WST in INTERESTING STEELBAND FACTS AND TRIVIA tells us that DIXIELAND STEEL ORCHESTRA:

  • Began in 1946 in Scott Bushe Street
  • Were originally known as the Boys of Iwojima
  • Name changed to “Melody Makers
  • Changed again in 1950 to “Dixieland.

Rolling Stone is an American monthly magazine that focuses on popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its coverage of rock music and for political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. Rolling Stone recently reported that "The Dixie Chicks", a successful American country pop group had dropped DIXIE and now call themselves THE CHICKS.

Dixie (also known as Dixieland) is a nickname for the Southern United States, especially those states that composed the Confederate States of America namely Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Florida..

  • Why did a Trinidad and Tobago Steelband adopt the name DIXIELAND in 1950? 
  • Why does that name not offend BLACK STEELBANDS MEN all over the world then and now?
  • Why does that name not offend BLACK STEELBAND HISTORIANS all over the world then and now?

Let's examine one record of the origin of "DIXIELAND"; 

The Mason-Dixon Line, also called Mason and Dixon Line, is the original boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania in the United States. In the pre-Civil War period it was regarded, together with the Ohio River, as the dividing line between slave states south of it and free-soil states north of it.

While we want to remove statues of Columbus, and condemn Churchill and others sympathetic towards the African Slave Trade, and The Enslavement of Africans, should we continue to celebrate the FAMOUS Trinidad steelband TEXACO DIXELAND?

What does this global forum suspect would have motivated the leader/s of a steelband that started in Scott Bushe Street in 1946, originally called Boys of Iwojima, to change their name to DIXIELAND?

Should we continue to celebrate the Trinidad steelband DIXIELAND?   

  

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  • Fonclaire - Pan by Storm

  • Seriously? 'Dixieland 'was the generic term used for all Southern Jazz, worldwide and for at least a century.

    Calling a Steelband 'Dixieland' pays tribute to Black Music, not the Confederate Flag.

  • The question is not relevant in modern day Trinidad society.

    We do not have the same black-white divide as the United States.It can lead to the absurd...like for example, should we continue to celebrate bands like Invaders, Casablanca, Tripoli, North Stars, Tokyo, Bar 20, Desperadoes, Renegades, Boys Town, Sun Valley, Crossfire, Starlift… all named after American films where black people were non-existant?

    Or even more ridiculous...should we stop celebrating the likes of Lord Kitchener, the Duke of Iron, Black Stalin, the Mighty Duke... 

    Or change the name of the Churchill-Roosevalt Highway?

    Or Scarborough, Roxborough...?

    This is utter rubbish. Like Black Stalin sing: "If yuh doh know from where yuh comin, then yuh cyar plan where yuh goin"...

    • This is not utter rubbish, it's only utter rubbish for those who were brought up uneducated and being taught badly.

      Same thing with Christopher Columbus matter, trinis were brainwashed, had to cram the dates,  Columbus ships voyages throughout the Caribbean, and on top of that, if you can't recall dates, names etc. is licks and more licks from teachers and principals who taught history classes. Total nonsense, and for many many years schools allow.

      Same with pan, we all need to KNOW. The old folks in trini, maybe like you George Rampersad, love to hide info. and bury important facts, only if known, can benefit the youngsters to make much more intelligent decisions toward the future. Excellent topic Russlell Providence.

  • An leading steelband which made important contributions to pan but has been defunct for decades got the name Dixieland around 1950 because they heard a type of jazz called dixieland and you're trying to suggest it was out of a racist impulse and in solidarity with the Southern States of America? You trying to import American issues into TT history? What about all the bands like Desperadoes and Bar 20 named after western? Were those aimed at belittling the Native Americans too? I can't eat enough for the amount I want to puke at that mimic men's attitude.

  • Lady Antebellum dropped "Antebellum" from the name it has used since its formation in 2006 and is going by Lady A, a nickname it says fans have long used.

    The change, the group said in a statement, comes after realizing the word's association to slavery.
    All THIS FUSS as THE HISPANICS slowly take over the country and soon everything will be En español  .... 
    Lady Postbellum does not slip off the tongue quite as well!!!
    • Very good TOPIC Russell Providence, But this is my two cents contribution and I need to be corrected if I am wrong again. I used to work with a fellow stage side member of Texaco Dixieland Steel orchestra and he always mention the captain Curtis Pierre in conversations, I later learned that they change their name from Texaco Dixieland to Texaco Sky Chief and then again to Pan Vibes. This is a little information from Roy Harper a former Captain of North Stars.(Starniks didn't last long, and Harper joined Curtis Pierre's Dixieland in the 1960s, and there he has remained, staying with them through all their metamorphoses from Dixieland to Texaco Dixieland, to Sky Chief and finally to Pan Vibes, where he still is today).

      • I remember a Roy Harper who used to tune pans for Tripoli. Is that the same person of which you speak? Still around? Starniks was formed by a guy named Eddie, he brought in Roy Harper.

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