Some years ago people came on THIS FORUM and they criticized BIRDSONG for hiring ANDY as an arranger. The claim (the false claim) was that once they hired ANDY Birdsong knew that they were going to lose -- so why put your PLAYERS through that PAIN and FRUSTRATION when you know that they are going to lose.
So the BIRDSONG leaders read that NONSENSE on THE FORUM and they FIRE ANDY.
This year they bring down a JAZZ PAN MAN from Denmark and when I went out on my limb and said that they made a WRONG CHOICE -- one set ah one-shot posters from all over came on the forum and cuss me out and tell me that the man is a MUSICAL GENIUS and BIRDSONG do the right thing.
Well allyuh see how things turn out for BIRDSONG. Two Left turned out to be the TREE THAT FELL IN THE DEEP FOREST. At least if ANDY or MIA was arranging for the band there was going to be SOME BUZZ and some CUSSING OF ANDY on THIS FORUM. And allyuh know what they say in HOLLYWOOD: ALL PUBLICITY IS GOOD PUBLICITY ... well, except for HARVEY WEINSTEIN.
Ah hear that ANDY was in PHASE II pan yard this week. I am quite sure that he was listening to the latest mood of musical expression in Trinidad. So watch out if he does not come out again and stun the world with a magnificent piece of TRINIDAD INFLUENCED MUSIC.
Personally, though, I think that in terms of COMPOSITION he is OVER THE HILL ... as his BIGGEST FAN I am free to say that. He could never ever reach the heights of "WE KINDA MUSIC" again!!!
And speaking of "why put your players through all that frustration when you know that they are going to lose" -- what about GREGORY LINDSAY and AQUIL ARRINDELL and all the FIVE BANDS in the finals outside the BIG 5.
So maybe it was just a "RACE THING" clothed in CONCERNED INDIVIDUALS FOR BIRDSONG!!!
BIRDSONG: PLEASE BRING BACK MIA!!!
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Andy's new gig...
WE KINDA PAN
Andy Narell
Hey everybody. Welcome to my column. Eugene Novotney asked me to contribute regular pieces to the NSSBE newsletter and I’m going to try make myself useful. My plan is to write regular pieces about steel band music and pan playing - composing, arranging, directing, playing, improvising, recording, history, random thoughts, etc... I’ll try to come up with a format that includes explanation and written musical examples, links to audio and video clips, questions from you, and a space where we can have a conversation.
For today I just want to say a few words about steel band music and people. As I’m sure you all know by now, the pan owes its existence to a history that included slavery and colonial rule, that it was created by teenage youth from poor neighborhoods in Trinidad – boys who ran with gangs and fought with each other. My own involvement with pan began with a community center program for kids in gangs in New York. As a social worker with no musical background, my father launched 20 steel bands in the space of one year at the Educational Alliance on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Before he ever went to Trinidad he’d already organized the first steel band festival in the USA in 1962. He didn’t even know that the pan had been created in the same type of environment that he was working in, but he saw the effect that steel band had on the kids and he believed it could be a positive force in our society. He went to Trinidad shortly after, during what I would call the Golden Age of steel band music (more about that in future articles), and discovered that those same kids that had been beating on paint cans and fighting with each other – now 20 years older – had transformed themselves into disciplined orchestras playing music at a world class level. Violence had been replaced by music competitions, and steel bands were touring the world and playing in major concert venues. Women were starting to play in the bands, following a period in the 50’s when they had responded to their exclusion by creating all girl bands – yet another piece of steel band history that was unwittingly duplicated at the ‘Edgies’ (as it was called by everybody there), where my dad launched America’s first all-female steel bands during the first year of the program.
The whole story is fascinating and too long for today’s article (see Kim Johnson’s Illustrated Story of Pan), but the point I want to make here is that steel bands transformed not only themselves but their entire society in Trinidad. As the bands became more inclusive they became a place where people of all backgrounds could come together to play music in orchestras. Black, white, Indian, Chinese, male and female, old and young, professional and amateur, educated and uneducated, middle class and poor – the steel band became a place where people could find common ground through the joy of playing music together. And these bands that began as warring gangs evolved into pivotal institutions in their communities.
Steel band music is now an international phenomenon, and everywhere it goes there are the signs – the walls come down and we see a diversity of people playing together that is perhaps unrivaled by any other type of
music. Initially embraced by the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean, the last 30 years has seen an explosion of steel bands around the world, from Europe to Japan, South Africa, Nigeria, Australia, the USA and Canada. There are now hundreds of university, high school and middle school steel bands in the US, steel band schools in Paris and Tokyo, steel bands in South African township schools, and a steel band program in Israel where Jewish, Christian, and Muslim children are rehearsing and performing together.
It’s no accident that the development of steel bands in Trinidad coincided with other social movements – civil rights, black power, women’s rights – as well as radical changes in jazz, popular, and calypso music. Today is the last day of 2017, and as I sit here thinking about how we are bombarded every day with news of how divided we are, I want to say to you that I believe that we who are making steel band music happen are part of something much greater than ourselves - a musical and social movement that is bringing people together in unprecedented ways. I also believe that in order for steel bands to thrive that the music needs to keep moving forward. I’ve been trying to contribute to that end for 50 some years now, and will try to be a resource for all of you. So, I look forward to having a conversation with you about music and pan, and let’s make 2018 a great year for steel band music.
ANDY NARELL is one of the best known and most recorded steelpan artists in the world. He is internationally recognized as a world class performer, composer, arranger, and scholar, and he was recently inducted into the Percussive Arts Society’s Hall of Fame for his lifetime of contributions to the steelpan artform.
January 2018 7 THE STEEL TIMES
Odw, I was checking out this "The Steel Times". I had to wonder if Trump put this administration together. "Oscar so White" has nothing over them. With so many over qualified Pan educators of color in the US they couldn't find one to play the role of Omarosa? SMH
bugs
Bugs,
On their Steering Committee they have Sherwin Thwaites and Liam Teague.
Sherwin Thwaites
An American of Trinidadian heritage, Sherwin was born into steelpan culture and has lived the art form his entire life. Thwaites has established a reputable career as a steelpan educator and musician, devoting his life to the advancement of steelpan culture. He has toured internationally, performing throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, bringing the steelpan to new horizons. He is a resident steelpan musician with Native Deen and has accompanied his classmate and Grammy award winning artist, Esperanza Spalding.
Thwaites has also performed alongside steelpan icons, including Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, Robert Greenidge, Ray Holman, Ken “Professor” Philmore, and Andy Narell. He has also helped some of the world’s most notable steel orchestras, such as Phase II Pan Groove, bring home numerous Panorama titles in Trinidad and Tobago. He currently serves as Musical Director and Arranger for Oasis Youth Steel Orchestra in Newark, New Jersey and Assistant Musical Director for Pan United Youth Movement, based in Washington, D.C.
Liam Teague
Hailed as the “Paganini of the Steelpan”, his commitment to demonstrating the great musical possibilities of the steelpan has taken him to throughout the world, and he has received many awards from his homeland of Trinidad and Tobago, including the Humming Bird National Award (Silver) and the Ansa McAl Caribbean Award for Excellence.
Teague has won a number of notable competitions such as the Trinidad and Tobago National Steelband Festival Solo Championship and the Saint Louis Symphony Volunteers Association Young Artist Competition. He has also performed with many diverse ensembles which include: National Symphony Orchestra, Taiwan National Symphony, Czech National Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Panama National Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Vermeer String Quartet, Avalon String Quartet, Nexus, Dartmouth Wind Ensemble, Indiana University Symphonic Band, University of Wisconsin-Madison Marching Band, and the PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars Steel Orchestra.
Teague has appeared in concert with Grammy-Award winning musicians Paquito D’Rivera, Dave Samuels, Zakir Hussain and Dame Evelyn Glennie, and has regularly collaborated with NIU colleague and multi-instrumentalist Robert Chappell. As a performer and clinician, he has presented at several Percussive Arts Society International Conventions (PASIC) and educational institutions across the globe.
Many of his compositions and arrangements are published with MaumauMusic, PanPress and RamajayMusic, and he has commissioned outstanding composers to write for the steelpan, including: Michael Colgrass, Jan Bach, Libby Larsen, Andy Akiho, Deborah Fisher Teason, Joey Sellers, Ben Wahlund, Erik Ross, Kevin Bobo and David Gordon.
He is steelband director at Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Door County, Wisconsin, and has also taught and performed at the California State University Summer Arts Camp and at the Interlochen Academy for the Performing Arts.
Teague has also created a steelpan method for beginners which is published by the Hal Leonard Corporation, the world’s largest publisher of print music.
Liam Teague serves as musical arranger for the PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars Steel Orchestra at Panorama, the most celebrated steelband competition in the world, and has many recordings to his credit, including: Hands Like Lightning, For Lack of Better Words, Panoramic: Rhythm Through an Unobstructed View and Open Window.