Girl Pat ------Beryl, Pat and Pat
by Von Martin from his book “Voices of Pan Pioneers of Trinidad & Tobago”
Celebration of Women and the Steelpan Art Form
Trinidad and Tobago- Mrs. Holman spoke admirably of her son Ray’s playing the pan, despite her brothers’ earlier protests. She said, “Well, at the time I couldn’t feel anything, I just felt it was a past time. He liked it and I became lenient and allowed him to do it and just left it at that. Well, after years when he started to show there was something musically in him, I became interested and listened on, and eventually when he excelled and won the competition, I was very proud.”
Replies
Pan Woman - Exodus
Arranger Ray Holman 1987
Ray Holman - Memory of Your Smile
A Tribute to his Mother
The girls in ‘Girl Pat Steel Orchestra’ did feel proud of their contributions to the advancement of the steel band movement. They mastered an instrument no one ever thought would accomplish such stature in today’s world of music. “It is sad though,” observed Pat Maurice, “young girls today are so unaware of ‘Girl Pat Steel Orchestra, and their contributions. The fact that they are today involved in a movement created as a result of the pioneering efforts of Hazel Henley.”
A Picture Paints a Thousand Words.