St. Lucia News Online

Player from St. Lucia's Pantime Steel OrchestraSt. Lucia, W.I. - The Pantime Steel Orchestra has seized the opportunity to offer the first-ever Pan Yard Tour to cruise ship passengers in St. Lucia. It is indeed a unique opportunity for the reigning Junior and National Champions to introduce tourists to the history, art and melody of the steel pan, as part of an existing garden tour which starts at Stony Hill.

This tour is scheduled to commence in mid-October. Following the Stony Hill experience, patrons will be taken to the pan yard where they will be briefed on the development of steel pan as an instrument, shown how steel pans are made, will hear a wide range of pans being played and will be taught to play simple tunes.

In preparation for its inaugural tour, the Steel Orchestra identified eleven (11) unemployed young persons, who underwent an intense two-week training exercise, facilitated by the National Skills Development Centre (NSDC).
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  • It's nice to see this happening in St.Lucia. It has been happening for a few years at Starlift where the cruise ship agent gave a contract to the band and mini buses bring in the cruise ship visitors. They are treated to a performance,taught a simple tune and given a lecture and demos about the different pans and the stages of pan making. Our little gift shop does well on those days with sales of CD's, tee shirts,souvenirs and of course the bar.

    • Hi Cory, the problem is that so many times these solid ideas come to our attention, but then they never get acted upon.

      • I enjoyed when my Dad took me to several panyards, no matter how fancy or gritty they were.  But if each panyard had a little building (shed) for merchandise and refreshment sales, a spot for a food vendor cart, and a small clean bleacher seating to accommodate (invite) visitors to enjoy, I'm sure that the bare minimum in improvements would make a big difference.

         

        But yes... I hope the more we brainstorm ideas here, some politician will finally take hold and present the idea as their own, and then something will happen.

    • I'm glad to hear that Starlift does this too.  Like I have been saying... I wish that the practice was predominant in Trinidad.  And if a band does not have a proper facility, that the government would assist with establishing the infrastructure to create a tourist attraction around the band.

  • I like this ST Lucia, spread the Pan Music and the Instruments to the world

  • I tip my hat to these guys. This is a very forward-thinking idea. I am surprised that no one thought of it sooner. Good Job!

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