SPOTLIGHT - When Steel
Talks - Special
PANWAVE STEELBAND
Ask
anyone in Cambridge ( Ontario, Canada ) about steelband music and they
will all tell you, Panwaves steelband......
This steelband was established in 1989 by Clyde Dookie in the little
community village of Hespeler, now part of the City of Cambridge.
When
it started, there were only 5 members, all of them, part of the Dookie
family. There was Clyde, his daughter Erica and his 3 sons and his
loving wife, Rose who still to this date, takes videos of every
function that the band plays at. Although the bloodline is still a
huge part of todays Panwaves, shows now consist of members from
Detroit, Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo and Trinidad.
In 2002, Clyde Dookie was awarded the prestigeous Bernice Adams award.
Theband,
in
keeping with the local community spirit, has won first place for music
in the Cambridge Santa Clause parades in 1997, 1999 and 2000. It also
won first place in the Hespeler parade in 1991 and 1994 and brought
home first place in the Sarnia Kinsmen parade in 2001. But don't think
for one minute that all the music is played for Santa Clause parades,
every year since 1996, Panwaves has represented Cambridge in the
annual Caribana parade in Toronto.
Of
the 34 bands that attend this event, Panwaves is the only band from
outside the Toronto area that plays in the Caribana event One of the
proudest moments for the band was winning the Trinidad and Tobago
Republic Day Award for developing an arts and culture centre in Canada
for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. They have also played at
numerous festivals and was picked to play the Canadian national anthem
at the opening of the Caribana parade in 1997.
Dookie was born in Trinidad , grew up in Movant and has been a
resident of Cambridge since 1971. Panwaves was preceded by the
Spreeland Steel Orchestra that he formed in the late 70's.
His
brother, Winston Dookie is a player, arranger, helper and supporter of
the Ebonites Steelband in Trinidad and he still goes to Trinidad on a
yearly basis to be with the band. So if you're ever in the
Cambridge area and you hear the sound of a sweet pan, be sure to drop
by and say hello, or if you're coming up to Toronto for the Caribana
this year and you see the " Panwaves" banner in the air, just jump in
the band and enjoy the sweet sounds of the steelband music. We'll all
be there....
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