by storm.  Traditionally, steel bands have been a “man” thing.  Women listened and enjoyed, probably never entertaining the thought of being a part of it. Well, at least one woman must have thought about it and dared to try it, and then it caught on like a "bad flu."  [full story]

A Personal Journey
Women In Pan
Dr. Jeannine Remy

Trinidad - My first trip to Trinidad was in 1989 which was part of my research for my dissertation.  At that time there was only a handful of women who played pan in Invaders; today the number of women in the large bands are equal in number to the men (partly due to the gradual acceptance of pan by the culture). In 1989 I played tenor pan with Invaders (and I think I was the first foreign American woman to do that) and since then have found every grant and excuse to go to Trinidad for Carnival. I would often bring my students to Trinidad to perform and experience performing with Invaders. It was after their conductor Anthony Prospect died that I began a new role in Invaders: conducting and preparing them for music Festivals in 1998, 2000, 2004.  [full story]

Celebration of Women In Pan

 
March is the month when When Steel Talks   focuses on the contributions and sacrifices women worldwide have made and continue to make to the steelpan music art-form.  This year as in past years we invite the global steel pan community to participate in that celebration.   Participants may contribute by providing pictures for the women's pictorial tribute or an article on women and pan.  Pictures will be added daily throughout the month of March.  If you wish to have your pictures considered for addition to this pictorial or provide an article, email pictures to whensteeltalks@hotmail.com and click here for article guidelines.

TRIBUTE TO THE STEELPAN WOMAN

TnT Steelband Panorama 2005 - Full Coverage & Info
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