I saw an article on WST that Hell's gates from Antigua is the World's Oldest Steel Orchestra, TRUE OR FALSE? http://www.panonthenet.com/spotlight/antiguapan/
You need to be a member of When Steel Talks to add comments!
This reply was deleted.
I saw an article on WST that Hell's gates from Antigua is the World's Oldest Steel Orchestra, TRUE OR FALSE? http://www.panonthenet.com/spotlight/antiguapan/
You need to be a member of When Steel Talks to add comments!
Replies
Then again, Is there some type of a Technicality between the name "STEEL BAND" AND "STEEL ORCHESTRA?" I believe they are the same.
Bede.
How Hells Gate could be the oldest steelband when pan was invented in T&T?
I wonder why WST did not say anything when they posted that Article by "Everybody's magazine, by Ivor B Ford",
WST did say something. It's in red under editor's note.
Pan Times, I did see that, that's where I got the second Article from, But at that time, since the editor had seen this other article and knowing that Pan was invented in T&T I would think that WST would try to get to the bottom of this and Nip it in the Bud, (so to speak). This would not be a discussion Today.
I am not trying to be Bias because I am from Trinidad, But I just can't see where Hell's Gate Steel Orchestra is the Oldest,
Then I saw another article that said that Invaders is the World's oldest Steel Orchestra, http://www.invaders-tt.com/achievements.html
That statement "Started in 1940, Invaders is the World’s Oldest Existing Steelband" could be misleading or may be we are using the term steel orchestra in a different context, Trinidad All Stars was documented as having started before Invaders...
Trinidad All Stars was formed on Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain, in 1935 as "Bad Behavior" with a group of panmen that included "Big Head" Hamill and Rudolph "Fish Eye" Olliviere, the band's first leader. In the early-1940s, the name of the band was changed three times, first to "The Hell Yard Boys," then "Second Fiddle," after the 1939 American movie of the same name starring Tyrone Power; and finally "Cross of Lorraine," after the 1943 American movie "The Cross of Lorraine," starring Gene Kelly. In the mid-1940s, the leadership of the band changed successively from Olliviere to Neville Jules and then to Prince Batson. During this time, the name of the band was changed to "All Stars." In 1948, Jules resumed the leadership and the band's name was modified to "Trinidad All Stars." In addition to being the band's leader, Jules was also tuner and musical arranger, positions he held until the early-1970s when he migrated to the USA.
Under Jules' leadership in the 1950s, All Stars began the tradition of interpreting a piece of classical music in calypso tempo and withholding it from the public's ear until the break of dawn on the first day of Carnival. The musical selection was referred to as "The Bomb" and, with the passage of time, other steelbands followed suit. Beginning in the 1950s, the All Stars panyard was located on Charlotte Street near Duke Street on the floor above the Maple Leaf Club; this floor was commonly referred to as the "garrot." All Stars received the sponsorship of Catelli Trinidad Ltd during the 1960s, but later switched to the Neal & Massy Company in 1988. In addition to winning the Steelband Music Festival six times, the band won the Panorama competition eight times, with musical arrangers Rudy Wells, Leon Edwards, and Eddy Quarles all contributing to the band's success. In 1982, All Stars received the Trinidad & Tobago Humming Bird Medal Gold for music. In 2014, All Stars became only the second steelband to cop the Large Band of The Year prize with its portrayal of "Sailors Ashore at A Tropical Fiesta." All Stars finished among the top three steelbands in the following significant competition:
http://www.bestoftrinidad.com/groups/allstars.html
Steelband - The Beginning
"Pan as an item was not invented by any person. It evolved and there are a number of people, including myself, who advanced it through certain stages of that evolution." (Elliott Mannette, October 25, 2000)
Between 1838 and 1883, the beating of skin drums was an integral part of Carnival celebrations. When a ban on all drum-beating was imposed in 1884, Carnival celebrants had to look for an alternative to the skin drum. They turned to bamboo after they discovered that dried bamboo of various diameters produced different sounds, when cut to differing lengths and struck with wooden sticks. Bands that used bamboo to produce music were called Tamboo Bamboo bands and the first report of such a band taking part in Carnival was in 1891. With the passage of time, Tamboo Bamboo bands were integrated into Carnival and flourished until the 1930s.
With an innate sense of rhythm and a burning desire to express this feeling by beating on something other than bamboo and skin drums during Carnival, some poor, Black, skillful Trinidadians turned to metal containers for music in the 1930s. Although there are varying opinions as to when the first sound from beating on metal cans was heard, there is strong evidence that such a sound occurred in 1935 when the Gonzales (Port-of-Spain) Tamboo Bamboo Band hit the road during Carnival with a bass can. As word of this innovation spread, aspiring metal can players all over Trinidad began crafting the bottoms of any metal containers (pans) that they could put their hands on, by pounding and partitioning the flat ends with hammers and steel punches to create different sounds. This art would later come to be known as tuning and the players were called panmen. By 1937, paint cans and cookie tin-cans were being played alongside Tamboo Bamboo bands during Carnival. In 1938, Victor "Toti" Wilson of the Calvary Tamboo Bamboo Band played a paint pan that had four notes tuned to the chimes of the clock at Queen's Royal College. By 1939, bands comprised of pans only began to form and were called steelbands. They initially took on names from popular American movies and the first two steelbands in the history of Trinidad were Alexander's Ragtime Band and Hellyard. In 1940, calypso music and the steelband began their long marriage when the Roaring Lion composed a calypso specifically for Alexander's Ragtime Band.
In the early stages of development, the instruments were made by pounding the tops of the metal containers outwards in a convex shape. Sound was created by beating the partitioned notes with wooden sticks. Experimentation with all types and sizes of containers accelerated as their use in making music during Carnival increased. The square cooking (sweet) oil container was also utilized, but the larger drums used by the Bermudez Company for shipping biscuits (crackers) were a favorite of the pan tuners. In 1941, the local newspaper, The Gazette, reported the use of biscuit (cracker) drums, dustbins (garbage cans), and paint cans for making music during Carnival.http://www.bestoftrinidad.com/steelband.html