By Ajamu Nyomba, Ph.D.
and Kiara Nyomba, M.Ed., CCC-SLP
It’s A New Day: Influence of the Steelpan and Steelpan Players Across Music Genres, Pan People Steelband’s Different Drums Steelpan Experience Spring 2022 production, was held on July 26. The production highlighted the steelpan, its history and its influence in the music of popular artists from various genres. From the Beetles to Earl Rodney to Cardi B, steelpan has made a major contribution to music and thus the story had to be told (see full song list in Appendix I).
Since it was a major production it involved loading and transporting instruments, props, back drops, etc. to the library, a short distance away but it still required manpower and coordination. Of course the break-down, clean-up, transporting instrument and equipment back to the Pan Studio and on to racks and storage (which may take several days) was even more tedious because most players were tired having worked most of the day putting things together. I didn’t have time to contribute to the clean-up/pack-up because my mind was on Trinidad. I left Atlanta for Trinidad on July 31 in time for the August 1st COVID-shortened Emancipation parade and activities. In a sense that was a relief because attendance at our show was also impacted by COVID concerns.
I planned to complete the story underlying It’s A New Day while I was in Trinidad. But I found myself too immersed being on my block and with my band to focus on putting some context to the contemporary Royal issues and the underlying omissions of British history pertaining to the Beatles which I uncovered as I conducted research for It’s A New Day.
It’s A New Day for Sister Rukia Imani who wrote the song It’s A New Day in 1984, one of the songs on her Faith for My Mind Album with S.O.L.A.R.(Source of Light Arkestral Revelation.) Rukia transitioned September 10, 2021 before getting the recognition she deserved as one of Atlanta’s best Jazz singers/songwriters.
It’s A New Day is also in memory of the countless steelpan players who paved the way for the international spread of the instrument beginning with TASPO in 1951.
Dey say pan have a jumbie! This time the jumbie was on our side.
In 2019, we sought funding for the It’s A New Day project. Unfortunately, we were ineligible because we received funding in 2018. That year made a big difference since the resulting project enabled us to incorporate the intersection between the Queen’s Jubilee and issues related to historic racism in the UK.
It’s A New Day brings to the fore what my good Brethren Felton calls, cultural inequity. It’s all around us! Welcome to the jungle of funding for Black artists in Atlanta (and in general). The “New” Arts Exchange was opened in 2018. We occupied a studio at the “Old” Arts Exchange from 1997 to 2013. We may have been one of the last tenants to leave the building. We were not notified about initiatives to obtain a new building. Further, I was a participant in many of the discussions to sustain the Arts Exchange and address issued related to years of financial mismanagement by staff.
The It’s A New Day project also reflects on our struggles in Atlanta. Pan People Steelband has literally been struggling for survival since the group began in 1986. From a garage to an attic to a community center, finally to our own studio--- we survived through the goodness of members of the community.
It’s A New Day as we big up the Narvie Puls founder of the Omenala Griot Afrocentric Teaching Museum and Alvin Dollar, then the director of the Dunbar Neighborhood Center, for their contribution to our survival in Atlanta’s West End. Just south of the Atlanta University Center, that area has several black-owned health food eateries including the now famous Tassili’s Raw Reality, Caribbean Vegan, Soul Vegetarian, several barber and beauty shops and small merchandise shops. This is the heart of Atlanta’s progressive Black community, noted for several summertime festivals and organizations such as the Shrine of the Black Madonna (chapel, bookstore, apartment complex) the Hebrew Israelites and a large Muslim community.
The neighborhood remains marginalized though the Tyler Perry Studios is now a major fixture in the West End occupying some 300 acres of the former Fort McPherson military base. Even Bishop T.D. Jakes is capitalizing on the situation by acquiring some 75 acres of the former military base and adding real estate to his gospel of prosperity.
Although ours were not physical struggles such as in Brixton, Notting Hill and on Charlotte Street in the 1960s. Nor were they as dangerous as travelling by train to and from work and school during the train “riots” of the late 1960s which endangered the lives of commuters between Curepe and Port of Spain. But our struggles were real, even against the carnival organizers and other segments of the Atlanta expatriate community.
Evolving out of those struggles were steelbands such as Scherzando, Sforzata, Potential Symphony and others. But for a time the Sharks of Curepe and the Cubans of San Juan/Barataria struggled for turf on the East-West Corridor (now the Priority).
It’s A New Day as the steelband movement reflects on the economic well-being especially of our ageing artists juxtaposed against the true beneficiaries of the instrument -- sponsors, producers, the one-percenters and others.
It’s A New Day for the public to know that the Queen and Prince Philip were not the only “celebrities” who developed an interest in the steelpan. In their youth, Mick Jagger and John Lennon had an interesting relationship with pan. Apparently Mick Jagger would frequent Trinidad and Tobago’s carnival and, more likely than not, play mas with his friend and one of the country’s top mas men, Stephen Leung.
It’s A New Day and the celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Anniversary benefits steelpan players from the UK and Trinidad and showcases the instrument on an international level. That should not obfuscate the fact that, when she became queen, Her Royal Highness continued the leadership that exploited devastated millions of people on the continents of Africa, India and China. Stolen Empires!
It’s A New Day when in 1976, I was fortunate to play a tenor pan with the short-lived New York Harmonites when they opened for Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones at a celebrity cricket match at the Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey.
This was not my first recording because my band, Solo Harmonites, recorded an album with 10 songs every year between 1989 and 1995. The recording with S.O.L.A.R. may be one of the first or at least one of the early recordings of steelpan tracks on a jazz album in Atlanta.
In 1975, for the New York segment of their US tour; the Rolling Stones used 100 pan players from the top steelbands in Brooklyn. The show in Madison Square Garden ran for six days with the 100 pan players steelband playing together and in smaller ensembles in different segments of the show. The use of hydraulics and lighting enhanced the performance of the entire 100 piece orchestra and the sub-groups into which they were divided.
But let’s go back to the Brits because there is more Trini-type “comess” and “racism by omission” with the story of the Beatles in Liverpool. It is said that the young John Lennon and Mick Jagger were among the first “steelband roadies” as they followed Lord Woodbine.
Who was this Lord Woodbine? I have not yet seen the new movies on the Beatles but Woodbine has been strategically left out of British History. (Much of this information was posted by Pan Times in October 2013.)
The punch line in the story is Lord Woodbine was not a “lord” in the aristocracy sense but in the calypso sense. Calypsonian Lord Woodbine was born in Trinidad in 1928. His real name was Harold Phillips. He was only 14 years when he joined the RAF. After the war he went back home to Trinidad then returned to England in 1948 on the now infamous MV Empire Windrush which brought close to 500 Caribbean citizens, including children, to the UK purportedly to help address labor shortages after the War.
Back in Liverpool, Woodbine was a singer, songwriter, promoter, and nightclub owner. In 1958, he was a member of the All-Steel Caribbean Band when the teenagers who became the Beatles started hanging around. They could be considered the first “steelband roadies” and Woodbine provided a foundation for the young musicians unlike some of his compatriots who considered the interest of Paul and John as indication “they were trying to pick up the black sound.” Paul McCartney admits that the Beatles were always looking and listening for new sounds to use in their music. “This began in Liverpool, and the city’s black musicians were part of it.”
The Beatles were called “Woodbine’s Boys” and Woodbine was called the “Fifth Beatle.” Clearly their relationship with Woodbine was not simply a casual one. For example, even before the Beatles (they were called the Silver Beatles), Woodbine them on their first tour of Hamburg, Germany.
Considered a good opportunity to seek a better life in England in the 1940s and 1950s, the Windrush deal eventually turned sour for many with deportations and legislations in 2014 and 2016, which essentially required long term residents to prove that they had the right to be in the UK. Further, the authorities limited access to services for anyone who could not prove that they was a rightful citizen. Imagine mas players in All Stars on Carnival Monday or Tuesday being told they were illegal aliens!
It Was A New Day when Liverpool slave owners received reparations for income lost when slavery ended. Fans of British professional soccer may not know that Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsnel and Manchester United originated from reparations. They should know that It’s A New Day and reparations for almost 400 years for free labor are overdue.
It Was A New Day when Haiti finished paying off their reparations to France. In 1825, two decades after winning its independence, Haiti was forced to begin paying enormous “reparations” to the French slaveholders who had been overthrown. Haiti paid France reparations, with interest, over the course of nearly six generations.
Back to Pan People’s production of It’s A New Day, the song list is attached as Appendix I.
Appendix II briefly addresses the perception of some in the scholarly community that Andy Narrell has been “shortchanged” by the steelband community in Trinidad and Tobago.
PROPS
We made use of several props to put in context the story of the steelpan in relation to the idea of the Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations and issues with the steelpan movement. These props are examples of traditional mas in Trinidad, other Caribbean nations, in North America and wherever there is a Caribbean expatriate carnival. They are also consistent with the vision of the group’s director, Dr. Ajamu Nyomba, which has driven Pan People over the years and best characterized by the title of the 1986 workshop at which the group first performed: “The Creative Artist at the Cutting Edge of Social Change: A Pan-African Perspective.”
Military Mas
After the 1990 Coup, the wearing of camouflage and other military clothes became a criminal offense. It would be safe to say that military mas and steelbands go together. I recall as a youth seeing the military “storming” of the Savannah Stage complete with tanks, landing crafts and hundreds of marines, sailors, the red cross and other military personnel. With the new laws steelbands are restricted mostly to sailor mas. Now thousands of white sailors are prominent in steelbands like Trinidad All Stars. This is an annual pilgrimage for thousands of expats who come to carnival annually from NY, Baltimore, and other North American cities to play sailor especially with All Stars and Starlift. All Stars is usually so large that it hires other steelbands, Tassa groups and rhythm sections to provide music for its thousands of revelers.
Pan People Steelband has presented versions of sailor mas in Atlanta’s carnival and in the homecoming parades of the Atlanta University Center institutions including “A Caribbean Cruise, Sailors Ashore in the Third World: Black Star Line, Dance Diaspora, and War: Wars Worth Fighting. In 2018 we dramatized World War II in our production “From Tamboo Bamboo to Steelband: the [True] Story of the Steelpan.”
Props used in that show included the band clad in camouflage with a missile around which we identified several “Wars Worth Fighting:”
- War Against Poverty
- War Against Hunger
- War Against Homelessness
- War Against Students Who Don’t Study
- War Against Teachers Who Don’t Teach
- War Against All Wars
Jab Lives Matter
The Jab Jab is one the traditional mas in Trinidad that stems the test of time. Dressed in mud, paint, different colors and really menacing—say rubbing against someone or bumping into spectators for fun or a few dollars. The Jab Jab therefore has a bittersweet relationship with spectators during carnival. Hence Jab Lives Matter is synonymous with Black Lives Matter and in general with the notion that All Lives Matter.
During J’Ouvert in Brooklyn, there is usually a large contingent of motor oil drenched Jab Jabs purportedly from Grenada. Because their instruments are minimal: horns, bells, etc. they can meander themselves through crowds of spectators as a large snake. To many, the Jab Jab is a nuisance but an integral aspect of Caribbean culture.
Tamboo Bamboo
Tamboo Bamboo is the immediate precursor to the steelband. In the 1880s, when goat skin African drums were banned by the colonial authorities, brothers retreated to the foothill communities like Tacarigua where they experimented with different instruments especially bamboo. I recall my mother, a Spiritual Baptist, talking about Andrew Bedow the great Orisha drummer and his connections to Yoruba traditions.
Tamboo Bamboo evolved into steelbands when on VE Day, August 1st, 1945 celebrants added pieces of steel to the trash cans and other improvised instruments. Today the steelpan is recognized as a bone fide musical instrument across the globe.
Indeed, It’s A New Day and the resulting changes from the Black Lives Matter and other movements worldwide would be recorded in history as significant as when Columbus “discovered” the West, the industrial revolution and the development of microchip technology.
SOURCES
Andrew Martin and Ray Funk, “Pan is everywhere …pop, jazz, country, hip hop, electronica, and more. http://www.guardian.co.tt/life-lead/2017-08-28/pan-everywhere
James McGrath, Liverpool’s black community and the Beatles. Black Liverpudlian angles on the Beatles’ history. https://www.panonthenet.com/news/2013/oct/liverpool-black-beatle-10-2013.htm
Dalton Narine, We Kinda Music: White Clothes and Gravitas - (An open letter to Andy Narell) https://whensteeltalks.ning.com/forum/topics/we-kinda-music-white-clothes-and-gravitas-an-open-letter-to-andy-?commentId=2534462%3AComment%3A440098
Ray Allen and Ray Funk, Rolling Stones Get Steelband Satisfaction. http://digital.guardian.co.tt/global/print.asp?path=/djvu/Guardian Media Limited/Trinidad and Tobago Guardian/13-Jul-2015&pages=page000002%E2%80%A6
James McGrath. https://www.panonthenet.com/news/2013/oct/lord-woodbine-10-2013.htm
Editorial, March 19, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/19/the-guardian-view-on-the-windrush-scandal-a-result-of-a-hostile-environment.
BBC News, November 24, 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43782241
Boston Herald Editorial Staff, July 28, 2022. https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/07/28/explore-the-ins-and-outs-of-acoustic-instruments-at-fests-folk-craft-area/
APPENDIX I
It’s A New Day: Influence of the Steelpan and Steelpan Players Different Musical Genres
Song list
APPENDIX II
In the scholarly pan community there is a view held by some that Andy Narrell may not have received justice, in relation to his contribution to music in Trinidad in general, but more particularly with his lack of success in panorama with Birdsong and We Kinda Music.
Opinions from the public are varied. Some said the slower tempo of the song was inconsistent with the spirit of carnival and panorama. Others argued that panorama was not the appropriate place for someone Andy to showcase his jazz idioms. Dalton Narine was more impartial to the song (though he didn’t hear the final night performance), and extolled its style and “richness” in his flowery, poetic language.
A prominent ethnomusicologist shared with me, in confidence, a draft of the paper, "'We Kinda Music' is 'Not for Panorama:' The (Paradoxical) Marginalization of Andy Narell," which was presented at a conference at the University of Trinidad and Tobago in 2016. The completed paper will become popular knowledge in the scholarly pan community unless challenged by local scholars.
The point here is that there are pan scholars in the international pan arena who are producing ideas which could become accepted by scholars in the international steelpan community. It’s therefore incumbent on the powers that be at UWI and UTT to ensure that students and professors are making scholarly contributions about the instrument and the myriad of underlying issues such as standardization and nationalization without an accompanying set of national policies.
I rest my case. Indeed It’s A New Day. If not now, when?
