Global - He is a scholar, an intellect, a musician and a coach - just to name a few. Indeed, depending on when you crossed his multifaceted life, met or engaged him - the name Dave LaBarrie will ring differently to you. He’s been an assistant high school principal, basketball coach, T&T steelband association and band administrator and New York Panorama winner.
In an exclusive interview with When Steel Talks, Dave LaBarrie shares his significant and considerable history with Pan and more.
read more
Replies
I pushed many steelbands on the road past 1968. Matter off fact, the year I migrated to foreign (1975), I was still pushing pan. I came home many times and it was not until 1982, I sensed a noticeable decline, but that year I pushed pan again. These days, they are stage sides on Big Trucks, so no more need to push pan, instead I take a jump up or chip along, because I still love the sound of the steelpan.
"Many bands stopped coming on the road for Carnival beginning in 1968."
I totally disagree.
The late sixties into the early seventies were the peak years for the steelbands on the road , and I was there.
Even into the mid to late seventies ,most of the steelbands from the sixties with names we remember were still on the road.
As late as 1975 , 76 , there were J'ouvert steelband traffic jams on Harris Promenade in Sando into mid morning , on Carnival Monday.
In the mid seventies , even Marabella had two steelbands bands on the road in Sando, Southern Marines and People's Music (my brother Ian was one of the leaders of this band)
But slowly as panorama got bigger , the bands started focusing on panorama more and more , and masqueraders started complaining of the lack of musical repertoire.
"Allyuh only have one tune " was an exaggeration , but that was heard as bands spent so much time on panorama tunes , their road repertoire became limited.
What the strike of 79 did was it opened the door for the DJs , who seized the opportunity to show that they could be an alternative to the steelbands , and that had the biggest impact , but the decline had already started.
And BTW , when I speak on these subjects , I talk because I was there.
And I'm glad I'm still around so I could challenge the B.S. when it is posted on forums such as WST.
I might add , however that we must remember that in the early days , steelbands were very fluid.
For various reasons , bands were often breaking up and new bands were being formed.
So we had new bands coming on the scene that were around for a few years , then disappeared.
Two cultural changes also affected the bands.
In the late sixties and early seventies , job opportunities opened up in places like St. Croix , and young men with industrial skills ( particularly from south because of oil) migrated in search of opportunities to better themselves.
Many of these men were panmen , and that affected steelband communities like ours in Marabella.
But that is also why some of us were quickly able to form a steelband in St. Croix.
The other thing that affected the steelbands back then was touring , which also had negative and positive effects..
Some of our best bands like Cavaliers and Tripoli when on extended international tours.
While this may have been good for the advancement of the artform, touring was destructive to some bands , and in some cases caused divisions within the bands that affected the bands abilities to maintain a successful presence in the competitive steelband atmosphere of T&T.
And Claude , I was always involved in the culture , I don't just talk , so I had a pretty good idea of what was going on in the north , even back then , I just can't document it as accurately as I can speak of what was happening in Sando at that time.
Glenroy: This was a very flowing and informative passage from you. As I was reading it I felt that you should write a book documenting your LIFETIME INVOLVEMENT IN STEELBAND MUSIC (and email me the passages as you develop them) -- personally, I like reading stories about PAN and CALYPSO.
With all your dedication to the music you could weave a nice thesis full of anecdotes and historical updates.
Just my prejudice: I will always believe a NORTH STORY from a NORTH MAN above a NORTH STORY from a SOUTH MAN. And the same in TRUE going from NORTH TO SOUTH!!!
I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CULTURE. But TRINIDAD may seem like a small island with homogenous neighbourhoods and common experiences and understandings -- however, in reality, that is the farthest thing from the truth.
Claude , for some reason in life I have been very fortunate to be put in places where I was able to get a variety of experiences, and observe a lot of human behavior.
So , just for you , here is another anecdote about the demise of a steelband , caused by touring.
I had left Trini at the time , but in the early seventies my band WASA Silvertones got an opportunity to go on tour.
At that time the band's captain was a guy called Maylin Zephrine.
He was not your typical captain, but was a soft-spoken , nice guy and a great band leader under whose captaincy the band had achieved a measure of success.
Plus , the band practiced on the Zephrine's property.
Anyway , there was this tour and so the band voted , since only a certain number of places were available.
And of course , being panmen , and led by crack-shot double second player Teddy ( Teddy Loco ) Belgrave (not the popular writer , but a long time band member and "semi-badjohn" from Sando ), guess what?
Because Maylin was an average panman , not a "crackshot" , they voted to leave him behind !
See how we operate?
I know our people well ,and that is why bad shit happens to us.
So , what do you think happens next ?
The beginning of the end of Silvertones !
NICE STORY, GLENROY. I could read a 1000 TRINI STORIES (PAN AND CALYPSO) like that and never get tired!!!
Another important fact is that DJs were charging less money to supply the music then the Steel Bands for the
masqueraders.Masqueraders would rather spend all there money on there costumes then the music. Real Talk!!!
aka: Tahzann
You're right ,Tahzann.
And lets face it. We don't like self criticism , but we must admit that some of us just didn't have a professional approach to providing music for masqueraders , which resulted in lots of complains back in the day.
If we ever get another opportunity , we will definitely have to be prepared.
However , I would bet that few modern steelbands would be prepared to provide quality musical accompaniment to masqueraders for two days , even if we were given the opportunity and were well paid for it.
NORTH IS NORTH!!!
AND SOUTH IS SOUTH!!!
AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET!!!
In his resume you left out Thief. As a member of Pan Masters way back when we won the Pan-A-Rama in Brooklyn, Dave
received the Pan-A-Rama money and skipped town. No one got paid (ask Steve Vice Captain,or Bing). Since then I don't
think he ever came back to New York unless it was undercover. aka: Curly, aka: Tahzann
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next