Remembering Our Brother Michael Marcano by Andre Moses

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Michael Marcano

The first School Steelband Music Festival was held in 1981, hosted by Pan Trinbago and sponsored by the organization’s profits from that year’s edition of Champs in Concert. The second edition of the biennial festival, in 1983, was sponsored by Textel. Michael Marcano, who was employed as a senior executive at Textel at the time, was the chief instigator and facilitator of that year’s School Festival sponsorship deal, which was also extended to the next edition of the Festival in 1985.

Ardin Herbert, Duvonne Stewart, Liam Teague, Daren Sheppard, Clarence Morris and Michelle Huggins-Watts, amongst many others, were beneficiaries of the School Festival’s focus on scored orchestral arrangements and music literacy as students. The likes of Pat Bishop, Desmond Waithe, Merle Albino De Coteau and Marion-Anne Osbourne came onboard as adjudicators and concept advisers. Boogsie Sharp, Jit Samaroo, Godwin Bowen, Andre Tanker and Ovid Alexis composed original music to be used as test pieces and tunes of choice. Music Educators like Ron Reid, Maureen Clement, Ken ‘Professor’ Philmore, Ben Jackson, Trevor ‘Inch High’ Valentine, Paul Campbell and Pat Adams served as orchestral conductors and on-the-job music literacy curriculum leaders.


Who knows how differently our steelband story might have evolved but for Michael Marcano’s timely intervention in 1983? For sure we know that it helped to institutionalize the School Steelband Music Festival and make possible all of the positive developments alluded to above. I am therefore certain that I can speak for those of us who were involved at the time and the innumerable young careers that have been impacted, in expressing our heartfelt gratitude for Michael’s lifetime labour of love in the steelband vineyards. Nuff respect to our brother Michael Marcano and love and empathy to his loved ones, colleagues and friends!
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