The DIFFERENCE between amplified BAND TRIPOLI and amplified PANS HIGHLANDERS.

[earl richards]

In the  late 1950's TRIPOLI amplified their band which was on a float with one MIC that captured the sound of the whole band  that came thru a speaker box. In the middle of 1960's Bertie marshall of Highlanders attached his MIC's directly to the under belly of  two high tenors  and one double tenor that captured the sound of each individual PANS just like you would attached a jack to a guitar and plug it into the amplifier. So in the case of TRIPOLI you would hear the whole band thru the speaker box  , and in HIGHLANDERS you would hear the tenors and double tenor thru the speaker box and the rest of the section would sound normal. As a matter of fact if you were jumping up in a steelband that was in front of HIGHLANDERS you would be jumping to your band's music but you will be hearing the amplified pans of HIGHLANDERS ringing in your band and a member of your band would come and asked Bertie  to lower the volume of his amplifier pans. Also using the same method Bertie amplified a six bass for a bomb competition on Jouvert Morning. Bertie used to sink his high tenors nine inches deep while other bands would sink their tenors six and seven inches. so when HIGHLANDERS was on the road members of the pubic would asked how you could see to play these deep tenors. NUFF SAID. BLESSINGS TO ALL..

[Mercer Ramdoo]

Earl, it's TRIPOLI.

[earl richards]

thanks for the correction PATRICK RAMDOO its TRIPOLI  and not TROPOLI, keep up the good work. BLESSINGS. 

[Claude Gonzales]

Earl: Just for your information, once you put up a TOPIC you can bring it back up and EDIT any time you want. Click on your TOPIC (BLUE) and you will see an OPTIONS tab with a drop down menu. Then click on EDIT and the text comes up. You can then make any changes you want and then click SAVE at the bottom.

[earl richards]

thanks CLAUDE. appreciate you..

[Mercer Ramdoo]

So, in essence, one is amplifying the band, and the other is amplifying the pans. Yeah we playin' smart with foolishness. Fact is, one amplified and the other amplified. Bring the history. At the end of the day, it must have been a bad idea, where is it today?

[Andre-Roger Dellevi]

Tripoli & The First Amplified Pan.  I am not sure when it first started (late 1970's maybe), but at every Panorama for some time now, the steelbands on stage have been miked (amplified) for audio-enhancement to the audience and Radio/TV listening during performance as well for post-performance recoding purposes.  Many panists also routinely mike to amplify their steelpans, mainly so the audience listening can better hear their performance.

[Andre-Roger Dellevi]

The reasons for mashing up the instruments has more to do with many other reasons that we still "clashing" over with "back-chat" to this day...

[Claude Gonzales]

Patrick Ramdoo: Yuh forget dey pelt dem with bottle and mash up the system.

[Andre-Roger Dellevi]

And in more recent millennial years, along came yet another "electric" innovation by Salmon Cupid and the e-pan.

The inception of the steelpan can be traced back to the 1930's. Since then and throughout the decades, the "cause célèbre" has witnessed advancement through numerous innovations. Considering the track record and history of most musical instruments, to accomplish that much is such a relatively short period of space and time is a remarkable testament to the talents, skills and creativity of the people of T&T.

Forward Ever, Backward Never!

[Claude Gonzales]

Yes, Earl!!! Keep the HISTORY coming!!!