United Kingdom
- The Port of Spain Police Youth
Club in Trinidad was the first place
that Brent Holder started playing
the steelpan instrument from the
age of eight. At the Youth
Club he was able to play with
Potential Symphony
and Blue Diamonds
Steel Orchestras at the Trinidad
and Tobago (T&T) National Steelband
Panorama competition, as well as
in many school festivals, until
they were victorious at the Schools
Steelbands Music Festival in 1991.
In that same year at age thirteen,
Brent played with the renowned
Renegades Steel
Orchestra (where he would
stay for eight years, honing his
skills) at the annual Steelband
Panorama competition where they
placed second with Christopher “Tambu”
Herbert’s Rant
and Rave. Brent was
also a member of the Solo
Pan Knights
Steel Orchestra for a few
years before he immigrated to the
United Kingdom. He is no stranger
to competitions and the following
are some of his achievements:
1995
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T&T Junior Steelband Music
Festival – 2nd
Place in the soloist category
playing his own composition,
‘Patience’
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1996
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Pan is Beautiful – 1st
place in the soloist category
playing his own composition,
‘Patience’
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1997
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T&T Junior Steelband Music
Festival - 2nd
place in the soloist category
playing, ‘Voices of Steel’,
his own composition
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1998
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Pan is Beautiful – 1st
place in the soloist category
playing his own composition,
‘Voices of Steel’
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2000
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World Steelband Music Festival
– 2nd place in
the soloist category playing
his own composition, ‘Musical
Antics’
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2001
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BAS Pan Explosion Competition
– 2nd place in
the soloist competition
playing his own composition,
‘Musical Antics’
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2002
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BAS Pan Explosion Competition
– 1st place in
the soloist category with
his own composition, ‘Voices
of Steel’
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Brent’s musical arrangements of
‘Free Up’ saw
Pan Knights
placing second in the Point Fortin
Borough Day competition in 1999.
Brent confirmed that composing needs
lots of focus and determination
and it was evident in his domination
of the 2002 BAS (British Association
of Steelbands) Pan Explosion competition.
His own composition, ‘Daylight,’
saw them capture the ensembles category.
He was also one of Ebony Steelband
Trust’s in-house arrangers during
his tenure with them, before he
decided to set up his own gigging
steelband, CSI (Caribbean
Steel International Steelband),
which he formed in 2002 to perform
at corporate events, wedding receptions
and birthday parties. It is also
the resident steelband at the Kensington
Holiday Inn’s Caribbean Experience
evenings. Brent Holder orchestrated
the creation of the CSI Steelband
Trust in 2008 as part of CSI’s development
cycle. Since then his band has been
developing in leaps and bounds achieving
3rd place in the UK National
Panorama after only two appearances
in this competition.
Playing Brent’s musical arrangements,
CSI Youth Steel Orchestra
has won the UK BAS/CAPCA Junior
Panorama competition consecutively
for the last three years, and in
June 2010 they were also crowned
the Dutch Junior Panorama Champions.
Brent
Holder
For
the past few years Brent has been
the visiting tutor for the Co-Musica
project and the Weekend School at
the Sage Gateshead, Newcastle, UK.
He continues to teach the art of
playing the steelpan in several
London schools. Brent has worked
with many bands including
Sounds of Steel,
Ebony, Steelquake, Stardust, Solo,
Sunshine Panners and
North Tyneside,
just to name a few.
For 2010 Brent Holder - composer-
arranger-educator is acclaimed to
be the first British/Trinidadian
to compose his own tune for pan.
He also wrote the lyrics for his
first tune,
Pan in de Panyard, for
the 2011 Panorama. The tune is about
giving people who do not know -
an idea about how steel bands get
ready for panorama. For years, Brent
wanted to do a Panorama tune but
because of his busy schedule running
the CSI Steelband Trust in London,
he had not been able to find the
time. Pan in
the Panyard will be CSI’s
Panorama tune for 2011 in the UK
National Panorama competition.
Pan in de Panyard
is written and composed by Brent
“Antics” Holder, sung by Anslem
Douglas and produced by Junior ‘Ibo’
Joseph. Brent extends his sincere
thanks to Anslem, Ibo and Duvone
Stewart for his pan solo in the
tune. He also acknowledges the efforts
of Alvin Daniell, Pan Podium and
When Steel Talks.
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