Allan Gervais was one of the finest tuners in his era. He was quick and excelled on all the steelpan instruments. He was considered to be one of the best, if not, the best, with respect to the maintenance of the instruments and was able to bring out the best in tone and sound of all sizes of steel orchestras.
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Mr. Peter DeLight,
Thank you for turning off that "Bad Light" and injecting the Virus. There is no need to "Fictionalize" the Whole truth. Mr. Cooper I know of what you speak and its great. I am so sorry that Mr. Gervais could not be responsive to all the help that he was offered in his last days. So very sorry.
Mr. Houlder:
After reading the relevant narratives in this post, I can have no doubt as to Mr. Gervais' unparalleled excellence in Pan Tuning.
I knew of the Casablanca-Tokyo infamous clash (most do!); but, to read Mr Terence Cooper's succinct, descriptive, first-hand testimony raised the hair at the back of my neck.
AG transformed an ordinary-sounding Casablanca to one of supreme tone & pitch throughout Port of Spain. On that fateful Carnival Monday, he (came up from Point Fortin &) single-handedly restored the destroyed pans and brought Casablanca back on the road sounding as powerful as ever in 3 1/2 hours, — truly one of the greatest feats of Pan Tuning!
This account has created in me an insight into this Master Steelpan Tuner's character, and I infer: Honest. Unselfish. Sincere. Focused. Charming. Determined.
I can't help but think of the envious good fortune of all who personally knew this Legend.
I sincerely apologize for my typing error. I inadvertently typed Mr. Terence Cooper. I meant Mr. Trevor Cooper. Do forgive me.
To: whensteeltalks
From: keith anderson
How Tokyo spoiled the Old Oak Casablanca Jouvert
by keith anderson
Hello Guys. I was very happy to read about the great pan tuner Allan Gervais of Point Fortin who,regrettably, has never got any recognition for his skills and contribution to pan development.As a boy with the Old Oak Casablanca Steel Orchestra at about age 16, I had the pleasure of seeing the master craftsman at work. From my statement you will deduce he was the tuner for Casablanca and a host of other bands, including the Solo Harmonites. He was a friend of Earl "Barney" Rodney. Laurie Miller, Oscar Pile. Augustus Mark, Anthony"Mauby" Weekes. Roy"Jibum" Gamble. Trevor"Dobar"Cooper, Ellis Thorne and others.He was truly a "gentleman".Boy that man tuned a pan with a long skirt that was sweeter than Caroni brown sugar.
When we we attacked on the fateful Jourvert morning in 1965,at the Corner of Duke and Frederick Streets, Port of Spain. I was right in the frontline playing a double tenor.Talk in town that morning was that "Casablanca go eat them raw in the Bomb Competition". We were playing "Rejoice Greatly Oh Daughter of Zion".The morning was cool and nice as the music drifted towards the spectators. They loved it like well-cooked food. We were not afraid of Trinidad All Stars,, Coco Cola Desperadoes, Renegades, Invaders, Forsyth Highlanders,Boystown, Tokyo, Crossfire, Dem Fortunates, Sunland and other big guns. You talk about big stone and bottle! Mama, I take off like Hasely Crawford... nonstop!To cut a long story short, Allan Gervais worked nonstop to get us back on the raod Carnival Tuesday.,after Tokyo "buss up"our pans because they were "big and bad"....pure wickedness!
In the sixties , Burch Kellman was becoming established as a top tuner , and I remember playing a set of tenor bass pans tuned by Burch with the Marabella band called Scarlet Symphony.
At that time, however , in the early to mid sixties , Alan was already recognized as a master of the art of pan tuning ,and would establish an island wide reputation with bands like Casablanca , Solo Harmonites and Guinness Cavaliers.
When I played with Silvertones , some of the pans were tuned by Allan , but my pans were tuned by Errol Moore , who could be considered one of Allan's apprentices.
Incidentally , I also remember hanging out in Southern Marines panyard , as a teen when Burch and Karloff Alleyne ( also teens back then) would be working with Milton "Squeezer" Lyons behind the panyard , tuning pans for Carnival.
To my regret , back then I never fully appreciated the artistry that went into creating the steel pan musical instrument.
Back then , many of us allowed our pans to deteriorate and rust after Carnival , especially if for some reason the band became inactive after Carnival.
This may also be because it used to be relatively cheap to tune a pan , so when in the calypso "Pan In Danger" , Merchant sings about a steelband leaving the country , leaving their pans thrown in the road ,that sort of thing was unfortunately true , back then.
ALLAN GERVAIS "PAN-MAN AND STEELPAN TUNER SUPREME!! ALL TIME GREAT!!! .WE SHARED MANY MANY EXCITING MOMENTS IN STEELBAND , TRAVELING AS MEMBERS OF ESSO TRIPOLI OF "EXPO'67 AND LIBERACE FAME" ....COAST TO COAST THROUGHOUT THE CARIBBEAN....CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES... IN THE 1960s SWEET MEMORIES!!!!!!! !
Dr. deLight: I am curious to know what your specific interest in THE PAN is. And I would also like you share one of your treasured PAN EXPERIENCES with the forum. If your parents kept you far away from the PAN YARDS and PAN MEN -- feel free to fictionalize.
In 1965, Raymond Augustus Mark AKA "One Man", brought Allan into Casablanca Panyard on Argyle Street to tune pans for the band. That Carnival, Casablanca was transformed from an ordinary sounding band to one having the best tone and pitch throughout Port of Spain. On J'ourvert morning CasaBlanca and Tokyo clashed at the corner of Duke and Frederick streets. I remember that morning, the members in the band left lots of ammunition because they said they were not going to look for fight but to beat people with music tone and power. The band was big and only growing bigger coming down Frederick Street, when tragedy struck. The Bomb tune was "REJOICE GREATLY' O Daughter of Zion" The long and short was that Tokyo came out to fight and mashed up Casablanca pick axes were used to destroy the pans, bottles were thrown with acid. The flag bearing the "Cross of Lorraine" had fallen..
Inspeector Borroughs came up Oxford Street to try and resolve the situation, because he knew that Casablanca was not taking that, especially if they were unable to be on the road for Monday and Tuesday Carnival. So With police escort. one man went to Point Fortin and brought up Alan to see what he could do.
Well he did, between the hours of 10.00a.m. and 1.30 p.m., he brought back Casablanca on the Road, sounding as powerful as ever. That was one of the greatest feats of Pan Tuning that i have ever witnessed.
He always asked me to come and learn to tune. I was sixteen years old, attending Fatima College, and a Cost to tune a Tenor Pan was $35.00, a pair of Guitars pans were $15.00, bass pans same thing. He used to tune a five bass set in two hours. But at the time, without any vision, because Trinidad did not have any money in those days, i could not foresee Pan Tuning as a career. Alan continued tuning for Casablanca, and eventually went to Harmonites. I think he went on tour with Esso Tripoli. Courtney, you would know because you lived at the top of Oxford Street, and you were the "Scratcher Man" for Tripoli. But, anyone who knew him would tell you of his great quality.
Talking about the history of this pan tuner Allan I used to go down South and Lime with him at Eygpt village, Point Fortin and Earl Rodney and today I regret that I did learn the Art. But Micheal Kernahan was trained by Allan and one of the only tuner still make the Old Invaders Tenor pan. My tenor pan is now forty years old and still in tune. The only note was out of tune was Bb and was touched Bob Thomas of Blue Diamonds went he came to Australia with Regiment Steel band. I was glad I had associated with the members of Casablanca and Renegades while living Oxford Street. I learn my art as a Scratcher-man from Boyie Lewis and Joey Lewis music band before I joined Tripoli as you know the story in the early I could not join a steel band.
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