Steelpan & Parang
at St. Gregory’s
 

New York, USA - If you are going to spend the holiday season in New York, you are sure to be able to catch a steelband music concert. The first of a series of such concerts took place at St. Gregory's in Brooklyn on Sunday, on what was an abnormally warm November night.  A packed house of steelpan music enthusiasts got into the holiday sprit as they took in the performances of ADLIB Steel Orchestra, Utopia Pan Soul: the Next Generation, Steel Sensation, Dem Stars Steel Orchestra and a Parang ensemble.

Getting off to a late start, the program was one well worth the time out on a Sunday evening. It played to a standing room-only auditorium, where patrons also had the opportunity to sample the culinary fare available as musicians set up for what promised to be hours of great musical entertainment.
click for more

Steelband Panorama Music Songwriters bring Social Commentary back to the Forefront for 2010
Technology, Internet, Social Networks
Empower Writers
 

Global - Free from Bondage, Writers Flex Creative Muscle.

Leading the charge is none other than veteran performers and stalwarts - steelband music song writers like Crazy, The Original DeFosto Himself, Designer, Destra, “Smooth,” Goddard and many others. They all understand that the delivery system by which one reaches the masses with their music has changed dramatically, with the accessibilities of emerging internet and web technologies. Moreover, one has got to meet the masses where they are - or become irrelevant and cease to exist.
click for more

Chamber or Boogsie style?
 

Trinidad & Tobago, WI. - Previously, in the steelpan fraternity, the matter of Sharpe vs Arnold was settled out of court, based on the surprise ‘enough is enough’ statement the pan electorate has made. After years of predictable results, pan people have opted for change in the leadership and direction, with a new attitude and a big business approach to pan. The new executive head, and chief agent of change, must be congratulated for his victory at the polls, and his upward mobility, from the roots to the highest echelon of steel band administration. In true governing body style however, he has already distanced himself from the transparency and accountability for the organisation’s failed mega projects, saying he was not high up on the pan food chain in those times. Nonetheless, most researchers of the steelpan business have agreed that the future is still very bright, and if properly managed and marketed, pan can become an extremely potent billion dollar corporation.

Much more recently, the president of the T&T Chamber of Commerce, in a newspaper article titled “Chamber boss: Time for pan to take shape,” claims: “the country’s failure to convert research into innovation where steelpan is concerned is the reason why T&T is lagging in the development of pan... there is a big gap between this research and the innovation which drives the large scale commercial productive enterprise... we are inventors yet we do not own or control this ingenious invention worldwide.”
click for more

Norwich pupils in steel band show
 

Norwich, England - Shoppers were entertained with lively Christmas music played on steel drums by youngsters from a Norwich junior school this weekend.

Past and present pupils of Angel Road Junior School, aged from 10 to 15, played in their steel band, The Starlight Steel Band, at Castle Mall on Saturday.

They were collecting for the Willow Foundation, founded in 1999 by former Arsenal and Scotland goalkeeper Bob Wilson and his wife, Megs, in memory of their daughter Anna, who died of cancer at the age of 31.

....Sally Alcock, whose 11-year-old daughter Caitlin was playing in the band, was one of the people collecting money for the charity. She said: “We are getting lots of money - I've even had some notes. People are being very generous, partly because it's Christmas and partly because the band is so good. They practice every week, all year round.”
click for more

Silver Stars’ Parang and Steel a hit once more
 

Trinidad & Tobago, WI. - Nineteen years after PCS Silver Stars Steel Orchestra conceptualised, packaged and premiered the Christmas music showcase known as Parang and Steel, it still evokes similar responses from fans: cheers of joy and lots of dancing.

The event took place last Saturday, at the premere of the five-week production, held at the band’s Tragarete Road, Newtown, headquarters. Scores of patrons turned out for the scintillating entertainment line-up that included Kenny J, Los Dinamicos and host Silver Stars. While patrons weren’t too thrilled with the presentation from the parang group, they expressed absolute delight for performances from the remaining cast. Music lovers were eager for Kenny J’s soca parang renderings, such as Paint Brush and Alexander. His unique delivery of these original compositions explained the hype that revolved around his impending performance.
click for more

Moods of Pan 2009
One Night or Three, Steelpan will still take center stage
 

Antigua & Barbuda, WI - Hardly a country in the world can say that it has not been impacted in some way by the severe downturn in the economy within the last twelve months. With several businesses reeling from the effects of this still-ongoing circumstance, business associates and financial supporters of even acclaimed and fairly entrenched events - have had to trim their budgets, and the events in turn have felt the body blow delivered as a result.  One example is Antigua and Barbuda's highly anticipated Annual Moods of Pan (MOP).

This year, Sunday November 29 is the only night to catch the eleventh annual Moods of Pan - MOP 2009.  One night, or the customary three - expect event organizers Gemonites Steel Orchestra to pull out all the stops to showcase a fabulous night of music in Antigua and Barbuda - especially with just one evening to pack it all in!.
click for more

Thirty-four exposed
to steel band arrangement
 

Guyana, South America - The Republic Bank Steel Band Arrangers Workshop concluded with a small closing ceremony yesterday where participants received certificates and special prizes.

A total of 34 persons took part in the workshop which was part of Republic Bank’s Power to Make a Difference outreach for steel pan development and aims to offer participants the power to learn and succeed.

The workshop, which offered participants the opportunity to learn the skill in arranging steel band music, was aimed at the development of the steel band in the country and it is expected that this will be reflected in upcoming competitions.

The workshop, a collaboration between the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and Republic Bank Guyana Limited was launched on November 16 and members of schools, churches, the joint services and private bands were exposed to practical training.

The one-week session was facilitated by renowned composer, arranger and steel drum performer Ray Holman of Trinidad and Tobago.
click for more

Web 2.0 in Full Effect
Technology Raises Stakes for Steelband Enterprises
 

New York, USA - Again When Steel Talks found itself at two technology expos. This time we were in New York in the Jacob Javits Center for the Web 2.0 Expo and the Interop Expo. As we have said before, technology impacts on every aspect of our lives whether you choose to participate or not. Anything you do not know, you will pay for - dearly. So, in this regard, When Steel Talks (WST) simply has no intention of letting the folks on the WST network fall off the wagon, bring up the rear or join the “not ready for prime time players steel orchestra.”

....With lots of products and information - there were a few that stood out for WST, as having potential for the steelpan music industry and franchises. These were products that we believe will increase your productivity - enhance your creativity, and/or are capable of protecting your genius. In addition, and most importantly they can increase your earning power and marketability.
click for more

Voices and Steel concert-bound
in St. Vincent & The Grenadines
 

St. Vincent & The Grenadines, WI. - CELEBRATE! with Starlift and friends is a concert that brings together the steel pans of St. Vincent’s 42-year old Starlift Steel Orchestra and the harmonies of the mixed New Kingstown Chorale and the all-female choir Cantemus.

It is the first of its kind (concert) in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and is scheduled for December 18, at the renowned Arnos Vale Playing Field.

Starlift Steel Orchestra is under the direction of the otherwise Canada-based Vernon Coombs, who has taken time out (three months) to ensure that Starlift is ‘well oiled’ for the grand occasion.
click for more

PCS Nitrogen cements sponsorship of Silver Stars
 

Trinidad & Tobago, WI - Ian Welch, Managing Director of PCS Nitrogen Trinidad and Edwin Pouchet, leader of Silver Stars Steel Orchestra, unveiled a new logo for the band on Saturday night, cementing their sponsorship arrangement.

This was done during the official launch of the band’s new identity as PCS Nitrogen Trinidad Silver Stars Steel Orchestra on Saturday night at the pan yard on Tragarete Road.

Newly elected Pan Trinbago President Keith Diaz, who spoke at the function, recalled that Trinidad and Tobago’s first Prime Minister Dr. Eric Williams had embarked on a massive drive for sponsorship of steel bands and he congratulated the band on attaining their new sponsor.
click for more

No G-pans for champion band
 

Trinidad & Tobago, WI. - Reigning National Panorama champion Silver Stars Steel Orchestra has been left out of Government’s award of Genesis-Pans (G-Pans) to top five conventional steel orchestras, but TCL Group Skiffle Bunch, which did not secure a place in this year’s competition, is in receipt of the instrument, the Guardian has learnt. Junia Regrello, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, confirmed last week that his band, Skiffle Bunch, had the G-Pan. He said the band already has one G-bass, but his pannists are overwhelmed over the band’s acquisition of two G-bass and two double-seconds. Panadigm Innovations Ltd and the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs presented instruments to Witco Desperadoes, BP Renegades, Neal and Massy Trinidad All Stars, Petrotrin Phase II Pan Groove and Sagicor Exodus, as part of a Beta Test Programme at the Calypso Room, Crowne Plaza Hotel, located on Wrightson Road in Port-of-Spain, on Tuesday. Participating bands will work with Panadigm Innovations and report on the integration of G-Pans into the traditional family of instruments under their respective banners.
click for more

Jonathan Scales is A Bad Man:
This Cat can play the steelpan
 

New York, USA - First off: Jonathan Scales is a bad man. He traveled for 12 hours from South Carolina to drop his brand of Jazz/rock/fusion in New York at “The Shrine” in Harlem for a six o’clock performance. If you are going to perform musically in the stomping grounds of Max, Bird, Dizzy, Miles and Gillespie among others you have got to bring it.

Scales’ eclectic performance was thrilling. This was the first time When Steel Talks had caught a live performance of Mr. Scales and his company of serious musicians known collectively as the Jonathan Scales Fourchestra. We were not disappointed. This cat can play, and his band can perform. Scales has the control and touch of a Robert Greenidge but the controlled, edgy abandonment and creativity of a Len “Boogsie” Sharpe. If everyone else is performing Algebra - Jonathan Scales is performing complex math, Calculus - partial differential equations. We are not talking space cadet stuff.  We are talking about a Thelonious Monk-like attitude with a Mozart creativity that works.
click for more

Champion Steelband Arranger Yohan Popwell in the Spotlight
 

New York, USA - He is the arranger for one of the top steel orchestras in America, Sonatas. And in 2009 he made a clean sweep by capturing championship titles in steelband music Panoramas in both Trinidad and Tobago - the home of pan - and in New York.

His name is Yohan Popwell and as quietly as it has been kept, he is one of the most successful steelband panorama arrangers around on the world scene.  In a relatively short time Popwell has amassed a very impressive record from his work in both his native Trinidad and Tobago and New York.
click for more

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows Rock The Albert Hall
 

Leeds, United Kingdom - On Monday 9th November 2009, Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows played to an audience of over 3000 at the National Schools Prom in the Albert Hall.

Band leaders Victoria, Natalie, Joe and Bex could be found at Leeds City station last Monday, taking the early morning train to London, accompanied by the 23 strong Silver Sparrows. This journey actually started 4 years ago, the first time the group made the finals of the National Festival of Music for Youth. After four years of knocking on the door, they finally won the NUT 'Traditional and International World Music Award' for 2009. This made them not just the top youth steel band in the country but one of the two top youth world music ensembles. As if this wasn't enough, they were then asked to play at the Royal Albert Hall for the UK Schools' Prom.

Howard Goodhall and Margarita Taylor were the evening's presenters and were particularly impressed by the ethnic and social diversity of the band as well as the high musical standard. The band played three tunes starting with 10cc's Not in Love, Andre Tanker's Is Heat and Sherwayne Winchester's Dead or Alive, at which point six soprano pan players clipped their pans onto their harnesses and danced into the audience!
click for more

Parang & Steel with Silver Stars set
for another fabulous season run
 

Trinidad & Tobago, WI -  Fans and supporters of Silver Stars Steel Orchestra, and steelpan and parang lovers in general - are anxiously awaiting the start of Parang & Steel XIX.

The annual affair kicks off on Saturday November 21^st at the orchestra’s panyard at #56 Tragarete Road, Newtown, in Trinidad. On that evening gates open at 8:00 p.m. From the following weekend - November 28^th - everyone is welcome beginning 7:30 p.m.

Parang & Steel XIX, which runs for 5 consecutive Saturdays until December 19^th, has always been an absolute delight to all its patrons over the years.
click for more

Performers take center stage in Southern Marines Steelband Foundation’s
9^th Annual Talent Expression
Grand Final
 

Trinidad & Tobago, WI - ....On Saturday 14 November the twelve finalists in Southern Marines Steelband Foundation’s Talent Expression 2009 drew for the order in which they appear on final night.

The programme opens with accomplished vocalist Bernard Brereton, leader of the Princes Town posse and an artiste who is familiar to Talent Expression audiences. Rookie teenager Kisi Semper follows Bernard, singing her own calypso; in position number three is the canny kaiso veteran James “Durango” Samuel.

The only panist to make the final, Opal Murrel, performs next. Opal, a technically excellent musician, played conservatively in the semi finals and did just enough to qualify for the final. The general feeling is that if Opal goes for broke on Saturday and lets it all ‘hang out,’ she is quite capable of becoming the fourth panist to take the big prize in the event’s now nine-year history.
click for more

Steel drum band receives help from city
 

New York, USA - The Dunkirk Marauder Steel Drum Band is $500 closer to its goal of raising some $4,500 for a concert tour of New York City after 74-2009 passed. The group is scheduled to perform at the Lincoln Center and at the Statue of Liberty and according to their letter requesting funding help, "We promise to represent Dunkirk proudly as young ambassadors and perform our very best."

The city is providing the funding through the Bill Cease Fund it administers. City Treasurer Mark Woods said the money would come from interest earned in the fund
click for full article

Steel Drums bring brief taste of islands to Boswell
Sandpoint High School band performs variety for Terry Jones’ World Music class
 

Idaho, USA - Caribbean sounds and rhythm from the Sandpoint High School Steel Drum Band warmed up Terry Jones' World Music class Friday.

Directed by Aaron Gordon, the band, in its second year, performed earlier that day for the Idaho School Board at the Coeur d'Alene Resort and agreed to perform for Jones' class. Many music students and several children from the daycare attended.

Why steel drums?

"They're exotic, they're neat, they're a novelty," Gordon said. "I think in North Idaho that's important."
click for more

Greenwich native Vicky Linville beats the steel drums with the Blue Flames
 

Connecticut, USA - Greenwich native Vicky Linville is a woman of many interests. She has raised a family, become a consummate fly fisherman and is an avid gardener of exotic plants. But the list doesn't end there. Linville, along with her husband and two friends, also plays the steel drums - for charity. To learn more about her unusual musical enterprise, the Citizen caught up with Vicky and her steel drummers while they were rehearsing in her Rowayton home.

How did you come to play steel drums?

We were on a bicycle trip in Maine in 1993 with four other couples. We heard music coming from the basement of a remote municipal building near a church in Brooksville and we tromped in to investigate, wearing our biking gear. The band was Carl Chase's Atlantic Clarion Steel Band and they were fabulous. Chase, (a cousin of one of our biking group) had learned to play, tune and make steel drums in Trinidad and had brought this knowledge back to Maine, where he started many school and community steel drum bands. Most people don't know that on account of Carl Chase, the state of Maine is now a real "steel drum hotbed" second only to Trinidad!
click for more

Top steelbands take ‘G’ pan test
 

Trinidad & Tobago, WI - Five top steel orchestras have been selected to test the usability of the ‘G’ pan.

The steel bands chosen to test the ‘G’ pan are Desperadoes, Exodus, All Stars, Renegades and Phase 2.

Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Culture Junia Regrello speaking at the beta testing distribution exercise at the Crowne Plaza, Port-of-Spain, last Tuesday, said although the innovation was still a work in progress, there was not adequate exposure.

“This is a worthy gesture which should bring satisfaction to both pannists and the team of researchers responsible for the development of the ‘G’ pans.

“Although the innovation is still a work in progress, the researchers are of the opinion that sufficient advance has been made for the pan to be popularised,” he said.
click for more

UA Steel Bands: “Traditional to Contemporary -The Sound of Steel”
 

Arizona, USA - The University of Arizona Steel Bands, in continuing with their 23 year long tradition, will offer its fall concert, “UA Steel: Traditional to Contemporary-The Sound of Steel.” The concert begins at 7:30 on Sunday, November 29 in Crowder Hall.

The university’s two steel drum bands, UA Steel and Blue Steel will be featured. Programming for the night will feature new takes on traditional Caribbean songs, such as “Mary Ann” and “Soca Party,” as well as contemporary arrangements composed by popular jazz artists and steel drum arrangers, Andy Narrell and Boogsie Sharpe. In addition, UA faculty artist Moisés Paiewonsky, trombone, will perform alongside the students of the UA Steel Bands.

....The UA Steel program is comprised of two bands, members of which are students of the University of Arizona. Blue Steel, is the program’s “Apprentice Band.”   UA Steel, is the program’s premier steel drum band. The UA Steel program is student run and is entirely funded through its concerts and outside performances. All funds go towards instrument tuning, repair, and replacements.
click for more

New York Steelband Leadership not Ready for Prime Time
Did you even read your contract?
 

New York, USA - It has been 48 hours since the Friday the 13th Steelband Massacre when the NYC pan community was body slammed and kicked in the ass. They lost their lollypop and all their panorama prize money - thousands of dollars worth, that is. Quite frankly, no one has come forward with a logical reason why they, the NYC pan community, should not have been taken advantage of. Why not, because WIADCA (the West Indian American Day Carnival Association) are upstanding citizens and protectors of the arts and culture? If you believe that, we got a bridge to sell you.
click for more

New York Steelband Organizations Sandbagged!
Panorama Promoters say - No money for you!
 

New York, USA - In a move that only a Bernard “Bernie” Madoff, Al Capone, or recently convicted felon, former New York police commissioner Bernard “Bernie” Kerik and /or the other Wall Street notorious corporate thugs, would have the audacity to pull-off in broad daylight - New York steelband panorama 2009 participants were told they would not be getting paid some two and a half months after they performed at a jammed-packed event. The event, held by WIADCA (West Indian America Day Carnival Association), had thousands of attendees paying premium dollars. Annually, the NYC panorama is the biggest event draw during the Labor Day Carnival festivities held behind the Brooklyn Museum.

NYC’s steelband music organizations have long held the steadfast belief that WIADCA was robbing them deaf, dumb and blind over the decades; however this latest slap has added a new chapter to strange and economically abusive relations between the NYC steelpan musicians and the event promoters WIADCA.
click for more

Moods of Pan – One night only
 

Antigua & Barbuda, WI - I can’t help but think of the One Night Only song from the motion picture Dream Girls. But folks, that’s all you’ll be getting this season.

On Sunday, 29 Nov., the WIOC Gemonites Moods of Pan will host a one-night festival. Usually a three-night event, financial constraints and lack of funding has forced the committee members to almost cancel the annual event.

Last year, the festival marked its 10th anniversary with the introduction of a new competition. Even though patrons and participants, especially the younger ones looked forward to the 5-Alive evening, where bands of five members would render their arrangements, the committee added the 25-Aside. The new competition gave community bands another avenue to compete outside of the annual Panorama competition held during Carnival week.

Sadly, with outstanding bills and sponsors not being as forthcoming, executive member of the committee Joseph Henry noted that they were planning on cancelling this year’s festival altogether. "That was the original plan ... take a break this year to settle accounts, and regroup next year."
click for more

Rhythm Café Steel Drums: A Community Celebration
 

Washington DC - Rhythm Café Steel Drums: A Community Celebration will be taking place on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

The feature presenter, Dr. Kim Johnson, is a leading researcher on steel band history, that will offer an illustrated discussion on origins and the early development of pan, the orchestration of pan, and the instrument’s place in the community. A musical demonstration by recording artist Lennard Jack will accompany the talk.
click for more

One year later - Antiguan & Barbudan Cultural and Steelpan Icon Leroy “Jughead” Gordon remembered
 

Antigua & Barbuda, WI - One year ago November 13, Antigua and Barbuda national cultural icon and Harmonites pan player Leroy “Jughead” Gordon made his transition and passed on. And exactly two weeks later on November 27, a defiantly beautiful and sunny afternoon served as the backdrop for the home-going service and celebration of his life. And before the actual church service at St. John’s Cathedral in the country’s capital of the same name, Harmonites International Steel Orchestra - whose very “blood” coursed through the veins of Gordon - accompanied his casket (riding in a pan rack sporting three pans atop front, and tastefully draped with the colors of Antigua & Barbuda's national flag) on its journey via Long Street to the cathedral, joyously and unceasingly stirring up emotions with their heartfelt delivery of the Beatles classic, Yesterday. Several players with obviously reddened eyes gave it their all, in honor of “Jughead.”
click for more

Ace steelpan musician Orisha John performs with New York City Opera Orchestra at Lincoln Center
 

New York, USA - Yesterday was an added triple treat - WST (When Steel Talks) not only got to check out the newly renovated New York State Theater (David H. Koch Theater) at Lincoln Center but we also got to see one of our own favorite daughters of pan, Orisha John, perform in the New York City Opera Orchestra as part of the Fall 2009 program “Opera is Instrumental.”

However, on this day Ms. John, would perform as a 1^st violinist for the Opera orchestra.  And yes, for those who are unaware, Orisha is an accomplished violinist in addition to her known deft skills on the family of steelpan instruments. Orisha is an alumni of the prestigious Juilliard School and a player for both panorama champion Sonatas Steel Orchestra, as well as Pantonic Steel Orchestra.
click for more

Open Letter to Keith Diaz, Pan Trinbago’s new President
 

Global - Mr. Diaz, congratulations to you as Pan Trinbago new president and your administration that were duly elected on October 25, 2009. I want to thank all the steelbands and their representatives who participated in this historical change for Pan Trinbago. I extend to you and your administration my best wishes and swish you success in your tenure for 2009-2012. I also want to wish former president Mr. Patrick Arnold all the best and thank him for his services to the steelband movement over the years. I hope that he continues to contribute to Pan Trinbago and the steelband movement. This vote demonstrates how far steelbands have come when they can change leaderships in a democratic method. Now, comes the hard part for you and the steelbands.
click for more

Invaders take Clash of Steel title
 

Trinidad & Tobago, WI - Caribbean Airlines Invaders were winners of The Queen’s Park Cricket Club’s (QPCC) “Clash of Steel IV” competition at the QPCC Car Park on Saturday night.

The band’s repertoire included “Steel Band Clash”, “A Little Bit of Love” and “Conga”, followed by “Hallelujah Chorus” conducted by Dr. Jeannine Remy, which really woke up the crowd. They kept the tempo going with “Black Cake and Sorrel”, a medley of “Tell Me Why” and “Feeling It”, then ended with “Say Say”.

With this performance, Invaders earned 268 points to take the title and the $7,500 first prize.

Placing second with 267 points was reigning national Panorama Champions, Silver Stars. They started their concert-style performance with the Warner Brothers Studios theme song, followed by “How Many More Must Die”, “Amazing Grace”, “I’m Alive” and “I’ll Survive” before unleashing “The Phantom of the Opera”. Their next selection saw Antonio St Vincent dancing Michael Jackson style to “Bad”, then it was time for “Black Man Feeling To Party” before the band closed with “Love’s Theme”. For their effort they received $5,000.
click for more

Steel Pans, Masqueraders,
contestants and clowns -
Carnival cometh
 

St. Kitts-Nevis, WI - Historic Independence Square boomed with the sounds and annoyances of fireworks on Saturday October 31^st, those too, soon dwindled inconsequentially when center stage took the focus of the attention and senses at the launch of the 2009/10 St. Kitts-Nevis Carnival.

An assortment of activities kept the evening buoyant, starting with the highly competitive Steel Pan Competition among Sandy Point, Verchilds, Cayon musical communities and the SKNSO (St. Kitts and Nevis Steel Orchestra).

The competitors were required to play, with specified consideration to arrangement, tone and skills. The song of Maestro Ellie Matt’s, “Kittitian Jamboree” was the control piece. Cayon, ultimately, became the clear unchallenged winner followed by Sandy Point and SKNSO placing 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.
click for more

Blue Flames heat up
the Darien Arts Center
 

Connecticut, USA - The Blue Flames Steel Band will be performing for the benefit of the Darien Arts Center’s Cabaret Theatre for one-night only on Saturday, November 21, at 8 p.m., in the DAC Weatherstone Studio.

....They regularly perform at The New England Steel Pan Festival, held every other May – as well as a variety of venues in Vermont. Recently, they performed in gigs from Sun Valley, Idaho to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, close to where steel drum music began more than 50 years ago. In 1996, they played at The Summer Olympic Games. And in 2005, performed in Indiana – where Mikhail Gorbachev was in the audience.
click for more

Carnival bus death driver jailed
 

London, England - An exhausted minibus driver who killed two young women and left three pedestrians seriously injured after she nodded off at the wheel was jailed for five years today.

Collete Wilson, 32, of Brixton, was driving her steel band back from last year's Notting Hill Carnival when she lost control of the hired van and hit five people on the pavement.

....The pregnant mother-of-one, who was a steel pan player and treasurer for the Southside Harmonics with a previously clean driving record, sobbed as she was sentenced. Judge Lindsay Burn said: “I have to say the sentence the law allows this court to pass cannot begin to compensate the victims and their families for their suffering or their loss.”
click for more

Steelband icon
helps Miami panside
 

Trinidad & Tobago, WI - Lennox “Bobby” Mohammed, leader/arranger of Guinness Cavaliers, San Fernando’s champion steel orchestra from the 1960s to early ‘70s, is “most happy to have returned last week from a holiday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.” He spent six weeks with wife Myrtle at the home of steelband historian Ian Franklin, his wife Joan and daughter Iyana.

“What an exciting trip it was,” says Bobby.

He got involved with the Lauderhill Steel Ensemble in Miami’s Panorama competition. “This young steelband comprising mixed players entered the Panorama for the first time, but produced a good sound despite being inexperienced. I could not arrange much for them. They came through OK,” Bobby revealed.
click for more

Panorama back in the savannah
 

Trinidad & Tobago, WI - Sweeping changes are in store for next year’s National Panorama steelband competition. Foremost among them will be the ending of preliminary judging in the panyards and a return of all Panorama shows to the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain - this, as new Pan Trinbago president, Keith Diaz and his Central Executive are currently working on the logistics for the change.

A ’New Format for Panorama’ was one of Diaz’s campaign promises in his successful bid for the presidency that brought to an end the 12-year run of Patrick Arnold.

In an interview at the Northern Region of Pan Trinbago’s office on Tuesday evening, Diaz told the Express, ‘We are working on the new format feverishly, we already had four meetings and while I don’t want to pre-empt anything, I can tell you, Panorama will be in the savannah.’
click for more

Making music happen
Stillwater Foundation helps youths,
adults discover musical sides
 

Colorado, USA - ....A nonprofit organization established in 2005, the Stillwater Foundation, filled a niche that had been missing in our area’s music scene by providing year-round after-school and evening music programs for youth and adults. The foundation is novel in its concept – it offers opportunities for budding musicians of all ages to come together to study, play and perform jazz, rock, blues, funk and world music. The program even includes a steel drum ensemble.

The foundation’s music director, Steve Dejka, a percussionist and music educator who founded the steel drum band at the Excel Charter School, brought his love of steel drums and all things percussive with him to Stillwater’s dynamic music program. Dejka and Jesse Ogle, a professional jazz musician who recently moved here from Oregon, offer a comprehensive musical experience to their students, young and old alike.
click for more

Happy Birthday, Clive Bradley
When Giants Salute and Titans Bow
 

Global - The late master musician and steelband music arranger Clive Bradley would have been seventy-three years old today had he lived to see 2009.  Though he passed away in 2005, the steelpan music community and musicians throughout the world still mourn his absence, especially in the arranging arena.  When he passed, several peers and admirers paid homage to him, speaking to When Steel Talks personally and sharing their feelings about and experiences with master Clive Bradley - from the likes of Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, Robert Greenidge, Dr. Jit Samaroo, and many more.
click for quotes

Happy Belated Birthday
to Len “Boogsie” Sharpe
 

Global - Antigua’s Halcyon Steel Orchestra, Prime Minister the Honourable Winston Baldwin Spencer MP and the entire Halcyon family, extended belated birthday greetings to the legendary Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, who celebrated his birthday on October 28.  The legendary leader of world-renowned Phase II Pan Groove in Trinidad - Boogsie has also been associated with Halcyon Steel Orchestra in Antigua for more than 30 years.
click to add greetings for Boogsie

Roy Geddes:
Guyana’s original Steel Pan Man
 

Guyana, South America - Roy Geddes lives, breathes, and adores the steel pan more than any other. His talent is second to none, his passion is beautifully raw, and his dedication is, in a word, remarkable.  Oh, and did I mention this man’s got style?

Decked out in burgundy plaid trousers, a red striped T-shirt and beige flat cap perched atop a bed of white hair for our in terview, this is a man who remains true to his roots and is determined to continue his love affair with the pan - he even has a gold pan pendant slung around his neck, glittering in the sunlight.

His evolvement into one Guyana’s leading pan players has been an eventful one, beginning in 1953 at the age of 13. “ Coming from a single- parent family and being the eldest of five, I had to leave school at 13,” says the now 70- year- old Roy. He soon took up a job as a tradesman; however the glorious sound of the steel pan soon started floating his way. “ I was living on Lombard Street at the time where I was bombarded with steel pan music and that’s what inspired me to get involved.
click for more
or: click for full PDF version

Pan will make more $ than oil
says Pan Trinbago president Keith Diaz
 

Trinidad & Tobago, WI - Newly-elected Pan Trinbago president Keith Diaz remembers getting licks from his grandfather for ’associating with bad boys’ when he first started beating pan with San Juan All Stars as a young boy. Now that he is charge of that pan fraternity, Diaz has a wide range of ideas on what he wants to achieve.

“....Trinidad still has the sweetest and the cheapest pans in the world. The price of a tenor pan in England or America - a tenor pan costs about US$3,000. But in Trinidad, it costs between TT$5,000 and $6,000. So we want to do business with the world. The company has its own board. It’s a separate entity. The second thing is, Pan Trinbago must join the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association. I once said, about 20 years ago, that pan will make more money than oil for this country. You have Latin America. You have Canada. You have Japan. You have China. Right now we know the biggest investment is going on in China. I have to take note of that. To do business, we have to look world-wide. ”
click for more