“Fire and Steel”

Denyse Plummer sang with the Holy Name Convent junior, senior and folk choirs. She won Best Vocalist Junior and Senior categories at Music festivals, as well as talent competitions "12 and Under," "Teen Talent," and "Scouting for Talent." She started her professional career singing at bars and hotels throughout Trinidad & Tobago before landing a job at the Chaconia Inn in Maraval where she sang pop, reggae, and country and western songs. She released her first pop album in 1978, "Natural," before entering the field of calypso, soca and chutney music.  click for more on Denyse Plummer

Songwriter Mark Loquan celebrates many years of writing music compositions for the steelband music panorama competition.  Many would say that his most iconic is Colours Again, (COTT Pan Song of the Year 2006).

The year 2012 represents five of those years with a team comprising Loquan, Destra Garcia and Ken Philmore creating music for Panorama - bringing to life songs like “Hooked” (2008), “D Trini Way” (2009), “Surrender” (2010), “Rewind” (2010) and “Calling Meh” (2011).  Some of Loquan’s music has been performed for Panorama in Trinidad & Tobago and at other Panorama competitions including Nottinghill, New York, Toronto, and Cayman Islands.

click for full Mark Loquan profile & Discography

Exclusive interview with Mark Loquan - click here

“This song was composed for Panorama 2001, as my 3rd song for Panorama.  I remember asking Denyse Plummer if she would consider  listening to the song and singing it.  She did not know who I was at the time, as I was so new in the Pan arena, and certainly little did we know that this would be the start of a 7-year stint of composing music for her for Panorama.  I had admired classic pieces sung by Denyse like Misbehave and Mind Yuh Business, and thought I would give it a shot.  So I am grateful to Denyse to giving me an ear and encouraging me with her support by singing the songs year after year for the Pan community.

“In this case the music was composed on guitar, and the words flowed very easily for the song.  Those were the days when I did both music and lyrics.  I was working in Norway at the time, but went to Pelham Goddard, and Len "Boogsie" Sharpe with this song, when I made a visit to Trinidad and asked them to arrange the song for me in the studio.

“That was the first time for me when several bands performed my music on the Savannah stage, so I am also grateful to Boogsie and Pelham for being part of the production of the finished product.  Needless to say, the reaction to the song encouraged me to continue to compose music for Panorama.

“The concept in my mind behind the song’s title in 2001:
‘There is a unique formula when one combines the Trini spirit and the sound of the Pan, to produce an energy that is boundless and yet still has very much to be discovered by the rest of the world.  Both have been forged through fire & passion, struggle and frustration, yet it is through this process that our latent talent & free-spirited nature come alive and our creativity flows.  One only sees or hears the end result, but sometime fails to recognize what we really have - a true reflection of our soul captured with an instrument invented right here in Trinidad and Tobago.’”

Mark