Spotlight
GLOBAL STEELPAN MUSIC NEWS

Spotlight
GLOBAL STEELPAN MUSIC NEWS

Fresh from their latest worldwide acclaim
- their 'Tour Down Under'!

The name Renegades is immediately associated with champions, precision, and perfection.  Renegades represents one of the most respected, oldest and elite steel orchestras in the world.  Their distinct style and high performance level are renowned globally.  When Steel Talks is pleased to have captured some of the many moods and accomplishments of Renegades over the past years.

The BP Renegades Steel Orchestra was founded somewhere around 1945, at the end of the Second World War.  This makes it one of the world’s oldest surviving steelbands.  The name Renegades was selected from a movie by the same name, during a period when the early steelbands in Trinidad and Tobago organized themselves as small armies, and often chose names that were popularized by movies about the World War.

The Renegades has developed over the years into an ensemble of outstanding musicians that has written its name indelibly on the musical landscape around the globe; in the process becoming the most traveled cultural ambassadors of the twin-island Republic.

Since the 1960’s the band has toured extensively in the Caribbean, Venezuela, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Tunisia, Morocco, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, The United Kingdom, Austria, Portugal, Holland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, France, Japan, Jordan, Gabon, Argentina, Canada and the United States of America. They also performed on the island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean and in 1990, performed at one of the largest outdoor concerts in the world – before a record crowd of two million people for Bastille Day celebration in France, accompanying the renowned composer and conductor, Jean Michel Jarre.  That same year the band was the opening act at the Nelson Mandela Welcome Rally held at the Yankee Stadium, in New York and only recently in March 2006, performed at the Womad Festival in Adelaide, and at the 18th Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia where they appeared alongside Pan Virtuoso and fellow Trinidadian Liam Teague and Jamaican Reggae Superstar Jimmy Cliff.

Renegades has received several awards, including a National Chaconia Gold Medal for its outstanding contribution to the culture of Trinidad and Tobago; several sunshine Awards from the USA, a Pan Trinbago award for its outstanding contribution to the development of the steelband movement and a City of Port of Spain Award. The Band has won the fiercely competitive National Panorama Competition on nine occasions inclusive of a hat trick of wins between 1995 and 1997 (the only steelband to accomplish this feat), and has placed in the top ten on every occasion since 1980 inclusive of several 2nd and 3rd places.

The band has also won the Pan in the 21st Century competition and has also performed at the bi-annual Pan Is Beautiful Festival (whenever time permits) with creditable success, placing second on two occasions, topping the field with their tune of choice in 1988 with an adaptation of Gustave Holst, Mars the bringer of War.

The band is sponsored by BP Trinidad and Tobago Limited (formerly Amoco Trinidad Oil Company), since June 1970.

Check it out.

Click To See Renegades Picture Gallery

For More Info On Renegades Click Here

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