When Steel Talks

Schedule of Panorama and Carnival
 Events 2015 -
Trinidad and Tobago

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Web Posted - Sunday August 31, 2014
When Steel Talks

New York, USA  - D’Radoes Steel Orchestra led by the affable Junior “Mann” Samuel, taught its other ten fellow competitors a musical lesson and in so doing delivered a “Spankin’,” the effects of which will be felt for a full twelve months - that is, until the 2015 New York Panorama.

D’Radoes became New York Panorama champions for the first time in the band’s twelve-year history.....After three consecutive years (2011, 2012, 2013) in third place, the fourth time was the charm for the collaboration between Trinidad & Tobago-based arranger Terrance “BJ” Marcelle and D’Radoes Steel Orchestra. Super Blue’s ‘Spankin’ - A Tribute’ was their tune of choice this year. The word on the ground and on the lips of pan lovers around town was that D’Radoes would be the band to beat; many were pretty sure of this from checking out the steel orchestra in the two final weeks before the competition.
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Web Posted - Sunday August 31, 2014
When Steel Talks

Results - 2014 New York Panorama

New York, USA - Full results for the 2014 New York Panorama which took place at the back of the Brooklyn Museum on Saturday August 30 are here.  Eleven steel orchestras participated including Pan Fantasy hailing from Canada.  D’Radoes Steel Orchestra were judged Panorama champs, while ADLIB and CASYM steel orchestras tied for second place.
click for full results & breakdown

Web Posted - Friday August 29, 2014
When Steel Talks

New York, USA  - USSA (United States Steelband Association) President Martin Douglas informed When Steel Talks on Thursday August 28, that current WIADCA (West Indian American Day Carnival Association) President William R. Howard, has been counseled by “lifers” (that is, people who have occupied—and still remain in same—key positions in WIADCA for decades) - to not issue Press Passes for When Steel Talks to cover this year’s New York Panorama, which comes off on the evening of Saturday August 30 on the grounds of the Brooklyn Museum. WIADCA are sole producers and organizers of the event.

This decision came, William Howard stated to Mr. Douglas, because he was told of articles WIADCA deemed negative toward their organization - relative to a specifically-named individual, a former key New York criminal justice official— interestingly enough that When Steel Talks has in fact never written about.
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Web Posted - Thursday August 28, 2014
The New York Times

New York, USA - Their racks of steel-pan drums strung together, the musicians of the Despers USA band trudged alongside as the entire operation — drum racks, stage, cooking tent, portable toilet — rolled down Washington Avenue in Brooklyn last weekend. They were under tremendous pressure, but there was no way to rush to their new home with that teetering cargo.

“It took us over an hour,” said Odie Franklin, an arranger for the band, and the dean of a public high school for 10 months of the year. “We were blocking traffic.”

Last week, days before New York’s championship competition for steel-pan bands, Despers USA lost the rental deal on the yard it had been using for rehearsals, a patch of vacant ground next door to a flat-fix storefront on Classon Avenue, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. So they relocated a mile away, in a space on the corner of Franklin Avenue and Montgomery Street.
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Web Posted - Tuesday August 26, 2014
When Steel Talks

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I.  - birdsong Academy wishes to invite new students primary and secondary schools to register for its After School Music Programme (ASMP), for the 2014/15 school year. The birdsong Academy is birdsong’s vehicle for youth music education. The After School Music Programme provides free instruction to youths, from the beginner level onward, in music theory and techniques of playing steelpan and orchestral instruments including brass, woodwinds, percussion, voice, guitar and bass, both upright and electric.

Registration for the new term is open to students aged 10-14 yrs. Interested students and their parents or guardians are asked to be at the pan theatre, corner Connell and St Vincent Streets, Tunapuna, Trinidad in September.
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Web Posted - Monday August 25, 2014
When Steel Talks

United Kingdom - Well, it’s getting to be a habit with Leroy Clarke and Real Steel, and a delightful one at that - a habit which they are surely in no hurry to break at all! The habit? Becoming UK Panorama champions, of course. The Real Steel music franchise made it three titles in a row on the evening of Saturday August 23, in London’s premiere annual music competition in which Real Steel went head-to-head with five challengers to their throne. And for yet another year, Real Steel was crowned the “Champion of Steel,” the official moniker of Panorama champs in the UK.
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Web Posted - Friday August 22, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Desperadoes - Rudolph Charles Era and Beyond, 50 Years of Panorama, Winners of Various Pan Competitions - 1952 to Present, 400 Questions & Answers On Pan - 1960 to Present... Four publications by Ian R. Franklin that are simply a necessary part of the reading material and library of any serious steelpan music enthusiast/organization who/which wants to get a grip on the how, who, why and when of Trinidad and Tobago steelband culture and history by the numbers. 
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Web Posted - Friday August 22, 2014
When Steel Talks

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I.  - birdsong joins the rest of the steelband movement and other community-based organizations in recognizing the life work of Ainsley Mark who passed away on Wednesday August 20, 2014. Ainsley was a tower of strength in our community who was able to contribute to the success of the hundreds of students whom he taught at the University of the West Indies, the host of business ventures that he advised and the long list of community-based organizations like ours to which he provided quiet, consistent support.

birdsong is proud and grateful to be counted among the wide range of beneficiaries of his professional advice which he so willingly put at the disposal of our organization from its inception in 1973. 
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Web Posted - Thursday August 21, 2014
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - Performing in 20 major cities in 21 days. That is the hectic schedule for the upcoming tour of Japan by reigning World Steelband Music Festival and four-time National Panorama champion—Republic Bank Exodus Steel Orchestra.

“We have done this before but it is a really huge undertaking,” conceded Exodus manager Ainsworth Mohammed, referring to previous tours to Japan on which the orchestra played in as many as 35 cities doing consecutive confirmed full-length concerts at a variety of venues.

Travel inside Japan will involve movement of players and instruments over thousands of kilometres, from Osaka in the south to Sapporo in the Hokkaido prefecture (in the Sea of Okhotsk); offering access to pan music to a broad cross-section of the country’s 127 million inhabitants.
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Web Posted - Wednesday August 20, 2014
When Steel Talks

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I.  - The pan culture lost one of its most passionate boosters  with the passing in Trinidad Tuesday afternoon, August 19, of Ainsley Mark, head of the QRC Foundation which for two decades has annually presented the Trinidad and Tobago Pan Jazz Festival.  Mr. Mark died after having been reported ailing in recent months.

A longtime lover of pan music, Mr. Mark’s interest in the art form was at times manifested in his personal association with steel band groups in a manager/mentor type role. But his most lasting and significant involvement was undoubtedly in the Pan Jazz Festival which the QRC Foundation used as a fund-raising vehicle for famed Queen’s Royal College in Port of Spain. His enthusiastic championing of pan was the impetus for the festival, and he was personally involved in its planning and execution.
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Web Posted - Wednesday August 20, 2014
When Steel Talks

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I.  - Sixty-six individuals and steel orchestras will receive awards in thirteen categories when Pan Trinbago Inc. hosts its Annual Prize Distribution & Awards Function. The event, which will be staged for the first time in South Trinidad, is carded for The Naparima Bowl, on Tuesday 26^th August 2014 from 7:30 p.m.

Winners of the National Panorama, Trinidad & Tobago National Steelband Music Festival – Pan Is Beautiful XII (all categories) and recipients of Special Awards will be honored at the function. 
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Web Posted - Tuesday August 19, 2014
When Steel Talks

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I.  - Pan Trinbago’s President Keith Diaz has accepted invitations to visit London and Brisbane, Australia.

The first invitation issued by the British Association of Steelbands (BAS) from 16^th to 28^th August 2014 coincides with the Notting Hill Carnival celebrations inclusive of the BAS pre-Carnival Blockorama, Calypso Tent, the UK National Panorama and J’Ouvert Bomb Competition.

....The other is from PANZ, the newly-formed Steelpan Association of Australia and New Zealand.
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Web Posted - Monday August 18, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global  - Increasingly over the last several weeks, When Steel Talks has noticed that several of the national steelband Panoramas in the Caribbean have adopted a practice of announcing the number of “pieces of instruments” in the performing steel orchestras. Exactly what is the importance or ‘accuracy’ of this piece of information? We first saw this curious practice begin a few years ago with school steel orchestras in North America, and then with some steelband gatherings in Europe.

....what could/would be proudly proclaimed when the orchestra is about to play...is that this seventy-five member orchestra is taking the stage with (for example)—and depending on the configuration—“one hundred and ninety-seven ‘pieces’ of instruments.”
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Web Posted - Monday August 18, 2014
Brent & Kilburn Times

Brent, England, U.K. - Brent youngsters showed that they do have talent after taking part in a grand performance showcasing the very best of classical music–all played on steel drums.

Members of the St Michaels and All Angels Steel Band comprising of youths from all over the borough, took part in a musical extravaganza held at the St Michael & All Angels C Of E Church in Hillside, Stonebridge.

Into its fifth year, the annual event is the brainchild of Alfred Totesaut, affectionately known as Freddie by his family and friends, who has a rich musical background- once performing in front of Princess Margaret in Trinidad in the 1960s.

....The band is now gearing up to compete in the Notting Hill Carnival on Sunday (August 24) and Monday (August 25).
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Web Posted - Monday August 18, 2014
When Steel Talks

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - Pan Trinbago continues to celebrate Pan Month with a host of activities. Starting with the discussion, ”Pan, Progress & Patent” on Tuesday 19^th August at the AV Room, NALIS, Abercromby Street, Port of Spain, Trinidad - the seminar will touch on crucial issues pertaining to the steelpan. Speakers are Dr. Everard Byer, Godfrey Joseph and Byron Serrette. The event is open to the public. Duration is 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Next is the ever-growing “Pan on D’Avenue III” hosted by the Woodbrook/St. James Community Association on Saturday 23^rd August from 6:30 p.m. with a cultural presentation at Adam Smith Square.
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Web Posted - Sunday August 17, 2014
When Steel Talks

Brooklyn, New York, USA  - The Carlos Lezama Archives and Caribbean Cultural Center (CLACC-C) will host its 1^st annual PanFest, a junior steel pan competition for some of the borough’s youngest steel band members at the CLACC-C grounds (St. John’s Place).

PanFest is just one component of the CLACC-C Children’s Festival, now in its fourth year. The free annual festival highlights important health and wellness information for children and parents, as well as talent and artistry found in Caribbean culture.
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Web Posted - Sunday August 17, 2014
The Voice

London, England, U.K. - ....Rooted in African traditions such as the Tamboo Bamboo bands, the music of the dented metal drums is said to have begun in Laventille, a poor suburb just outside Trinidad’s capital Port of Spain, where UK pan artist Brent Holder, MBE grew up.

“I didn’t like pan,” the multiple award-winning pan man admits. “I did not choose to play pan, but my grandmother made me do it. I was seven and I didn’t want to be stuck in a pan yard all day, I wanted to be out playing with my friends, but I was going down the wrong road and granny thought it would keep me out of trouble. So it was either pan or ‘licks’.”

The turning point, he adds, was when he was asked to perform at a primary school event. “The crowd and everybody was really welcoming and they really loved what I was doing so I decided to start to give it my all,” he recalls.
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Web Posted - Sunday August 17, 2014
Trinidad Express Newspapers

Laventille, Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - The late veteran calypsonian Garfield Blackman (Ras Shorty I) is renowned for the classic “Watch Out My Children”—a lament against the evils of substance abuse.

Last Friday evening, about 40 children offered a splendid rendition of “Watch Out My Children” at the Witco Desperadoes Vacation Camp Graduation Ceremony 2014, at Desperslie Crescent, Laventille. The event took place at the iconic band’s panyard amphitheatre with “Laventille...Desperadoes To The Bone” etched on the wall.

As darkness cocooned the Laventille hill, the words “Watch Out My Children/sober thinking leads to righteousness” rang out.
As a lagniappe, they recited snippets of Spanish they had learned. Among those sharing in the young people’s milestone were Desperadoes’ manager Dr Finbar Fletcher, arranger/camp director Curtis Edwards and specially invited guests including Keith Renaud of the Office of Law Enforcement Policy, parents and well wishers from the Laventille community.
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Web Posted - Saturday August 16, 2014
When Steel Talks

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - The Woodbrook/St. James Community Association is to have its third annual pan parade on the Avenue entitled ‘Pan on d’Avenue III’ on August 23^rd, 2014. Former Councillor Cleveland Garcia, although not a member of the Association, plays a major role in the organization of this and all other events.

This year the parade starts at De Verteuil Street with bands lining up from Taylor Street. A total of 35 Bands positioned on decorated trailers are set to parade on the Avenue.
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Web Posted - Wednesday August 13, 2014
When Steel Talks

Brooklyn, New York, USA  - Many years from now, the story will be retold about the night with the legendary Neville Jules (and a dancing Mr. Jules at that!)—captain emeritus of the also-legendary Trinidad All Stars—and Pan icons like Hue Loy and Ken "Professor" Philmore who were present too. The spirits of Dodger greats Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider and Roy Campanella dropped down from behind the Supermoon, to Big Tony’s Metro panyard next to Ebbets Field, to hear the Samuel brothers Tristan and Trevonne, Sade, Markus, Eddie, “Foster” Andrea, Darrel, Dashawn, Kadeem, Natasha—and the rest of the Sonatas crew—rock the Ebbets field complex with Pan music in the summer of 2014.

Metro Steel Orchestra’s panyard is less than a stone’s throw away from where the fabled Ebbets Field once proudly stood as the home of the loveable Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers) baseball franchise. Now the great steelband music franchises of Brooklyn have continued the tradition of providing outstanding Summer entertainment and continuously extracting in return, diehard community loyalty for Brooklyn, New York for over the past 40 years - and they are still going strong.
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Web Posted - Monday August 11, 2014
When Steel Talks

St. George’s, Grenada, W.I. - It was double the joy early Sunday morning when defending champs New Dimension Steel Orchestra and challengers Commancheros Steel Orchestra were named joint winners in Grenada’s 2014 National Panorama. With their 2014 titles, New Dimension has now garnered eleven championships, and Commancheros, their fourth - in the Grenada National Panorama competition arena.

....The August 9^th-event reverted to the Tanteen Courts venue for the first time in several years. It was a history-making result in the Grenada Panorama, as it was the first time there was a tie for the title.
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Web Posted - Monday August 11, 2014
Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - Chutney/Soca Music has not been fully exploited on the national instrument, the steelpan, in comparison to Calypso/Soca.

This will change with the celebration of Pan Month in August when the Pan Trinbago South Central Region hosts a competition where chutney/soca music would be showcased by steelbands at the Guaracara Park, Point-a-Pierre, Marabella on August 30.

The event was launched on Friday.

Fourteen top conventional steelbands which were selected from Panorama Edition 2014 results will compete for a total of $500,000 in cash prizes. Speaking at a press conference at Atherly’s Restaurant, Sutton Street, PanTrinbago’s South Cental Regional chairman Michael Joseph said that unlike previous years at this year celebration it was decided to present something different to the nation.
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Web Posted - Monday August 11, 2014
MLive.com

Michigan, USA - The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Flint steel drum band’s performance at the Clio Amphitheater set for today has been rescheduled because of a thunderstorm, the organization said in a statement.

The free concert will instead take place at 7 p.m. on Aug. 18 with Jim Coviak and Friends Caribbean Jazz group.
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Web Posted - Monday August 11, 2014
Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - Pan! Our Music Odyssey, a docudrama about the steelpan, will have its world premiere when it opens the ninth edition of the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) on Tuesday September 16.

The film, several years in the making, was written by Kim Johnson, the foremost pan researcher in TT. Johnson is the author of such books as The Illustrated Story of Pan and If Yuh Iron Good You is King: The Pan Pioneers of Trinidad and Tobago.

....The writer, director and producers will be present to introduce the film.

....Eighty minutes long, Pan! Our Music Odyssey tells the epic story of pan, the only acoustic musical instrument invented in the 20th century.
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Web Posted - Sunday August 10, 2014
Trinidad Express Newspapers

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - Arts and culture are alive within the Laventille community with many cultural groups and organisations actively recruiting youth in the area to participate in cultural activities which they say can ultimately turn youngsters away from a life of crime. Last week we highlighted the Picton Folk Performers, a group of talented singers, dancers and drummers from the area. This week we recognise the contribution of the Laventille Steelband Festival Foundation (LSFF) in changing the negative perceptions surrounding the community.

The LSFF was established in 1999 as a committee under the management of the Laventille Community Complex. It was officially registered as a Foundation in early 2007. Its main objective, according to Chairman Michael Cooper, was to use the steelpan as a tool to uplift the people in the community.

In 1999, the Foundation launched its first annual street parade as a celebration of Emancipation. This street parade has become a staple of Emancipation celebrations each year, drawing thousands of people from all across the country into the troubled area. In a spectacular display of unity, a large crowd parades through the streets in what has been called the largest steelband event outside of Panorama. This year, over 30 bands from Laventille and environs participated in the parade.
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Web Posted - Thursday August 7, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Meet Marc Brooks: Brooklyn native, panist, arranger, educator and performing artist... Creative, inquisitive, thoughtful, gifted and growing - Marc is a natural. He is a ‘sponge’ whose musical horizon is expanding by the moment.

....In this UpClose exclusive When Steel Talks interview, here is Marc’s story in his own words.
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Web Posted - Thursday August 7, 2014
Trinidad & Tobago Guardian

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - Success Stars Pan Sounds Steel Orchestra recently released its new fund-raising CD titled Legacy of Excellence.

The 11-track album, a Pan In Education fund-raising initiative, contains compositions from the pens of the late Andre Tanker, Maestro (Cecil Hume) and Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts), in addition to selections by SuperBlue (Austin Lyons), and others. They include Lament Of A Flower, Something To Celebrate, Payphone, Grenade, Pan In A Minor, Bohemian Rhapsody, Fantastic Friday/Ethel, Savage/Little Wine, Rebecca, Ben Lion, and Pan Night and Day. The arrangers are Sean Lewis, L Salvary, C Codrington and Mickiel Gabriel.
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Web Posted - Tuesday August 5, 2014
When Steel Talks

New York, USA - - Ok. No more kid gloves. It’s August in Brooklyn, New York. Basketball is over, the World Cup is over, it’s too early for football and the Yankees are floundering. The particulars: It is Despers USA’s 2014 band launch and it’s being held at Metro’s panyard in the old R&S Strauss Auto Store’s large parking lot on Empire Boulevard. Present are many of New York’s finest steel orchestras and one from New Jersey at full strength - Higher Levin, Oasis, CrossFire, D’Radoes, Sonatas, Pantonic and the host Despers USA. We’ll take the liberty to put a slight variation on the Mandrill’s classic “Polk Street Carnival” - the vibes were there - the bands were there - everyone was ‘vibing.’  You get the picture. Folks turned out.
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Web Posted - Friday August 1, 2014
When Steel Talks

St. John’s, Antigua & Barbuda, W.I. - With tears of joy flowing down the faces of grown men, Ebonites Steel Orchestra players both young and old gleefully danced on the stage in exhilaration as they celebrated their ‘win’ as the 2014 Antigua & Barbuda Panorama champions. The reason for the tears? The orchestra’s first and sole Panorama championship—up until this night—was back in 1977; thirty-seven years had passed before the band tasted this type of success once more. And they came close last year, snagging the second spot. But 2014 year was Ebonites’ year. The band went with a Claudette “CP” Peters’ track for the second year in a row - All Ah We; Peters also had a cameo on stage as Ebonites performed.
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When Steel Talks

Quick Listen - Tunes for Panorama and Carnival 2014
You Tube Short Takes

When Steel Talks

RESULTS for the Trinidad & Tobago 2014 Panorama
 

Global - Final results and those from the qualifying rounds, of respective categories in competition in the 2014 Trinidad and Tobago Panorama are all in! Get the stats from the preliminaries, semifinals and finals for all the conventional steel orchestras of Trinidad & Tobago which competed in the 2014 Panorama season. 
click for full results

When Steel Talks

Get your headphones - and Just Listen!!

Panorama 2013 Panyard Recordings
by Basement Recordings

New York, USA - For this year 2013, Basement Recordings captured six of Brooklyn’s finest steel orchestras franchises as part of their annual panyard panorama music recording series. All the orchestras operated at very high level this year and were indeed deserving of having their musical performance captured and preserved for the historical, cultural and community archives.

....The steel orchestras recorded this year are Despers USA; Pantonic; CrossFire; D’Radoes; Sonatas and CASYM, the eventual 2013 Panorama champion.
click for more

When Steel Talks

Results - 2013 New York Panorama


 

New York, USA - Full results for the 2013 New York Panorama which took place at the back of the Brooklyn Museum are here.  CASYM Steel Orchestra, celebrating their 30^th anniversary this year, have also added the title of Panorama champions to their list of accomplishments. Pan Sonatas which placed fourth last year moved up two to second place, while D’Radoes  Steel Orchestra placed third for the third year running.  Pan Fantasy from Canada went away with fourth place.
click for full results & breakdown

Web Posted
When Steel Talks

Upcoming

Global  - Upcoming Steelpan music events from all over the world
click to calendar

Web Posted
When Steel Talks - Special

Champion Panorama Tunes of Trinidad and Tobago

Global - A critical component to winning any panorama competition is the song the orchestras choose to use as the basis of their panorama arrangements. Over the years these songs have inspired classic panorama arrangements. When Steel Talks invites you to take a look at and listen to, these famed tunes which have played more than just a cursory part in the history of Pan, and the lives of the players and fans.
click to hear and/or view