Pan History - Looking back at the year 1953 - 1955 in Pan

[When Steel Talks]

1953	Lennox “Boogsie” Sharpe -  He was born 28 October 1953, Benares Street, St James, Trinidad. The nick-name Boogsie was given to him by his mother 1953 was referred to as the year of Steel band music; over twenty bands (nineteen male and one female) were formed. The Texans, winner of the 1953 Steel Band Festival, Tripoli, first runner-up, and Quo Vadis, the twenty-six piece, (the largest in Guiana during that period), and the Crusaders were among the most popular bands of that period. -- Lloyd Kandasammy Hells Gate wins Antigua Panorama Anthony Williams creates the “SPIDER-WEB” ping pong, referred to as the “fourths and fifths” pan..   Anthony Williams (right) introduced the “spider web” lead Pan. The instrument shown off here by Williams and Herman “Rock” Johnson was an amended version which Johnson claims to have crafted and whose expanded range supposedly was the key to the Williams-led North Stars band winning Trinidad’s 1962 Music Festival with their memorable rendition of the Strauss Waltz, Voices of Spring. - See more
1955	In 1955, costumed steel band tramps accentuated the Coronation Day celebrations. According to one report, shortly after midday, the best- dressed steel band - the Quo Vadis marched as units of the Royal Navy and with a following of over one thousand took to the streets of Georgetown. Striped 'Admirals' in navy blue led the bandsmen who were clad in white. The Chicago Steel Band resplendent with the Union Jack stopped at Government house in Carmichael Street and played a perfect rendition of 'Rule Britannica' and 'God save the Queen' for Lady Savage," the wife of Governor Alfred Savage. At Camp Street the Texans and Tripoli, each with a following of over two thousand, clashed. However, unlike in previous years, they did not stop, but continued to play their music with the hope of attracting supporters from the other side. -- Lloyd Kandasammy Lord Woodbine (seated at left): The forgotten sixth Beatle Harold Adolphus Philips (15 January 1929 – 5 July 2000), known as Lord Woodbine, was a Trinidadian calypsonian and music promoter. He is regarded by some as the musical mentor of The Beatles, and has been called the "sixth Beatle".  He played a tenor pan as part of the first professional steel band in England, the All Caribbean Steel Band, which was formed by Gerry Gobin in 1955, and played regularly at the Joker's Club and then the Jacaranda Club in Liverpool, owned by Allan Williams. Philips later played with the All Caribbean Steel Band in their television appearance on the Opportunity Knocks in July 1965.  read more on Lord Woodbine