Blog 2.0

Kim Johnson tells us in his book, The Illustrated Story of Pan: Second Edition that,

"Anthony 'Muffman' Williams is arguably the most important panman in history, because of his brilliance as an inventor, tuner, arranger and captain. He introduced the use of oil drums for the background pans, the cellos and bass, and then he put them on wheels so the heavy oil drums could be played on the road. He discovered harmonic tuning, in which more than one tone could be hammered into a note; and from that insight he created the now-standard 'fourths and fifths' arrangement of notes on the tenor pan. He was the first to experiment with oversized pans. As an arranger, Williams set a standard for how a band should sound, how the sections should be voiced in an ensemble, that is unsurpassed. His arrangements for the first two Panorama competitions created a template still followed. As a captain, his band was one of the most well-organised welfare-oriented, progressive ensembles."

High accolades never to be surpassed as a pioneer.

His passing this morning leaves a major gap in the ongoing conversation on and contestation around the idea of steelpan as more than accompaniment for revelry. Pan is more than the cliché sound of the Caribbean, it is more than an iconic image of tropical fun so popular in island tourism adverts from the middle of the 20th century coming forward. It is the soul of a people, of a nation. The pan's symbolism as national instrument, born not by official fiat, but by a transcription of an excerpt of a former Prime Minister's 1992 Independence Day speech, is not to be taken for granted here in T&T. Anthony Williams, and his pioneer posse — you know the names. Buy Kim's book if you don't! — began all this conversation of what is our gift to the world, our opportunity to be a trailblazer in a world leaving behind "small places with simple people" (yuh done know who write that Nobel phrase). His passing today still leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of those who know that the "traditional knowledge for making a steelpan and its role in the music and festivals of T&T" should be on UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, an action still remarkably left wanting all these years after our country's ratification of the Treaty governing these matters, in 2010, I believe. (Wake up, Mr. Minister!) His innovation of the circle of fifths on a pan was unwisely patented in the US by a fresh water Yankee in 2004 and successfully challenged by the T&T government and revoked by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Anthony Williams, unfortunately, lived in a time when the "audacity of creole imagination" was looked down on. His genius was not the conversation of industry. His genius never made him a millionaire. His genius was not the asset that our country would try to tap into for inspiration and profit. Today, as we reflect on his life and contribution, let us remember his significance in shaping a modern T&T by the unintended consequence of his innovation with an oil drum and the idea of music, and how we have made it part of our intangible cultural heritage. Rest in Peace Anthony 'Muffman' Williams.

©2021, Nigel A. Campbell. All Rights Reserved.

Island Jazz Chat is a Jazz in the Islands podcast featuring conversations with Caribbean jazz and panjazz musicians based in the islands and the diaspora. For more, click here.

Leon 'Foster' Thomas, contemporary steelpan jazz musician and composer from Trinidad, and at present, Caribbean Jazz researcher now based in the UK, chats on his career and the continuing journey to move the steelpan to the front of the jazz bandstand with his recordings and performances. His compositions, what he calls his "book of stories", position the instrument as a transcriber of emotions that allows for a dynamic range of sensitive touch and dexterity. His new album, Calasanitus due in March 2023, explores a range of topics that get to the heart of what Thomas sees as lives lived and the fates of people moving among the Americas. Mon, 9 Jan 2023

• Programme Date: 09 January 2023
• Programme Length: 01:31:10

If you can't see the embedded podcast player, click here for the podcast. 

Dearest Pan Women,
I read most of the interviews with you on ‘When Steel Talks’.
Pretty impressed by all of the stories, how you all came in contact with Pan.
What strikes me the most, is the dedication you all have towards this instrument.
It is exactly the way I feel about Pan. Although I came in contact with it when I was 5 years old, it took me about 45 years to find someone who could teach me to play.
In the sixties there were a lot of steel bands here, due to the Dutch Antilleans, who came to Holland to get an educating or work. But somehow the people in Holland became less interested and now there are only a few professionals left.
A shame, but what can you do…

As you all seem so dedicated to this instrument, I wondered if you read about my project on São Vicente, one of the Cape Verde islands.
Since the ‘boys’ on WST hardly react I thought I’ll give it a go and see if the ‘girls’ are more interested.
Last February I introduced the steelpan there, during carnival.
As there is hardly any money there I was only able to get a free stay and meals for whoever wanted to join me. Only one came!
But never the less I took a few pans with me and taught the inhabitants of São Vicente how to play, which resulted in playing the carnival tune during the parade. I must say, that I was very surprised and proud they picked it up so easily!
They loved the sound of it and want to learn everything there is to know about it.

Now I want to start part two of this project and I hope you can help me in this.
They need some pans to start a small band, but they can’t afford to buy them. Maybe one of you has a pan somewhere laying around, which you don’t need anymore. Doesn’t matter what pan it is, they are happy with any pan!!!

I got an offer from two people who want to build pans over there, which I really appreciate. But there are no oil drums with the right thickness on Cabo Verde, so they have to be imported as well, which will also cost money.

So my hope is that you can help them. Read my former post about it if you have the time. And if you have any other ideas, please tell me.
Hope to hear from all of you soon, even if you can’t help. Just to know that you care about spreading pan to this country.

Here are two links from the carnival. Hope you like!

https://youtu.be/IAfofR2bj_k

https://youtu.be/n6k1ceZ7-jY  ( from 2.30 min.)

Kind regards
Deanne Pijl, The Netherlands

Island Jazz Chat is a Jazz in the Islands podcast featuring conversations with Caribbean jazz and panjazz musicians based in the islands and the diaspora. For more, click here.

Andy Narell, globe-trotting and pioneering steelpan jazz musician, composer and arranger chats about his beginnings in the world of steelpan in the 1960s, and the evolution of the sound that he is leading in the 2020s with a new sample library of steelpan instruments created by the legendary master tuner Ellie Mannette. And everything in between. From the West Coast of America to Trinidad to South Africa, to the French Antilles and Japan, the Narell sound and music is a standard for many on how the business of steelpan jazz performance and recording operates. Caribbean and Latin American rhythms, African pulses, post bop references all colour his music, and with a prolific output of recordings, steelpan jazz is part of the global jazz conversation. Wed, 21 Sep 2022

• Programme Date: 21 September 2022
• Programme Length: 01:31:10

If you can't see the embedded podcast player, click here for the podcast. 

Island Jazz Chat is a Jazz in the Islands podcast featuring conversations with Caribbean jazz and panjazz musicians based in the islands and the diaspora. For more, click here.

Panman, steelpan virtuoso, steeldrum musician. Just don't call Annise 'Halfers' Hadeed a "pannist". He is more than that! This important musician and recording artist from Trinidad and Tobago, now resident in the U.K., has been blazing a trail in the jazz scene there, as well as contributing significantly to the Caribbean presence there as an award winning steelband arranger. He made his recording debut in the 1980s with The Breakfast Band, and recorded, toured and performed widely in the U.K. & Europe, the US, and the Caribbean, as part of a new wave of Caribbean jazz talent, reinforcing the work of pioneer kaisojazz musicians like Clive Zanda and Russell Henderson, and moving the music forward with important collaborations that put the steelpan at the forefront of a new jazz aesthetic. Wed, 10 Aug 2022.

• Programme Date:10 August 2022
• Programme Length: 01:32:28

If you can't see the embedded podcast player, click here for the podcast.

As I hope you all already know, I started a project about introducing pan on São Vicente, Cabo Verde Islands.

As this the site for developing pan all over the world, I hope to reach as much people as possible 

As a lot of bands in Trinidad/Tobago don't use mail, I hope you read this and help them to start a panyard.

My name is Deanne Pijl and I live in The Netherlands. And of course I play Pan.
Last February, during the Carnival, I was on São Vicente ( Cape Verde Islands) to do a small project, introducing Pan. They don’t know this instrument, never seen it, never heard it.

I had the opportunity to lend some pans from Nostalgia Steelband from London and took 5 pans with me.
My idea was to form a small band and play on the Carnival parade.
It was a great success!
They loved the sound and want to learn everything about playing pan.

Big problem.
Cape Verde is a poor country. Hardly any work there. So no money to buy instruments.

My colleague and me ( we are piano technicians) gave them 2 piano’s a couple of years ago, for almost nothing. This year I found a keyboard outside in the rain, dried it, worked fine and took it with me. The music teacher was very happy with it.

Well I think you know by now, why I sent you this letter.

Hope you can help them to set up a small pan yard, by donating a steelpan.
The music teacher Eddy Max,  asked the government for money for shipping the instruments, and they want to help him.

They also want to learn how to make one. Can’t do it myself, but I can teach them how to play. I don’t earn any money by teaching them, ( also tune there piano’s for free) I’m just doing it for the love of Pan and to help them in a musical way.

Really, really hope you are willing to help them and spread Pan to another part of the world.

Please reply, even if you don’t have the possibility to donate a Pan. Maybe you even have better ideas, how to start a steel band on São Vicente.
I know they will be very grateful. 

We had very little time ( only 8 days) and was very proud of them playing Pan as if they were born with it and could play the Carnival tune during the parade for 5 hours!!

Made a small compilation of it. Hope you have the time and enthusiasm to look at it and HELP THEM!!

https://youtu.be/IAfofR2bj_k

Kind regards
Deanne Pijl

As I hope you all know, I started a small project on The Cape Verde Island, São Vicente.

First part is done successfully, which was introducing and teaching pan. They never heard, saw or played a steelpan before. I was lucky that Nostalgia Steelband from London, lend me some pans, and took them with me, payed my own ticket to get there, and taught them how to play. 

The goal was to form a small steelband together with the inhabitants of São Vicente and play on their carnival parade.

And it worked! ( look at the video Cruzeiros Do Norte) They love the sound and want to learn everything there is to learn about pan.

So now I have to start the Second part of this project.

AND I NEED ALL OF YOU TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

Cape Verde is a poor country, hardly any work available.

How can we get pans over there, with them not having the possibility to pay for the instruments.

The local music teacher Eddy Max, is looking for ways, by talking to the council, to see if they are willing to contribute.

My question to all of you, and especially the big steelbands, is if there is a possibility to donate a pan.

Then they can start a panyard. They would be so grateful if this works.

The Third part of the project will be to learn them how to make their own pans. I can't do that myself, don't have the skills. But as I got in contact with Bowie Bowei from Nigeria, he is willing to help me in this.

PLEASE HELP FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PAN!! and sent them some pans.

If you have any other ideas, please tell me and respond to this letter.

Hope we can succeed in spreading pan to another part of the world!

Regards

Deanne Pijl

The Netherlands

How can one contemplate genius? How does one recognise that savant quality in gifted musicians? Here in the “Third World” of foreigners' fantasies, the reputations of communities have been placed on the shoulders of political giants, on the shoulders of criminals, on the shoulders of cricket captains and steelpan arrangers. For this Carnival 2015, I ventured to gather that magic of the urban panyard as a locus for creativity, for communality, for a congregation of the curious at the periphery looking in.

Travel writers have marvelled or maligned the steelband in print going back more than half a century. Patrick Leigh Fermor writing in The Traveller's Tree after a visit to All Stars panyard in the late 1940s noted, “[t]he sound that burst on the ears was hallucinating. From a mile away it might be almost agreeable.” "Almost" is not nearly good enough. Adjectives like “agreeable” are curt not ebullient. VS Naipaul a decade later in The Middle Passage reminisced infamously, “the steel band used to be regarded as a high manifestation of West Indian Culture, and it was a sound I detested.” A writer before his time or just a fastidious paladin in the service of the colonial ideal? These were still the early days for the phenomenon of the steelband.

In 1955, another “outsider,” Dane Chandos in his travel book The Trade Wind Islands wrote after his experience in a Woodbrook panyard that, “steel-bands-men...only at night turn to the serious business of living, pooling their thoughts, their humor, their ambitions and aspirations, with those of the other members of the gang.” The gang! When tropical urban youth gather it is described as a gang. History notes the violence of those gangs. Pan battles were rife. In Trinidad, however, out of chaos comes beauty.

The steelband, the community of players, now mostly female, the musicians on a mission are wilful participants in a kind of transformation of sound. The pans have evolved sonically over the years by those revered tuners—those iconic men of steel, Bertie, Butch, Wire, Tony, Ellie—into, among other things, engineering novelties like the awarded and gradually accepted G-Pan family. As Kim Johnson said so poetically, “the audacity of the creole imagination,” generations ago, birthed a movement. A movement of music, of genius, of people.

The steelband and the arranger. A unity. The last bastion of original Western orchestral music? Let's see. Travelling east to hear Birdsong just before the Panorama Semis, aware that steelpan iconoclast Andy Narell hasn't enthralled Trini pan cognoscenti as an arranger and composer, I discerned musical indifference from afar for what on close inspection was music that followed its own path parallel to the ingrained Panorama jam. Was it too soon, or was it a response to chauvinism gone awry with catcalls for his deportation because of arrogance? Westward ho, and one encounters panyard communities passionate with the fervour of zealots. Exodus, All Stars, Renegades, Despers, Silver Stars; Pelham, “Smooth,” Duvone, “Robbie,” Liam all enriched the well of orchestral music from this island. Tunapuna, Hell Yard, Charford Court, The Hill (come down), Newtown; communities enthralled. For this writer, however, that visceral feeling that one knows when something is working was left to the one and only.

Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, that avatar of all that's right and wrong in our music industry—brilliant prolific creativity and an errant lack of control to time and order—is Trinidad and Tobago's mad genius. In music, we have given regard to that definition to Mozart, to Charlie Parker, to Stevie Wonder. Men, sadly only men, who have made 90-degree turns in the music and enriched us. In the liner notes for his CD, “A Tribute To the Mighty Sparrow: Len 'Boogsie' Sharpe on the PHI,” I wrote:

Len “Boogsie” Sharpe has reached a point in his career where accolades are superficial. He is that temperamental genius who can compose in his head without the enhanced skill of an academy-trained musician, the scores for up to eight mini-symphonies for large steelpan orchestras in one short Carnival season. In Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean diaspora and the world, “Boogsie” is an icon of steelpan, that self-sufficient and brilliant musician who can do it all. In that sometimes erratic mind of his, “Boogsie” can cajole melodies and improvisations from any steelpan family member, making the familiar new, and the new, unforgettable.

Boogsie from Kim Johnson on Vimeo.

One is witness to that erratic mind. At 2:00 a.m., a couple days before the Panorama Finals, the seemingly random staccato of music notes being shouted out, in fact is the genesis of a new melody. "Boogsie" is creating on the fly, in situ. He is not improvising, he is "extempo-ing." In the film Pan! Our Musical Odyssey, "Boogsie" proclaims:

"If I hear a note or two notes, three notes, I have the chords in my head, and bass and everything running in my head...because I have the whole picture of the whole thing, how the whole orchestra sounding in my head."

What madness is that? The comparison to Mozart, Charlie Parker, Stevie Wonder is, however, apropos.

Through this madness, one has to listen. The song is never complete with "Boogsie". There is always the possibility of revision. His musicians know it. The fans know it. They expect it. This is music for the occasion defined by the occasion. Panorama is not your mother's cup of tea! With a track record that suggests that the judges must like him—enough wins, top five placings, and original music to start an industry—he steadfastly persists in coining the new future sonic clichés, fashioning the new musical trope. "Rough it up, rough it up," is a phrase often heard from “Boogsie” to make the players excite the sound. "Panorama is not your mother's cup of tea!" The shock of the new also attracts a new cadre of pannists.

Phase II Pan Groove, like all young offshoots, made a trajectory that deviated from the norm back at its genesis, and attracted a whole lot of folk who would not have entered a panyard with the experience of witnessing either madness or genius. The fortunate traveller Chihiro Nimomiya, little Aria Bartholomew, Gary Padmore, Natasha Joseph, Johann Chuckaree. Front-liners. The immediate faces of the band. In them, we see that Phase II is a conglomeration, a United Nations gathering. Varying nationalities, races, ages, sizes all come to do service in the house of "Boogsie". The combination of player and instrument is a magnet for a divergent spectator class that includes every shade of armchair critic, newly landed fanatics who crave the next tropical hangout as advised by social media, dancing fools and the local hypocrites who are, as Earth, Wind & Fire sang, “saying nothing, talking loud.”

To suggest that pan music and the audience's sudden appreciation of it are the faddishness of the plantation nouveaux riches is to conjecture that the pendulum of taste is static. Trinidad, unfortunately, lingers with the cyclical stasis of a short Carnival season creating a short appreciation season. According to the local press at the time, the first steelband on the road was celebratory outside the Carnival. We sometimes hold dear to old totems fanning away the flames of change. Pan is global. Pan music is not cyclical. That “audacity of the creole imagination” is now visceral. In the hands of these music men, it is genius personified.

13 February 2015

P.S. 16 Feb 2015

"Boogsie" and Phase II Pan Groove did not win the Panorama large band category. All Stars playing a "Smooth" Edwards arrangement of "Unquestionable" won, with Phase II second playing "Happiness" and Rengades placing third playing Duvone Stewart's arrangement of "Jam Dem Hard", co-written adventitiously by Johann Chuckaree of Phase II.

© 2015, Nigel A. Campbell. All Rights Reserved.

(Part 1 of a T&T Guardian series on Panorama)

The annual ritual of the steelband Panorama competition has begun in Trinidad and Tobago, and continues apace through the stages culminating on Carnival Saturday with the finals. With the financial cutbacks across the board in all areas of the economy including Carnival, there is a recognition that the sum of the parts have to be efficient and excellent to make the whole better. The holistic view of Panorama being in need of “fixing” taken by some commentators and pundits has raised the question of why has this analysis not been done and implemented before this recession, and why, even in these times, does the state still pump money, in the millions into Carnival and its events such as Panorama

A simple answer could be that Panorama represents the apotheosis of the national instrument. That reasoning was supplied by steelpan researcher Dr Kim Johnson, who spoke to the T&T Guardian about the idea of the continuation of the state funded event within the context of moribund standards for the industry of steelpan throughout the year. Johnson noted the history of Panorama: “Panorama was the PNM government of the 1960s taking control of the steelband movement, what they saw as national culture. The strategy included making it more lucrative to play in Panorama because of prize money and appearance fees than to play in parties and fêtes.”

The intrigue continues with the assertion that the early Panorama became the antithesis of the existing Bomb competition with opposing class and racial groups challenging for control and influence—the new governing elite insisting that calypso be played versus the working class playing classical music—and critically voter support. Johnson: “PNM had no organised masses like a union, so panmen represented a structured link to the voting masses.” The link between political fate and culture control is observed in countries in the region like Cuba, and even here when calypso lyrics were subject to censors speaks of a kind of continued control.

In these modern times, the State, spends millions on the continuation of Carnival both as catharsis and economic input via tourism and the economic multiplier effect of trade at that time. In 2016, $270 M is allocated to the National Carnival Commission (NCC), which effectively runs Carnival, of which Pan Trinbago got $30 M. Keith Diaz says that his organisation requested $45 M from the government, but Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said that “the current economic conditions have forced the Government to cut back.” Efforts to get a statement from the minister in relation to the question of the rationale and policy for state funding of steelpan proved futile. What is clear from government statements is the need to increase revenues from diversified sources outside of oil and gas.

The people's representatives in the Parliament, during Joint Select Committee (JSC) hearings in 2012 looking into the management of the NCC reported their findings in a report that spoke about financial and management matters at the organisation, and conclusions from this report provide some answers to questions of the viability of the Panorama event and the spin-off projects like the disputed Greens area. The report specifically noted congestion of the masquerade on Carnival Tuesday, and only touched on the stalled construction of the Pan Trinbago headquarters—at least $5.8 M spent and unfinished since 2002—and the movement away from T&T of the steelpan industry. Any notions of a long Panorama event—an assertion made by some to recommend fixing—were not concluded as a problem!

When challenged by former senator Emmanuel George to justify the Greens space as a simultaneous “fête” when the focus should be on pan at Panorama, Clarence Moe, then NCC CEO responded that, “there is a push at present to tell the interest groups [Pan Trinbago in this case], your events and activities must be viable. That you must be able to at least increase the levels of revenue, because the shows and the events that you put on have the potential for raising higher revenues...this year has generated the greatest level of revenue that we have ever seen, indeed it was almost doubled.” Economics trumped all other considerations. Despite some pull out from party organisers and promotions companies, companies are organising their posses for the Savannah Party on Sunday.

Vice president of Pan Trinbago Bryon Serrette, in 2014, justified the existence of the Greens by noting that “while a lot of the younger generation members are playing with the steelbands, their peers have not been supporting the event...they would prefer not to sit in one spot for hours listening to the bands....Pan Trinbago, therefore, took the decision to accommodate these patrons by giving them a space in which they would be comfortable, and at the same time contribute to the revenues we are expected to generate from the event.” Keith Diaz, Pan Trinbago president reiterates, “Pan Trinbago is not the Pan Trinbago of yesteryear. We are now a business-driven enterprise.” Yet the call for increased subventions continues.

It must be noted that nearly 90% of the NCC's budget comes via government subvention. Pan Trinbago's money is a mix of public and private funding with a very small portion of revenue coming from gate receipts and rentals. But Panorama is not only about money, it is about performance and increasingly about broadcast and intellectual property exploitation.

The recent example of the marathon International Soca Monarch has shone a new spotlight on the idea of broadcasting and live streaming of Carnival events and the production values expected of such an enterprises. The idea of broadcasting festival type events has precedence in the BBC broadcasts of Glastonbury and state television stations in Europe broadcasting jazz festivals like Estival in Lugano, Switzerland, and Jazzaldia in San Sebastián, Spain, as international examples. Snapshots or even sets by acts support a television broadcast that is distributed worldwide. The local preference to position a camera or a bank of cameras on unprepared singers or eight minute bursts of steelpan performance sandwiched between 20 minutes of transition time between bands creates a bad television experience, as noted by many on social media, and an unsupported product for live international broadcast where the economic exploitation make sense.

At the 2012 JSC hearings, the NCC admitted failure to further exploit broadcast rights citing “the lack of proper technology” and noting their inability to collect accreditation fees from international photographers. What becomes clearer in 2016, is how far we as a nation is behind the learning curve of modern technology and trends, and the slow buy-in to the notion that local audiences' expectations have increased with the burgeoning of cable television and internet providing example of standards not seen often in these islands.

Kim Johnson posits another idea based on his research, “Pan is not a consumer thing. Capitalist music systems are about consumption, pan is about participation.” This idea turns the standard business model for the exploitation of pan via a Panorama or the broadcast of Panorama on its head. At the funeral of calypso jazz pioneer Raf Robertson, Fr Clyde Harvey suggested that pan should take a page from the jazz book: “jazz is about festivals, not a contest. Eight “winners” at semis, share the prize money equally, and a festival on 'finals night' for all of us to celebrate the music and the instrument.” Aside from the argument of picking eight “winners” constituting a competition, Harvey's suggestion was roundly rebutted by Johnson: “That can't work. We need the competition. Black music is about immediacy. Jazz achieves that by improvisation, pan by competition.”

SIDEBAR: Who's winning this...again?

Kim Johnson says that “Panorama is a competition for arrangers.” However, there is a kind of stasis in the growth of prize winning arrangers. Despite the embargo on one arranger arranging for multiple bands many years ago, in the last 35 years only eight arrangers have “won” in the large band category, the late Jit Samaroo winning nine times, Leon “Smooth” Edwards winning eight times, Len “Boogsie” Sharpe winning seven times among the leaders.

His thesis hinges on the notion that in New World African music, the spontaneity of jazz is removed in our pre-composed context of arranged carnival music at Panorama. To that, is the “who go win” factor that insists only a competition will decide. The immediacy of improvisation is replicated in our context by competition.

Panorama continues because it satisfies that ageing demographic, which can not sustain it as a popular music. Panorama continues because the state seeks to maintain support, financially and otherwise for a “national” culture. Panorama continues because it owner, Pan Trinbago, has made it the acme of the instrument and the industry. Nestor Sullivan, an expert, suggests that “Panorama seems to be the 'definition of steelpan' but as a catalyst for annual music practising and development, it is not doing that.” The world is moving on with creative industry exploitation T&T has begun with differing results thus far. Kim Johnson posits, finally, that “steelband is modern instrument that preserves the ancient idea that music is participation.” These two ideas from learned folk suggest that the annual rite of passage that is Panorama may be in need of fixing, but only when the society at large, get on board the idea that fix anything in this island is to shift paradigms away from the familiar.

1. A version of this article appears in the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian newspapers published as, "Fixing Panorama"

© 2016, Nigel A. Campbell. All Rights Reserved.

American pannist and composer Andy Narell is an iconoclast who fearlessly challenges the narrow definitions of acceptable pan music. He is global, and his usefulness as an ambassador for Trinidad and Tobago's national instrument is tainted by suspicion long held by panmen and the steel pan fraternity in general here. It may be an attitude of his own making. Long held beliefs are hard to dispel with logic. Pan pioneer Rudolf "Fish Eye" Ollivierre welcomed itinerant writer Patrick Leigh Fermor back in the late 1940s to Hell Yard, as described in his travel book The Traveller's Tree—"The ease of his manner was admirable"—implying a sense of awe and acceptance we have nurtured over the years in this region for "tourists." Narell has long ago stopped being a tourist. The cri de coeur of a Trinidad-resident critic sums up the native posture towards Narell:

He is one of us and thus, prone to the same criticisms and praise as the rest of us. He is critical of our music, our Panorama and we react without obsequiousness. And rightly so, for that is the Caribbean posture, effectively practised by the panman forever; never back down from a challenge.

Andy Narell belongs to a pantheon of expatriate creatives who "belong" here in Trinidad and at the same time are aware of their difficulty of so belonging. Important regional authors were temporary immigrants to these shores in the mid- 20th century—Edgar Mittelholzer in 1941-48, George Lamming in 1946-50, Derek Walcott in 1959-76—and their presence and experiences added to the canon of great West Indian literature. Trinidad's capital, Port of Spain, and by extension, the island is a place frequented by those wanderers in search of inspiration and succour. It still is a moving place designed to shape memory and ways of feeling.

George Gershwin's symphonic tone poem, An American in Paris is the impression of a visitor—probably Gershwin himself recounting an earlier visit—moving through the city of lights. Andy Narell is an ideal template of An American in Paradise! The idea of an expatriate musician in a foreign land and his potential influence on the music industry formed a question in the writer's head: "would an American in Trinidad energise a jazz (pan jazz?) renaissance in Trinidad, or would it foster competitive jealousy?" The answer could be gleaned from the Narell narrative.

Narell's initial visit was as a 12 year old child to perform at the 1966 Trinidad Music Festival. That life-changing experience introduced him to the panyards and the pioneers, especially Ellie Mannette, and served as the education of this lifelong student of the steel pan and the steelband movement. His annual pilgrimage to the source has been unceasing since 1985. His encyclopaedic knowledge of panmen, the music and the environment of pan suggests that he has done his work, and his global journeys in the service of spreading the sound of pan and his music are not matched by many.

Trinidad-born Nobel laureate in literature, VS Naipaul posits poetically in A Writer's People: "small places with simple economies bred small people with simple destinies." Narell, the American, sees the world differently. He recounted that when he first did a concert in Trinidad in 1985, it was billed as a shoot-out, a competition. The promoters thought that would pique interest. The implication of race and nationality was an unspoken catalyst. That idea was whispered loudly!

The apprehension by Trinidad and Tobago to fully adopt this ambassador of steel pan jazz has been noticeably clear. French film maker Laurent Lichtenstein, in his portrait of Narell filmed in Trinidad in 2009, Andy and the Jumbies, asserts that his presence and concert "may help him to be accepted as a real Trinidadian." Narell himself has noted to writer Asha Brodie in 2007 that he wasn't everybody's cup of tea: "I guess I also have a reputation for being 'avant-garde' and for not caring about who wins [Panorama], which is why my phone isn't ringing." That isolation could either be the result of xenophobia or artificial rage. "Small people with simple destinies."

His presence has not swayed the minds of dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists. The years-long struggle for the privilege to compose for Panorama was an exercise in the fleshing out of de facto prejudices that disallowed foreigners from composing or even arranging for the competition, much less a tune without lyrics. Triumphant in 1999 in breaching the divide, Narell was once again in Trinidad arranging his composition "The Last Word" for Birdsong Steel Orchestra for the 2013 Panorama competition. This is his third competition, and controversial to the end, judges and commentators noted that the tune doesn't "reflect Trinidad's energy or language!" Champion steelband Despers' arranger Beverley Griffith noted in a conversation with ethnomusicologist Shannon Dudley: "Excitement is one of the key things in today's Panorama; you hear that on every judge's score sheet: 'It could do with a little more excitement.' They wouldn't tell you exactly what it is..." De facto prejudices and de jure standards are continuing challenges to Narell.

A narrow focus on ensemble music for pan can limit the Trinidadian's need to accommodate him. He is more than an arranger. It is not without trying that he succeeded to place the instrument in the context of global music industry via prolific recorded output, sales and performances. According to his bio:

He's one of only a small handful of steel pan players in the world who are playing jazz, and perhaps the only one among that coterie to commit an entire career "live and in the studio" to creating new music for the pan in that context.

The intersection of location and presence can yield surprising results on music output. Narell was categorized by the music industry in the US—sheet music publishers and reviewers of his initial Heads Up recordings—as a Latin Jazz artist, even if not so self-described, thus negating the growing influence that the music of the Caribbean isles had on his growing canon of music. His effortless movement and adaptation of Latin American melodies and rhythms including his work with Caribbean Jazz Project and on the album Behind The Bridge in the mid-to- late 1990s signalled new directions in music.

In 1999, he reaped the benefit of post-apartheid South Africa's adulation of him and his music at the Arts Alive Festival, with 60,000 fans "singing" his lyric-less steel pan melodies. The juxtaposition of an Afro-Caribbean bred instrument in Africa led to recordings there. Later relocation to Paris and meeting with exiled French-Antillean jazzmen there led to the formation of Sakesho and the resultant two CDs. The corpus of Trinidadian steel pan music allows space for this maverick.

Narell, the frequent visitor—in 2013, he performed at the annual Jazz Artists on the Greens in Trinidad in March, Jazz in the South in St Lucia in May, and St Kitts Music Festival in June—if not the fortunate traveller has created music that to the local ear resonates with the sound and energy of calypso and the harmonic and melodic sentiments of the Panorama compositions of calypso legend Lord Kitchener, and steel pan players/arrangers Ray Holman, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe, Robert Greenidge, among others. This town—Port of Spain, paradise—has rubbed off on him. He belongs to Trinidad.

Photo Credit
Ari Rossner

SONS OF STEEL ROCKS TORONTO! UP NEXT... TRINIDAD & CAYMAN ISLANDS !!

The Armenian centre was blown away Saturday July 14th, 2012 with the performance of three brothers in the ‘Sons of Steel’ concert featuring Noel, Earl Jr. and Olujimi La Pierre. 'Sons of Steel' kicked off in Toronto with a grand opening performance, which left the audience clapping and singing to each song played by the talented and skillful brothers.

The show opened with Earl La Pierre Jr. the extraordinary steel pannist , also known as Eman for his Mc and promotional skills. He played selections from I Will Always Love You, The Lady In My Life, I Wanna Rock With You, Goat Mouth and others. After warming up the crowd, the stage was graced with one of the pioneers of steelpan music in Canada and the Cayman Island, Mr. Earl La Pierre Senior, who demonstrated his years of aptitude.

Ending the first half was the Boy Wonder himself all the way from the Cayman Island, Olujimi La Pierre, offering his versatility and skill on the steelpan, as he played songs like Wings Breath My Wings, Just The Two Of Us , High Mas and more.

After a rocking first half, the show continued to thrill the audience as Noel La Pierre, COTT award recipient bought his ‘Trini’ flavor to the stage with his wonderful artistry on the steelpan in his selections Inspiration, Morning, Between The Sheets and My Passion.

The show climaxed with a grand finale performance which made history placing both father and sons on the same stage, for the first time ever, ringing out the the soca hit ‘Bacannalist’.

The steelpan soloists were all backed by the multitalented Liamuiga Project featuring Bruce Skerritt, Andrew Stewart, Tony Pierre, Larnell Lewis, and chorus Ralph Robinson and Onika Coar.

The ‘Sons Of Steel’ concert was a concept created to bring together three unique style. The annual show was dedicated to the living memory of Norma Adele Peter, their grandmother, who the family described as the foundation and pillar that held everything together.

The Sons Of Steel will be travelling to Trinidad and Tobago in January 2013 to perform at the Cascadia Hotel and Conference Centre, followed by a final concert in April in the Cayman Islands.

The brother’s wish to thank their family and friends as well as their sponsors Pan Arts Network (P.A.N), AfroPan Steelpan, Cascadia Hotel and Conference Centre, Proman Ag Trinidad and Tobago and Pantrinibago for all the support.

For more information on Sons of Steel please contact 1-416-953-0905 / 1-868-484-3923.

We are currently working on planning an education based steelpan festival for the Great Lakes area. The festival will likely be taking place within the chicagoland area and will be geared towards school bands that are looking to expand their knowledge of the instrument, not just another venue to perform at. The festival will take place during the weekend of April 13-14, 2013.

We are starting to pick up some momentum and there has been a lot of interest from people like Gary Gibson, Ellie Mannette, Darren Sheppard, Billy Sheeder, Emily Lemmerman, Freddy Harris III, and more. We are currently working on building an itinerary though and would love some feedback from the community about what they would like to see in this new festival.

We have posted a possible itinerary to our website, also attached here, that is very full and shows what could be possible. This is just a launch pad for discussion though, so please feel free to critique it and offer your suggestions. Please check out our website, steelpanfestival.com/survey, to take our survey about organizing the festival. Also, feel free to send an e-mail to surveys@steelpanfestival.com with direct feedback about the itinerary or the festival in general. You can also leave comments here.

This festival is designed to help promote steelpan education and without the feedback from the steelpan community, it will not become as much of an asset to the pan as it could be.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

I was recently re-animated about the possibilities of programming 24 hours of steelpan jazz and its variants for online radio, when I had to do a little research into the output of this sub-genre of our Caribbean jazz fusion experiment. Some hard realities; we had a proliferation of CDs during the1990s, both in Trinidad and Tobago and abroad, mainly North America. A smattering of offerings out of the UK and Europe did not hold much sway as we entered the 21st century. As a programming niche, there is a thin line between repitition and redundancy.

There is a sort of renaissance in music recording now from the US, by non-Trinidadians as well as diasporic citizens, but the quality varies with level of music academic qualifications. Two names stick out, Phil Hawkins and Gary Gibson, both offering two and four CDs respectively in the 2000s, leaning to what Andy Narell, among others, has termed "progressive steelpan jazz": jazz-based, harmonically intricate music. To quote a review for one of Gibson's CDs: "Speaking a language of harmonic depth not previously explored within the steelpan community in recorded music, Gibson's compositions provide an excellent springboard for improvisations." Both these West-coast musicians attempt to be innovators of music for steelpan. On the east coast of the US, ex-pats Liam Teague and Leon Foster Thomas are creating variety, Victor Provost recently premiered with bebop stylings, while JAOTG alumnus Jonathan Scales released his third CD of musically complex and outside the box compositions. One critic noted, "the music on Jonathan Scales' [three CDs] defies the conventional parameters of jazz or even "pan-jazz" and pushes composition to unprecedented levels of complexity and sophistication."

Local steelpan recordings seem to revolve around ensemble performance by a whole band, with few offerings by our greats: Boogsie, Professor, Ray. Robbie Greenidge, with his collaborations with Michael Utley of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefers Band, has about over a half-dozen CDs, now and then veering towards his boss' carefree tropical blend devoid of the native rhythms that inform Caribbean jazz. I look and listen with keen interest at young Kyle Noel's upcoming offerings. This Trinidad southerner, far from the madding crowd has interesting musical and sonic ideas, and it would be an excellent fillip for the inventors of the PHI to get that instrument into his hands.

Hoping and believing that quantity and quality are what drive a music industry, I look, and wait with bated breath for the day when we get our act together here in the Caribbean, to make that statement that we made years ago when Caribbean people challenged the idea that there was music other than rock 'n' roll that was chart-worthy in the US. Belafonte was a catalyst then, but not a sustainer. It is said that Andy Narell is the equivalent catalyst for the steelpan. Only excellent output will sustain. [Listen to the exfm stream of some collected music here.]

Phil Hawkins Livin Right

Jason Baptiste 546

Victor Provost Her Favorite Shade of Yellow

Annise Hadeed Over-Time

Jaco Pastorius Good Morning Annya

Kalabash From Whence We Came

Richard Bailey Sande Grande Plains

Kyle Noel The Black Whole

WDR Big Band Köln Pan Woman

Phil Hawkins The Big Idea

The Breakfast Band Jazzabel

Hugh Huggins Jr. Carenage

Leon "Foster" Thomas No Looking Back

Ken Professor Philmore Hibiscus Drive

Gary Gibson A Little Poem For You

Canefire Little Bell

Garvin Blake Belle Eau Road Blues

Ron Reid's Sunsteel Dis J'ouvert

Othello Molineaux Hannibal's Return

Lennard Jack What's On Your Mind

Andy Narell Stickman

Greenidge/Utley Trini Style

Ralph MacDonald Samba 4-2

Ray Holman Charlotte Street

The Steel pan is a beautiful creation originated in Trinidad & Tobago in the late 19.30's and is the only orchestral family of acoustic musical instruments to be invented in the 20th century. With instruments ranging from low bass to high sopranos, all made out of the same raw material (oil drums) makes this invention a magnificent achievement for people of Trinidad & Tobago.

Jamani Stewart as a young steelpan soloist has adapted the use of the instrument to perform songs that people in his age group would recognises,  creating a  refreshing   mix of contemporary R & B, hip-hop, dancehall and reggae, performing songs  by artistes like R. Kelly, Sean Paul, Akon,T.O.K, as well as performing traditional calypso,s jazz Ballard is helping to bring the steelpan to new audiences. As a young steelpan ambassador he has found the instrument is very popular with staff and pupil at his secondary school perry beaches.

Jamani started recording his first album at 12 years old and completed it by   13th birthay. he was quite impressed to see how his brand of  steelpan music was received by people world wide, he also enjoyed TV  coverage

To View Jamani in Action on Central News please click on link below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF4QesMbT_4

Jamani with Proud Dad "Mighty Jamma"

Coming from a musical family has help contribute in many different areas,. Jamani's two uncles  as well as Dad are very involved in the music also, Uncle Barry (MACKADUB) Stewart help with all the technical Recording  and production side of the album, Uncle Norman ( Pan Maestro ) Stewart Tune's the Steelpans, and his Dad Jamma Stewart is UK'S No1 Steelpan Soloist Champion, so a lot of input from different directions has contributed to the production, not forgetting his sister Rochella Stewart  who also plays the pans, and did all the art work for the CD. & Mom who makes his costumes for public performances.

Jamani & Rochella

Team work is always a good thing, when Jamani performs with his dad he gets a chance to explore new musical ideas with improvisation and melodies and understanding the language of music in deeper depths.Check out this on  rehearsed performance of improvisation on the stop with Jamani & his Dad.

To view video click on link    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPb7Dpi8X4c

using the steelpan to play diffrent stlyes of music can only help the instrument to  move forward into  interrogation with conventional instruments.

It was a pleasure  to see Jamani getting awarded at school for unstanding musical achievements,

Happy Family Friend TV Celebrity Rusty Lee at Perry Beaches Awards Evening

Angela Stewart, Rusty  & Jamma proud parents of Jamani celebrate with good friend Rusty

Proud head Master Liam Noland Perry Beaches school

To hear sample's of Jamani please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU2MCElFXrU

For information on workshops/ performances please visit www.jammasteelpan.net

Jamani being a solo performer means you have to rely on yourself to run the show, were as in a band you have other musicians to help you out, which is all good as in developing team work skills,  so  getting the corrected balance  between  solo permanences  and band work, is inessential skills to have  for a young  growing  musician.

Over the years locally  Jamani has performed at many venues, like the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre  (NEC) Birmingham Symphony Hall, the National indoor arena, to mention a a few, he has travelled to Africa, Trinidad, guernsey, and many more places.. Also he has done many Radio and TV performances,  recorded TV Advert for the Saint Kits and Nevis Jazz festival, performed on live TV in Trinidad & Tobago the home of the Steelpans

Picture above  was taken in Trinidad TV studios, after   performance by 3 Steelpan solo artist .  Jamani Stewart, "UK'S young Steelpan Soloist" with one of "Trinidad & Tobago's top Steelpan soloist" Dane Gulston & Dad Mighty  Jamma, "UK'S No1 Steelpan Soloist Champion", with Alison Hennessey Trinidad and Tobago TV presenter

To View 12 year old  Jamani Performing  On Children's BBC click on link below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6fpB-SESBM&feature=autoplay&list=PL5D0CD40E17D83AF8&index=1&playnext=6

The Steelpan as a solo instrument is capable of playing many different forms of music. The lay out of notes on the  Tenor pan (Soprano )  Jamani is performing on is set to a circle of 4th & 5th. the one pan carries 29 diffrent notes and  was discovered by Trinidad Genius Tony Williams.

Many Steelpan soloist thrive to perform and improvise over well known jazz standards

to view video of   14 year old Jamani  improvising &  rehearsing a piece called Meditation please click on link  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKEw3AVNl8w&feature=related

Due to the fact the steelpan is a melodic percussive instrument it is very important to understand Melodies, Chords, & Harmonies as well as  different kinds of beats & rhythms .Playing drums can be very helpful to develop the rhythmic understanding. Drumming  also helps  develop better wrist action for control of  speed, dynamics   & rolling notes.

Jamani started playing drums from 3 years old, and has always kept that passion with him. the next video clip was recorded at perry beaches school concert were Jamani played drums with his friends & Asian dhol drummers

to view 15 year old Jamani,s performance  on drums please click on link below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-mO9zVxq2o

For more information on Steelpan  workshops & performances please visit

www.jammasteelpan.net

PAN HYSTERIA?
Nationals of Trinidad and Tobago let out a collective gasp at the Trinidad Expresss newspaper report by Terry Joseph last month entitled "Pan Shocker" detailing the successful patent by two Americans, Maryland-based George Whitmyre and Harvey J. Price of Delaware for the "Production of the Caribbean Steel Pan." Readers were then hurriedly corresponding with newspapers and opining on electronic media talk shows on the temerity of these two Yankees—read: white men— patenting we own t'ing. "The sweat of the Black man's brow has now been owned by these Americans who have the considerable backing of the US government against all challenges," was how one writer approached TanTan, "much like how they try to thief Lord Invader's Rum and Coca Cola."

The patent document, available online at the US Patent Office's website, outlines the applicants' claim for using a hydro-forming process to make a pan that is consistent and efficient to produce, along with modifications to facilitate transportation, storage and tuning. A few things are apparent from a cursory look at the document:

1. First, the patent was granted since April 10, 2001, a year before the article broke in the Express. 
2. Second, no reference is made to Trinidad and Tobago, but to the more general Caribbean. (We have since heard that the Trinidad and Tobago government is seeking to trademark the name so that all comers will recognise the birthplace of pan.)

The inventors also cite as their only steel pan reference, a pan tuning book written by Swedish pan enthusiast and tuner, Ulf Kronman. And this is where things fall apart! That book on pan tuning was the first such published internationally back in 1992. At that point, we failed to recognise the slow release on the grip of ownership of the idea and culture of pan. Collateral material—books, CDs, score sheets—and the assets of cultural production were ceded by inaction or executive fiat, to "foreigners" to reap the profits of our labours. We missed the boat in encouraging local participation in the process at that point. The international industry in cultural marketing was a void to persons in Trinidad and Tobago. Those trying to breach were called traitors; just ask Ellie Mannette.

DC-based Trinidad-born lawyer, Nigel Scott, who specializes in intellectual property matters first expressed to this writer that this is hysteria. Scott notes that patents are country specific, and so far there is only the US patent on record which speaks to the limitation of claim by the inventors. My counter argument to him that the US represents a large potential market for the inventors' manufactured instrument speaks to the difference in vision between Trinbagonians and Americans; where we see fête and bacchanal, Americans see money! Living in America, as we do, is to be bombarded with ideas and concepts which, useful or not, represent the hegemony of US inventiveness and marketing. By example, Spain will be forever known as the birthplace of the classical guitar, whereas the innovation of the electric guitar, an American invention, has been the catalyst for the rock and roll industry and by extension, the profitable global music industry. Market forces drive industries, not legalisms.

A challenge to the patent is forthcoming from the noises of government ministers, mainly Legal Affairs Minister Camille Robinson-Regis under whose portfolio intellectual property falls. The intellectual property protocols are still being negotiated by the WTO, but examples such as this show our vulnerablty. The legal culture in Trinidad and Tobago, which is not necessarily proactive but reactive allows for effective incursions by others into the creative assets of the islands. Challenges to patents, within the statute of limitations, are always part of the process of patenting. Examples from India, backed by large Indian corporations and research centres, show how Third World nations have successfully reversed patents for cultural by-production of native assets awarded to US companies.

In our case, much of the research on using the hydro-forming process to make a pan was done by CARIRI and the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine by Clement Imbert and others in the 1970s. Their reluctance or inability to apply for a patent on their innovations may be indicative of the malaise of the society. (Petty politics and funding have been suggested.) The hysteria that Scott speaks of is a symptom of the late recognition by our citizens to the gap between industrial societies like the US and Europe and "client cultures" like our own. At the end of the day, guitar music and instrument production, and its profit are the domain of America, not Iberia. Can we be far behind in this example? Unlike Spain, in the previous example, we do not have a documented cultural heritage of centuries to fall back on. A "work of mas" had to be defined by the Swedish consultant to the government on the reformation of our intellectual property laws in the 1990s! Such are our legal minds.

Intellectual property is not something to be glibly laid bare for all-comers to exploit. This patent, Production of a Caribbean Steel Pan, is possibly the first step in a series of patents to streamline the production of the instrument to take advantage of economies of scale between handmade and assembly line production. Quality counts in the ethereal realm, quantitiy counts in dollar and cents: whose side do you want to be on?
Source: Campbell, Nigel A. "Pan Hysteria?" TanTan 1(2) (May 2002): 4. Print.

• Patent Title (US Patent#)
• Pan musical instruments and methods for making same (7745711)
• Soprano steel pan set and associated methods (7696421)
• G-Pan musical instrument (7750220)
• Electronic synthesized steelpan drum [e-Pan™] (7030305)
• Cycle of fifths steel pan (6750386) Reversed
• Portable steel drums and carrier (5973247) Lapsed
• Steel pan musical instrument (D496959) Design patent
• Steel pan tablature system and associated methods (7842872)
• Music teaching tool for steel pan and drum players and associated methods (7799983)
• Apparatus for Percussive Harmonic Musical Synthesis Utilizing Midi Technology [P.H.I.®] (Application number: 12/438,980)
• Electronic Input Device for Use with Steel Pans and Associated Methods (Application number: 12/908,461)