Is anyone streaming the show ? Some of us are unable to attend but would still like to share in the experience.
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NLCB Fonclaire you have got it all keep on going on, ah hope that the Prime Minister take note once more and support the PAN,music aint got colour,creed,colour race ,religion or border.,,,,its an International Language and Pan, the Steelpan Tops it all,,and I do make my comment as a Panman,,place a DJ and Place the Pan in a Party well I going weh de Pan deh,,,trust meh, Respect
In viewing this live broadcast with Niel and Massey my respect and congrats to this magnificient Steelband an it,s players,,tie music took me back to wen I was a youth now getting involved in pan playing,not leaving out the well tuned instruments..God Bless T&T ,,Pan Got To Live On,,,from the heart of a Panman.Nuff respect Niel and Massey
We the audience at NAPA were treated to a masterful musical journey from Invaders Steel Orchestra, on August 22nd, 2013. The concert commenced at 7:37 pm, a mere 7 minutes over the scheduled time, with the playing of our National Anthem.
Invaders opened their repertoire with "The 5th Symphony" which was masterfully performed under the baton of their musical director/arranger Mr. Arddin Herbert.
There were 7 guest artistes, and they were all backed up musically by Invaders. The Invaders Youth Steel Orchestra, which was formed in 2012, also performed awing us with "The Hungarian Dances," which was conducted by their musical director MS. Joanna Short.
Arddin Herbert displayed his dexterity as a pannist on both the tenor and double second performing "Summertime" accompanied by a double guitar, 6-bass and a double second played by my cousin Ms. Atiya O'neil, and a Classical piece listed as Czardas. I state listed as, because that was not the melody of the Czardas I am familiar with. However, both were beautifully executed. The name of this concert was entitled, "VERSATILITY" and that title personified the concert.
Invaders' repertoire were all arranged by Mr. Herbert which included "The Zampa Overture" plus 13 other well performed ballads. Invaders' Versatility Concert was well organized.
I must say that I did not see the support from the major Steel Orchestras except one.
I have played music with many pan players and have been impressed with the level of skill and musicianship on the instrument, but not impressed with the performance of some well known melodies. My conclusion is that they have not invested enough time checking out the song and have relied upon melodies which they have copied from another player who did not investigate the song. What is your experience of this?
Some players convince themselves that they know the melody and they have no idea of the lyrics to enhance the expression of the melody being performed. Is this a common situation, or do many musicians bluff their way through gigs hoping that no one will come up and say, "You are playing that wrong."
It is easy to hear when a person knows the correct melody and is applying another interpretation, compared to a person whose software is still being downloaded. Can you tell the difference and what's your take on all of this?
If the best way to honor your parents is never to refer to them in the past tense then I must go to the graveside of my father to tell him I now understand what he says about Hell’s Gate: Whenever North Star and other steelbands compete, the supporters of Hell’s Gate say, (in “beautiful arrogance”), that Hell’s Gate have to win; even if they don’t compete.
After a few years of skirting around a single tenor pan, I made a second, successful attempt to play in panorama this carnival, in addition to playing saxophone in the All-Star Band for the calypso semifinals and finals. If music is the food of love, Shakespeare warned that excess of it can sicken the appetite. In fact, my appetite for pan music has increased immensely.
Almost everyone knows that Hell’s Gate is the “oldest, continuously operating steelband in the world”. Relatively few people have had the opportunity to witness or take part in the continuous evolution of this profound and essential institution. I am truly grateful and immensely thankful for the honor and privilege of being accommodated by the band.
A panyard is a social and cultural unit that brings together a cavalcading mass of people. Like seemingly disparate musical notes, this gathering can combine to produce the most remarkable treasure of communal bonding. The sharing function of music must not be confined to the stage and audience interplay. Indeed, as most artistes will confess, what happens on stage is sometimes a mere pittance of emotion compared to the richness and entanglement of rehearsals.
The late Jamaican saxophonist, Cedric “Im” Brooks, introduced me to this wonder of music in the making of the community, one Saturday afternoon in the 1970’s in Patrick City, Jamaica. There were woodwinds and brasses and double bass, drums and percussions all over the yard with women cooking, washing and plaiting hair and children running about. If music is the food of love it must be shared to avoid the consequences of excess.
Learning the flat tune, the original melody, and the complex arrangement was a challenge. Here I was among players, some just one year older than my eight-year-old granddaughter, who absorbed the music called out note for note and phrase by phrase by the arranger, Maestro Khan. After about the fifth phrase, I had forgotten the first phrase and so I had to rely on getting the music sheet to learn from the score what they readily grasped by rote like new, eager sponges.
This learning by rote was most remarkable in the extent to which an entire evening’s lesson was learnt and recalled the next day. What did these children posses that I didn’t, apart from their youthfulness and the color of their hair? There were older players too, including adults. But the children’s ability to harness the dictated music astounded and inspired me.
On one memorable occasion, Maestro Khan called out a set of notes that covered all 12 notes of the musical alphabet. My fascination was congested by the sheer musicality of the arrangement and the nimble control of this musical gem by the children. In equivalent music theory terms, it was as if Maestro had taken the three primary colors and weaved all the possible colors from this trichromatic chord to arrive at a kaleidoscopic rainbow of sound. The children, and some of the adults, did not recognize the music theory of the phrase, but certainly they must have had understood this musical nugget in ways more than those provided by the sheer geometry and geography of the pan. Certainly they knew the physical layout of the pans very well but there must have been something else, some sort of musical, sonic logic that complemented the pan structure and made sense to them in similar ways to how music theory informed others and me.
This learning by rote that in recent years has being taken by Maestro Khan far beyond the confines of simple musical patterns, speaks volumes about the way children learn music and warrants a scholarly dissertation. It also translates into the way children learn in general, freed from the restrictions of early, excessive theoretical explanations and undue machinations.
Not only can these children learn, they can teach. They taught me a thing or two. I was informed, very respectfully, by my nine-year-old pan teacher that when I was rolling the notes, my entire body was shaking, and that only my wrists should move! I told her I knew but I needed more practice. She kindly suggested I keep practicing. The fact that she was always stationed in front of me suggested that other players reported my Parkinsonian musical tremor to her.
Regarding my initial difficulty using my wrists for rolling and other technical maneuvers on the pan, my older musician, non-pannists, friends, suggested an exercise that cannot be mentioned here in detail. Suffice to say it gave new meaning to the suggestion an adult female might offer a rejected male by reciting to him King Obstinate’s line, “Wet you hand and wait for me”.
The panyard generates order, discipline, respect and reverence. Refreshments give the hands a break from the pan sticks and quiet the stomachs. From the caring of the pans to the pushing and guiding of the trolleys through the streets of the city to the Big Yard at the Recreation Grounds for the pan man war (with weapons of sticks and pans only), absolute dedication and the overwhelming feeling of being part of history surround you and take you in.
Hell’s Gate is an institution that must be nurtured with respect for history and with clear, present and future planning.
The stage is set for a wonderful journey far into the future from the start in the 1940’s. With Maestro Kahn as arranger and an eager cadre of young players blending with mature pannists, and a supporting cast of good management and sponsorship, panorama is simply one of the many things Hell’s Gate does well and wins. Indeed, much more than winning panorama is expected of the “oldest, continuously operating steelband in the world”.
As an institution nurturing a community ranging from children to grandparents, musicians and others, and going beyond the confines of panorama criteria, I now understand what my father says the supporters say: Hell’s Gate have to win, even if they don’t compete.
This caption follows the picture of Martin Albino and Andy Narrell recently posted.
Andy Narrell recently visited Montreal to perform at the Montreal International Steelband Festival,and I was fortunate to spend some time with him after our first meeting forty years ago .During our discussion, Andy reminded me of our first meeting when he visited my old Panyard ,that of Chase Manhattan Savoys,when he was 12 years old . Andy's dad who was involved in the Police Athletic League, was instrumental in the sponsorship of my trip to New York to teach pan in 1968. It was a very pleasant and interesting reunion.Martin albino
There is new interest in pan a rebirth is takiing place reminiscent of the glory(OLD) a days, a new generation is spawning and taking the pan by storm.First order of business, must be the replacement of the defacto body by a New elected governing body( there is none), the new kids on the block deserve this. Antigua is back under the microscope.let us do the right thing for the development of the pan.....
The dust has settled,its a new day Hells Gate is still at the top,all the panorama children are winners.Now we need a new begining, starting a the top.Firstly, a new executive (elected) to manage the affears and business of pan in Antigua with pan as its primary focus, move the Instrument beyond Panorama, panorama is fun and excitiment but its limiting and does very little to advance the pan movement. The interest here again at a feverish pitch reminiscnet of the(60/70's) the glory days, lets grab it and push it to the next level. Every one has a part to play.
