Steelpan Music News - History and Culture

The JJR Steelpan Relief Fund is dedicated to three international students from Trinidad and Tobago who are pursuing their Master’s Degree in Music with a specialization in Steelpan performance here at Northern Illinois University. See more

  Trinidad & Tobago Guardian From left:   Jalen Charles, Joshua Bedeau and Rashunda Dorset-Headley Trinidad & Tobago, W.I.  -  “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” That quote by Scottish writer and poet Robert Louis Stevenson is posted on the crowdfunding donor wall [ JJR Steelpan Relief Fund ] of three T&T scholars, at  Northern Illinois University  (NIU) Joshua Bedeau, Jalen Charles and Rashunda Dorset-Headley, who are desperately trying to raise funds to cover their tuition. All three are pursuing degrees with specialisation in steelpan performance at NIU. ...the trio, who are in their first semester has already racked up late-payment fees and are struggling to raise US$10,000 to cover health insurance, living expenses and other costs for the two-year programme. ....The steelpan studies programme at NIU, which attracts students from across the globe, was created by the late  G Allan O’Connor , ...

  By Alana Roberts Duckmanton Primary School Black History Month celebrations culminated on Friday with a range of workshops by the Pantasy Steel Band who worked with pupils to help them learn the origins and learn how to play The celebrations culminated with a whole day of sessions by the Pantasy Steel Band on Friday, October 22, which saw pupils watch a performance and have a go at playing the steel drums themselves. In it’s anti-racism statement the school said it has ‘spent time reflecting on how we take practical actions as a community that will make a real difference’ following the global demonstrations and discussions sparked by the murder of George Floyd last year. See more

When Steel Talks - Feel the Music - Live the Experience  When Steel Talks captures the legendary Len "Boogsie" Sharpe performing "Summertime" at the 2008 Moods of Pan Festival in Antigua https://youtu.be/fOPaLRTRI5U #SteelpanMusicExcellence #steelpan

This is the 2019 winning Grenada National Panorama performance by New Dimension Steel Orchestra. - Performing a Cordel Byam arrangement of "Trouble In The Morning" by “V’ghn”.  Just Listen!  > See full results

Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.  -  PAN Man - The Musical  is the latest success story in bringing the story of the Pan to the stage through the performing arts. Jahlani Roberts (left) as Lypo in The Pan Man - The Musical Part history lesson, part musical, with drama and comic relief. The Pan Man takes the audience through the life challenges of the Pan Man. Through examining the typical elements of the journey of Pan from scorn to acceptance, the cast of Pan Man under the direction of Michelle Mannette-Gomez, reenacts the pains, the joys and triumphs, all experienced directly and indirectly with the artform. Mannette-Gomez also directed  the original Pan Man presentation  back in 2010. In his acting debut as Lypo the Pan Man, panist  Jahlani Roberts  gives a credible performance that showcases his deft pan playing skills, as well as puts him on the road to becoming much more than a panist - a triple threat (acting, performing and singing). Veteran actress ...

Meet Khyah Judah - Brooklyn, New York Celebration of Women and the Steelpan Art Form   New York, USA   -  “Music has always been a major part of my life and I see playing Steelpan as a way of getting deeper into that form of self-expression....I feel like when I’m behind a Pan, nothing matters but me and the music.” She is multi-talented, reflective and experienced... In an exclusive interview with When Steel Talks - panist, musician, dancer, performing artist Khyah Judah shares her experiences and views on Pan, and the steelpan art form. read more

  Meet Jahlani Roberts - Panist, Arranger & Educator - UpClose! In an exclusive interview with  When Steel Talks , panist Jahlani Roberts speaks on his love of the steelpan instrument and how it has changed his life and future. The extremely talented, articulate, charismatic and forward-thinking Jahlani Roberts is highly intelligent. Full of exuberance for the steelpan art form and knows which way is up. Moreover, he is a do-er not a talker Jahlani has invested in his vision of what can be and should be with ‘both feet’ in. Never standing still, he has carved out a space within the performing arts sector where he can be most effective and impactful. A quick learner and study, he has turned his experiences and challenges into fuel, opportunities and a road map for success. Read more

  Meet Champion Arranger & Performing Artist, Cordel Byam - UpClose! Grenada, W.I. -  He is a first-time national champion steelband Panorama arranger; youthful, yet at the age of thirty-one a “young” veteran in his craft of musicianship, with a history of more than twenty years of involvement with the steelband art form. Extremely talented, humble and quiet until the spirit of the music takes over, Cordel Byam, musical director of Grenada’s New Dimension Steel Orchestra is transformed on stage as the band delivers his musical masterpieces to appreciative audiences. Hear from Cordel in his own words, in this exclusive interview with When Steel Talks. read more, see interview See video 

  When Steel Talks - Reboot ‘Columbus Lie’ by the Mighty Shadow Global -  The late great calypsonian “Shadow” shares the true history of Christopher Columbus via a live performance in Canada, 1994. By Annemarie van de Wouw -  Columbus was not the first person who discovered the Americas, the first explorers came from Siberia and discovered Alaska at about 70,000? B.C. – 12,000? B.C. Columbus’s ships did not sail through bad weather, his own journal shows that the seas were very calm.  The trip didn’t take two months, but one month. The crew aboard of the ships didn’t think the earth was flat, they knew the earth was round. Columbus’s main purpose was not only exploration or trade, but conquest and exploitation. He used religion as a reason to do so. Columbus was not good to ‘the Indians’ (as they were to him in the beginning), he took everything they had, including their women. He killed many of them and enslaved many of them. During Columbus time in Haiti,...

Drumming on old oil barrels - which in Germany is child's play at best, has been professionalized in the Caribbean with steel drums. A Jamaica steel band shows their repertoire on a European tour. The band leader explains the unusual instrumentation. December 31, 1958 ∙ Nordschau ∙ NDR Related content  The History of Steelband in Jamaica

  Four [4]  Pan Trinbago  officials face Disciplinary action; two from the Central Executive and two from the Northern Region. See more

  When Steel Talks - Feel the Music - Live the Experience Metro Steel Orchestra - “Tell Me Why ” - (‘Panyard’ version - Audio) Panyard Recording New York, USA -  The year is 1990; the place is Panorama night at the Brooklyn Museum, and master arranger Clive Bradley is about to win his third New York Panorama with this arrangement. Bradley captures the crowd before the intro is even completed. Listen

  I am writing to you in response to the email notice sent to all member bands yesterday October 18, 2021 signed by Denise Hernandez, Secretary, referenced - Suspensions - Executive Officers. The email lists the names of four members being suspended, of which three have previously resigned from their positions in Pan Trinbago. I would like to inform the membership that I, Robert Hernandez, resigned from the position of Secretary, Northern Region effective September 14, 2021. On September 17, 2021 I was no longer an Officer of the Association, and was no longer subjected to the rules governing Officers. It was at this September 17, 2021 meeting that the Central Executive mistakenly and erroneously still classified me as an Officer and violated the constitution by voting upon an order to suspend, not having determined the guilt of any charges. This can best be classified as a "Travesty of Justice". I am now requesting that the Secretary of Pan Trinbago issue a statement of apol...

  When Steel Talks CASYM Steel Orchestra - 2014 Brooklyn Panyard - Then and Now - The Disappearing Panyards of Brooklyn Former panyard of CASYM Steel Orchestra in 2014 on Lennox Road in Brooklyn - now the The Ballgreen Complex Brooklyn, New York, USA  - In 2014 CASYM Steel Orchestra's Brooklyn panyard was located in an empty lot at 190 Lenox Ave. Today that same lot is now known as The Ballgreen Complex. See more

 Loop News New six-part documentary tells story of panist/arranger Kareem Brown Mark Loquan and Kareem Brown Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. -   Mark Loquan has premiered a new six-part steelpan web documentary series on his YouTube channel. Called A Better Tomorrow, the documentary is based on a song Loquan wrote. A couple of months into the onset of the COVID pandemic last year Loquan was inspired to write the new song. Loquan says: “It was in the midst of COVID, there was George Floyd, things were happening in Sea Lots, there was a lot of chaos worldwide. The genesis of the song was about how to still continue to be positive by lifting up yourself and lifting up others to create a better tomorrow.” The song then evolved into the idea of creating a documentary on panist/arranger/composer Kareem Brown ...

 Panorama results Metro Steel Orchestra Lauderhill Steel Ensemble Stick N Tones

  When Steel Talks - Reboot Baldwin Spencer - Former Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda speaks on the Moods of Pan Steelpan Music Festival - and on Barack Obama A When Steel Talks Exclusive ...