Vancouver, BC, Canada - Filmmaker Ricardo Scipio has announced that his third feature film, “Finder of Lost Children” will be premiering at the Hollywood Black Film Festival in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Theater #1, Wednesday, June 3, at 3:00 p.m.

The film features an original pan score by Danish recording artist/ panist/arranger/composer Sune Borregaard.

Created without any funding, and relying solely on the loyalty and support of a volunteer cast and crew, the film was shot in 26 days in and around Vancouver in the spring of 2007. Scipio previously wrote and directed the feature films “When” and “Watershed.”
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The first concerto ever written for steelpan and orchestra

Illinois, USA - “Concerto for Steelpan and Orchestra” - the work of composer and educator Dr. Jan Bach of Northern Illinois University (NIU) - was most recently performed by NIU baccalaureate and soon to be Masters candidate, panist Mia Gormandy. Originally written for then student, world-renowned panist Liam Teague (and now-Assistant Professor of Steel Pan and co-director of NIU’s steelband) back in 1994, it has since been performed throughout the USA and as far afield as Prague, capital of the Czech Republic.

Dr. Bach has taught at NIU for almost forty years, and has under his belt a comprehensive body of work written for nearly every acoustic instrument and/or ensemble, including eight or nine solo concertos with orchestra and five brass quintets. He has since additionally penned the thirty-minute “Songs of the Streetwise,” for choir, soloists, and a small steelband with percussion, based on poems by Chicago’s homeless people. This illustrious and innovative musician/educator shares with When Steel Talks the impetus behind his initial involvement with the steelpan, classical music written for the instrument, and his overall thoughts on the movement to date.
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Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - Trinidad and Tobago missed a golden opportunity to ‘sell’ steelband to the visiting heads of states who came for the 5th Summit of the Americas. Try to imagine the level of publicity that could have been generated if we had given a tenor pan, a stand, a case and a pair of sticks to each visiting head of state.

Look at the sudden rise in popularity of a book given by Mr. Chavez to Mr. Obama, it became an instant bestseller. All the front pages of our dailies carried a photo of the US president playing a batting stroke with his gift from Brian Lara.

These two incidents indicated to me that we are still a bit shy when it comes to our national instrument. It would have cost us a miniscule part of the summit budget to have our finest Tuners prepare thirty-three tenors for the visitors - each engraved with the head of state’s name to personalize the gift.
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Texas, USA - The 12th annual Inside Out Steelband Festival featured Leon “Foster” Thomas performing his original music last week at the One World Theatre in Austin, Texas.

This event showcased steelbands from McCallum High School, Covington Middle School, and Bowie High School alongside a world-renowned steel drum performer. Previous years have featured Ray Holman, Liam Teague, Tom Miller, Ras Iginga, and Andy Narell.
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New York - Steelband arranger and guitarist Scipio Sargeant passed away earlier today. Scipio “Skip” or “Sarge” Sargeant was born in Trinidad. At an early age he distinguished himself as one of the top musicians in his home country. As co-arranger for Despers USA, Sargeant won a record five of the orchestra’s six consecutive New York Panorama Championships from 1993–1998.

When Steel Talks extends condolences to the family of Scipio Sargeant..
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  Massachusetts, USA - This past weekend the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) held its annual ’Campus Preview Weekend (CPW). This is the annual 4-day weekend when high school seniors who have been admitted to MIT come to campus to visit and see what the school has to offer in every possible area of college life. And once again the steelpan instrument became a significant part of this landscape as hundreds of students, parents and faculty became fixated on Pantonic Steel Orchestra as they performed their varied repertoire in two sets on this beautiful Spring day in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Trinidad -  Skiffle Bunch Steel Orchestra did the Southland in Trinidad proud on a beautiful April 15 evening when they performed Georgia On My Mind as their tune of choice for the ‘Pan In The 21^st Century’ competition. The band retained the lead position gained coming out of the semis to capture first place. With 284 points, they beat out rivals and crowd pleaser Silver Stars (2009 Trinidad & Tobago Panorama champions) by one point for the top prize of TT $65,000.

Silver Stars was playing Bohemian Rhapsody by rock band Queen when they ceded the coveted top spot.
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New York- “400 Questions & Answers On Pan” is a rich resource that connects the threads between the history and accomplishments of the steelpan movement and its people.

Often, many of us wistfully wonder out loud “if only I had the time to” or “if someone only would or could do” this or that - all would be right in the world, or at least it would be a major contribution to wellness of man. Well, in the genre of the steelpan music instrument Ian Franklin put “ifs” aside, and has accomplished just that with his latest publication “400 Questions & Answers On Pan.”
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Lebanon- Double second steelpan musician Shawn Thwaites and his wife vocalist Sabreen Thwaites have been away from US shores since December 2008.  The talented duo has been delighting audiences as they already have back home, but this time around while touring Lebanon.

Their main performances have been delivered in the cabaret-style setting of the “Music Hall” - one of the biggest and best known venues located in the center of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. Interestingly, Sabreen herself previously graced that stage back in 2008, but as part of the world famous Harlem Gospel Choir.  In celebration of Women’s month in March, the Thwaites also performed for the United States Ambassador to Lebanon, Michele J. Sison, at the US Embassy in Beirut.
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Illinois, USA - “The thing that has impressed me the most about Mia has been her personality. In addition to her talent and work ethic, she is a wonderful person to be around. When Mia first came to Northern Illinois University (NIU), she had already gained a growing reputation as one of the best up and coming young steelpan talents in Trinidad. Like any other young talent, she had a number of areas that needed development and I think that she recognized that from early and never got too caught up in the hype. Over the 4 years that she has been at NIU I have seen her skills as a musician grow drastically. She has demonstrated a great work ethic and has brought a lot of energy to the NIU Steelband.”
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