When Steel Talks

Schedule of Panorama and Carnival
 Events 2015 -
Trinidad and Tobago

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Web Posted - Friday October 31, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Joanne Foster was the 2013 Calypso Queen of Trinidad and Tobago - a title won singing More Than An Oil Drum. She makes beautiful work once more with this tune for the 2015 season, King Birdie, composed by Don Clarke and Gregory “GB” Ballantyne, as an honour and tribute to The Mighty Sparrow.
listen to tune

Web Posted - Friday October 31, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Respect Yuh Elder is another 2015 composition co-written by Edwin Ayoung; this time Ayoung came together with Duran “Revelation” Manswell giving rise to this witty track. And better known as “Crazy” when wearing his calypsonian hat, Edwin “Crazy” Ayoung does the honors for vocals here.
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Web Posted - Friday October 31, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Roy “Viceroy” McIntyre was born in Silver Mill, San Juan in Trinidad and Tobago. From an early age, he was influenced in major part by such legendary calypsonians like The Mighty Sparrow, Lord Kitchener, Blakie and more.  In fact, it was in 1956, the year in which The Mighty Sparrow won the national Calypso Crown for his rendition of ‘Jean and Dinah’ that McIntyre began composing calypsos.

...In recognition of the victory of a steel orchestra as 2014 Band of The Year in the annual Trinidad & Tobago Carnival competition - McIntyre has composed a tune in honor of that winning band, Trinidad All Stars.  The track is “Tribute To Trinidad All Stars” which he sings under his sobriquet of “Viceroy.”
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Web Posted - Friday October 31, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Pan! Our Music Odyssey brings together in docu-drama form, a fictional account of the birth of the steelpan seventy years ago, with a present day story of how musicians come from all over the world to participate in the annual Panorama competition in Trinidad.
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Web Posted - Thursday October 30, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Roy “Viceroy” McIntyre of Trinidad and Tobago was influenced from an early age by the likes of calypso legends The Mighty Sparrow, Lord Kitchener, Blakie and more.  McIntyre has been composing calypsos for decades, determined to grow in the craft. 

He has also stepped into the role of calypsonian known as “Viceroy,” and for the 2015 Panorama and Carnival season has produced two compositions.  One is ‘Tribute to Trinidad All Stars’ and the other is the one featured here, Sexual Harassment.
listen to tune

Web Posted - Thursday October 30, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - So what’s New and Great at the PDN PhotoPlus Expo 2014 currently on at New York’s Jacob Javits Center - from a Pan Perspective?

....We could go on and on about the latest and greatest products. That would serve our readers no good. Too much can really be too much - leaving you, the reader, overwhelmed. So in this regard we will only focus on two main items or classes of items - illustrated by DJI’s Ronin Handheld Gimbal and Phantom 2 Vision+, but with competing comparable options available for consideration.

....Should every Panyard have a set of the two products outlined? Yes. The minimum standard for what is expected when marketing and promoting your performing goods in the steelband art form has again risen.
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Web Posted - Tuesday October 28, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Angela Khalifa Greenidge vocalizes the 2015 Panorama offering entitled Ah Touch Of Class.  The track is penned by David Goddard, Mervyn Padmore and Terry Kinsale Figuera.

The trio are all former members of different steel orchestras around Trinidad & Tobago. Together they traveled the world playing Trinidad & Tobago’s national instrument. They are now combining their talents to produce beautiful music, such as Ah Touch Of Class. Padmore and Figuera wrote the music, while Goddard was responsible for the lyrics.
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Web Posted - Tuesday October 28, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Twenty-two-year-old Genelle Bharat was born and raised in the wonderful community of Old St. Joseph Road, Laventille, Trinidad. Her desire to perform has instilled in her a love for the steelpan, singing, African drums and other percussive instruments, as well as modeling. She has been playing the steelpan pan for fourteen years and singing for eight.

The song Chords is the first Genelle has ever written.
listen to tune

Web Posted - Wednesday October 23, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Andy Narell’s new album, Oui ma Chérie!, is just the thing to gift the soul of music. Bright and splashy, it delivers a mosaic of ideas and sounds the Italians may well categorize as coloratura.

From the very first cut, Forward Home, arranged by Narell and Raf Robertson, to the sentimental coda, One More Touch, Oui ma Chérie! plays unquestionably as a handsome CD that works on several levels. What’s more, generally unrestrained performances on the pans at least dignify Narell as a savant of not necessarily steel band and jazz, but music self.
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Web Posted - Tuesday October 22, 2014
NBC Connecticut

Connecticut, USA - With cold weather beginning to encroach upon Connecticut, you may begin to dream about staying somewhere a little more tropical. While students at a New Haven high school can’t change the weather, they are hoping to make the journey musically.

A Caribbean orchestra initially established for a Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School in New Haven musical transformed into stand-alone club made up mostly of students who play other instruments. The “Broken Chains Steel Drum Band," as noted in the name, prominently features the Caribbean’s most distinctive musical instrument.

Band Director Patrick Smith thinks the drums are a great way for students to branch out from their regular instruments.
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Web Posted - Tuesday October 21, 2014
When Steel Talks

San Fernando, Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - Fusion Steel from southern Trinidad will treat attendees to a Mini Concert and Double CD Launch at a two-hour event carded for Wednesday 29^th October 2014 from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at the Naparima Bowl in San Fernando. Admission is TT $50.

The self-titled CDs featuring the musicianship of its talented members are aptly called ”Fusion” and “A Christmas Fusion.” The latter is a compilation of parang and soca parang hits.
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Web Posted - Tuesday October 21, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Over the course of approximately a little over two decades, members of WST (When Steel Talks) interacted closely with the late Clive Bradley in various capacities - i.e.., musicians, players, engineers and journalists. The following is one of a series of WST interviews with Clive Bradley that gives further and deeper insight into the man, his life and his music.

Over the course of approximately a little over two decades, members of WST (When Steel Talks) interacted closely with the late Clive Bradley in various capacities - i.e., musicians, players, engineers and journalists. The following is one of a series of WST interviews with Clive Bradley that gives further and deeper insight into the man, his life and his music.
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Web Posted - Thursday October 16, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - The writing and performance of Reynold “Caldera” Caraballo’s tune “Caldera’s Mambo” in 1955 was—at the time—the only calypso performed that was composed by a steelband person - and incidentally also how he came by his name.  Caldera’s Mambo became immensely popular with the steelbands.
see music score for tune

Web Posted - Wednesday October 15, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Mr. Caldera Caraballo is a central figure in the history and development of the steelpan movement in the USA as a panist, organizer and promoter. From winning New York’s first-ever steelband competition to organizing the New York Panorama, get an insight into the impact of Caraballo on Pan in New York.

Go along as he takes you through his wonderful, often colorful and captivating journey with the steelpan instrument, from a youth in Trinidad with the storied Casablanca Steel Orchestra - to successful entrepreneur and promoter of the steelband artform in the United States.
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Web Posted - Monday October 13, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Pan Wall To Wall is a 2015 pan tune co-written by longtime composer Winsford Devine and Edwin Ayoung.  Ayoung himself (pictured) is a veteran and globally-renowned calypsonian best known as “Crazy,” and he provides vocals for this track.
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Web Posted - Sunday October 12, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Phenomenal is a sung by “Benjai” aka Rodney Le Blanc for the 2015 Carnival and Panorama season. In 2011, “Benjai” took the world by storm with his hit Trini, which also became the tune of choice for D’Radoes Steel Orchestra at the annual New York Panorama. The band would place third in the competition with its rendition.
listen to tune

Web Posted - Friday October 10, 2014
Trinidad Express Newspapers

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. -   The proliferation of music stands in steelband performances, signifying widespread sight-reading by pan players, might be mistaken for a faddish overnight sensation on the Trinidad and Tobago pan scene. Yet this detail marks a noteworthy advance that defines just one reason for celebration this month of the tenth anniversary of the Music Literacy Trust.

That initiative, undertaken in 2004 by private- and State-sector businesses, aimed to raise to a new level, the compositions and arrangements for pan which, until then, had been created and communicated to fellow pan players only or mostly by rote.
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Web Posted - Thursday October 9, 2014
Trinidad Express Newspapers

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. -   Intellectual property rights is one of the major issues that is preventing the steelpan from being properly marketed internationally.

Planning Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie said on Wednesday that next year, during the World Steelband Festival expected to be held in Trinidad and Tobago, emphasis will be placed on the national musical instrument.

....Tewarie said: “There is going to be a World Steelband Festival in Trinidad and Tobago next year bringing steelbands from all over the world and maybe taking that next step might be the opportunity to really locate the steelpan psychologically and intellectual property-wise in Trinidad and Tobago and maybe then we can begin to do something serious.”
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Web Posted - Thursday October 9, 2014
Trinidad Express Newspapers

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - Leader and manager of the Codrington Pan Family Cary Codrington breathed a sigh of relief on Monday evening when he received a $250,000 cheque from Pan Trinbago‘s President Keith Diaz.

The cheque represented the first prize for the Pan is Beautiful XII, Steelband Music Festival held in October last year at the Queen’s Park Savannah.

In a very simple and straight forward ceremony held at its offices, Pan Trinbago presented the winners of Pan is Beautiful XII with their long-awaited prize monies.
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Web Posted - Thursday October 9, 2014
Trinidad & Tobago Guardian

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - Belmont Intermediate alumni David Michael Rudder returns to school on October 18 for a grand performance.

One of T&T’s most revered artistes, Rudder will be one of the stellar acts on the cast to grace The Courtyard of Queen’s Royal College, St Clair, for the 2014 edition of Pan Royale.

....Some of the brightest stars in the worlds of pan, soca, Latin jazz and world beat music will align at the staging of this T&T Steelpan and Jazz Festival’s (TTSJF) concert presentation, scheduled to begin at 6 pm.
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Web Posted - Thursday October 9, 2014
Trinidad & Tobago Guardian

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. -  The promoters of the 2014 T&T Steel Pan and Jazz Festival (TTSJF) have recruited an exceptional line-up of facilitators for the 12^th annual First Citizens Workshops for Young Musicians Series, to be held October 13 to 17 at locations across Trinidad.

The workshop series, sponsored since 2003 by First Citizens, will this year introduce instruction in tabla and conga drums with sessions led by Amarnath Maharaj and percussionist Gadwin Vargas from Puerto Rico.

Joining Maharaj and Vargas as facilitators is Trinidad’s Natasha Joseph, steelpan arranger, teacher and drill master for 2014 Panorama champions Phase II Pan Groove.
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Web Posted - Wednesday October 8, 2014
When Steel Talks

Brooklyn, New York - “Whose neighborhood? Our neighborhood!” the protestors shouted. The lines and the arguments are clearly defined. In what has become a significant flashpoint in the push-back against the unwanted gentrification of Brooklyn, community residents protested against CB9 - (Community Board 9) and its resolution outside the Community Board 9 headquarters on Nostrand Avenue.
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Web Posted - Wednesday October 8, 2014
When Steel Talks

Holland - “Who wants to go to Sao Vicente, to play at the carnival parade on 16/17 February 2015? Flights are around €450, (depending on departure point); [and you are] staying there for free. There is not very much time to organize, so respond as soon as possible.

“Cabo Verde celebrates carnival every year in a Brazilian way, with influences from Africa. The group of islands is situated off the west coast of Senegal, Africa. Every year the carnival is celebrated with loads of colors and dancing. It starts in January and ends on the weekend 15/16 and 17 Feb.
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Web Posted - Tuesday October 7, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - For the 2015 Panorama season Dunstan “Carwash” Lawrence has returned to the music scene with Fire and Smoke.  As in previous years, Lawrence both writes and performs his material, and has on board ace musician Pelham Goddard as producer.
listen to tune

Web Posted - Monday October 6, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Hot Up Dey Head is a 2015 pan tune  written by longtime calypso composer George La Barrie; he has been at it since 1975.  Award-winning veteran vocalist Anslem Douglas (pictured) is the singer of choice for this track.
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Web Posted - Monday October 6, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Friendship is the 2015 pan tune  composition of “Trinirollo” (also known as Roland Barnes) for the Trinidad and Tobago panorama competition. He also vocalizes the track.
listen to tune

Web Posted - Sunday October 5, 2014
When Steel Talks

Brooklyn, New York - In an unprecedented address to members of the New York steelpan community, Mr. William R. Howard (more familiarly known as Mr. Bill Howard), president of WIADCA (West Indian American Day Carnival Association) - expressed regret over his role in the interruption of the documentation of the annual New York Panorama by When Steel Talks (WST) in 2014. Moreover, Mr. Howard invited the gathering of New York pan people to hold him “personally accountable” going forward. Now in his first year as president of the carnival organization, Howard admitted that errors have been made - but vowed that these errors would not be repeated in the future. He also maintained that the lines of communication between himself and the New York pan community would remain open, and that he was accessible to them.
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Web Posted - Saturday October 4, 2014
Trinidad & Tobago Guardian

Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. -  Golden Hands, a group of young vibrant steelpan musicians based in San Fernando, is celebrating its 21^st anniversary with the staging of I Am Pan: The National Steelpan Pageant, at the Sundarlal Bohora Theatre of the Southern Academy for The Performing Arts, on October 5, from 7.30 pm. The event, an initiative of the young executive members of Golden Hands, will expose the innate musical talent of 12 steel pan players, aged between 16 to 25, who also have been provided with developmental tools designed to thrust them forward on their route to self-actualisation. The participants are the successful qualifiers from auditions for the Pageant held at the Naparima Girls’ High School on September 6, in which the criteria was based on three components: solo steelpan performance, impromptu improvisation, and an I Am Pan presentation.
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Web Posted - Friday October 3, 2014
When Steel Talks

Song for Panorama 2015
‘Pan Jubilation’
sung by Lloyd “QP” Cupido


 

Global - Pan Jubilation is Lloyd Cupido's 2015 pan tune  composition for the Trinidad and Tobago panorama competition.
listen to tune

Web Posted - Thursday October 2, 2014
When Steel Talks

United Kingdom - This is a pictorial look at the beauty and power of Pan as captured through the lens of photo-journalist Robbie Joseph on the evening of Saturday August 23, in London’s premiere annual music competition “Champion of Steel,” the official moniker of Panorama champs in the UK. The bands participating in this year’s event included eventual winners Real Steel, along with Mangrove, Ebony, Croydon, CSI and Metronomes.
watch pictorial

Web Posted - Thursday October 2, 2014
When Steel Talks

Brooklyn, New York - This is a pictorial look at the beauty and power of Pan as captured through the lens of photo-journalist C. Phillips, as some of the steel orchestras of New York prepared for the prestigious 2014 New York Panorama competition. The orchestras were also being recorded by Basement Recordings for their annual panyard recording series.
watch pictorial

Web Posted - Thursday October 2, 2014
When Steel Talks

Global - Tellison ‘Tello’ Forde is the son of an “Invader” - Cecil “Coye” Forde - and Beryl Isaac. He was born at 67 Rosalino Street in Woodbrook, Trinidad, adjacent to the pan yard of Invaders Steel Orchestra.

I Is On Rock of Laventi is Mr. Forde's 2015 pan tune  composition for the Trinidad and Tobago panorama competition.
listen to tune

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
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