Seventy-one Years After TASPO, Ellie’s First-Hand Replay

-

by Les Slater

A When Steel Talks Exclusive

TASPO


Global -  This was a 1951 happening, definitely not of the “incidental” or “forgettable” variety – not for the steelpan world, not for the world of music, period. No, nothing of the sort for the experiment known as TASPO, the Trinidad All-Steel Percussion Orchestra (reportedly, Tobagonians had some issues with that name and that no player from Tobago had been selected, and vented their displeasure in lukewarm or non-existent support during the public drive for funds for the TASPO mission). Notwithstanding this, off TASPO went in July of ’51 to the U.K., primarily to appear in the Festival of Britain, the first representative group of Trinidadian panmen to take the steel band message well beyond the island’s shores. 


So 60 years later, here’s Ellie Mannette, West Virginia University’s (WVU) resident steelpan guru, lucidly recalling the TASPO saga as if this were a last month occurrence. “It was the opening of the gates for steel band around the world,” Ellie is saying.
read more

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A look at the new panyard under construction for Desperadoes Steel Orchestra by Sharmain Baboolal

-
Image
Here is an exclusive look at the TT$14 million panyard for the Desperadoes Steel Orchestra which has been homeless for several years, but which was gifted this piece of real estate at 25 Nelson Street in Port of Spain. When completed it will be the first steelband facility of its kind, anywhere in the world, occupying one and a half acres of land. Take a tour with me below: Under construction new Desperadoes Panyard
Read more

Dane Gulston - External Relations Officer of Pan Trinbago has resigned

-
Image
  Breaking News To: All Member Bands of Pan Trinbago Members of the National Community Date: November 5, 2021 Subject: End of “TERM OF OFFICE” I am writing to officially announce that my term of office as the constitutionally elected External Relations Officer of Pan Trinbago has ended effective October 27, 2021. When I was elected as the External Relations Officer Pan Trinbago, it was for the term October 28, 2018 – October 27, 2021. The election for that term was in compliance with the constitution of the organisation, and it was expected that all executive members elected at that time would either seek re-election in 2021, or leave office on time as required by the constitution. It is my understanding that the outgoing President Beverly Ramsey Moore and six members of the outgoing executive have gone rogue and refused to leave office. This follows an earlier announcement by the Secretary Denise Hernandez dated September 20, 2021 that the executive agreed that the constitutionally du
Read more

When Steel Talks extends condolences to the family and friends of Harry Belafonte

-
Image
  New York Times Harry Belafonte, 96, Dies; Barrier-Breaking Singer, Actor and Activist Harry Belafonte, who stormed the pop charts and smashed racial barriers in the 1950s with his highly personal brand of folk music, and who went on to become a major force in the civil rights movement, died on Tuesday at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 96. The cause was congestive heart failure, said Ken Sunshine, his longtime spokesman. At a time when segregation was still widespread and Black faces were still a rarity on screens large and small, Mr. Belafonte’s ascent to the upper echelon of show business was historic. He was not the first Black entertainer to transcend racial boundaries; Louis Armstrong, Ella F s he did, and for a few years no one in music, Black or white, was bigger. itzgerald and others had achieved stardom before him. But none had made as much of a splash a Born in Harlem to West Indian immigrants, he almost single-handedly ignited a craze for Caribbean mus
Read more

Remembering Lt. Joseph Nathaniel Griffith and TASPO

-
Image
by Roger Gibbs - Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist at Shak Shak Provided by and published with the expressed permission of, the author Lt. Joseph Nathaniel Griffith Joseph Nathaniel Griffith brought a vision and musical rigor to the steelband concept. In 1951, steelbands were basically rough musical percussion collectives, fit for street Carnival but little more. The top steelbands of the day were made up of a number of lead pans or ‘ping-pongs’. These lead pans played melodies in unison with limited alto versions adding a few harmony notes. The rest of the band was made up of biscuit tin drums with 2-3 notes each adding some basic lower parts and accompanied by an assorted percussion. The sound of this early steelband music was raucous, lively, spontaneous, polyphonic, polyrhythmic – but also very uneven in tones, lacking instrumental clarity and pitch, and with inconsistent balance and blend. Add to that, steelpan protagonists had reputations as hooligans and lawbreakers and were not consi
Read more

Patron of the Arts Artistic Bursary 2023 designed to assist aspiring panists across the Caribbean and beyond

-
Image
The Artistic Bursary 2023 award is designed to assist aspiring panists across the Caribbean and beyond in pursuing studies leading to the Bachelor of Fine Arts in the Performing Arts (BFA) with specialisation in Music (Steelpan) or the Advanced Pan Fellowship Program Certificate at The University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT).  The Award  The award will provide three (3) individual grants of USD$5000 to the first prize winner, USD$3000 to the second prize winner, and USD$2000 to the third prize winner. These amounts are to assist in covering the cost of tuition, travel, accommodation and course material for their first year of study.
Read more

When Steel Talks (WST) extends Happy Birthday greetings to scholar, educator, exceptional musician, music director and champion Panorama arranger James Clarkson

-
Image
James Clarkson   April 21st When Steel Talks extends Birthday Greetings to panist James Clarkson James Clarkson was born in Grenada on 21 April 1943 and has had a distinguished lifelong career in music with early exposure at the age of 12. He later joined the band of the Royal Grenada Police Force, appeared on stage with his father’s band, and by 17 was a member of the band of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force as lead arranger and first trumpet player. By 23 years of age, he was the Director of Music of the band of the Royal Grenada Police Force, and soon became the arranger for the very successful Republic Bank Angel Harps Steel Orchestra , a post he still holds today. The Officers and Ranks of the Royal, Grenada Police Force (R.G.P.F.) take this opportunity to thank Commissioner James Clarkson OBE, QPM, Lmus, F. Sci, for his invaluable contribution to to the R.G.P.F and to wish him a healthy and productive retirement. James Clarkson with daughter Ayana  Panorama Championships Gr
Read more

Star Wars: The Mandalorian Theme | Epic Music

-
Image
This is the way... The Mandalorian soundtrack, which was composed by Swedish musician Ludwig Göransson.   Göransson has a body of work that makes him worthy of providing music for the popular Disney+ series. Göransson won an Oscar in 2019 for the Black Panther score and has been nominated this year for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. He has also won two Emmys for The Mandalorian and several Grammys. Goransson also received much acclaim for his work with writer-actor-musician Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino. Göransson reportedly met writer-actor-musician Donald Glover while composing for the NBC show Community. Since then, the two men have worked together on a number of Childish Gambino (Glover’s stage name) projects, including the widely praised album Awaken, My Love and the popular song “This Is America.”
Read more