When Steel Talks (WST) extends belated Happy Birthday greetings to scholar, director, educator, conductor, arranger Josanne Francis

-
Josanne Francis

September 20th

When Steel Talks extends Birthday Greetings to panist Josanne Francis 

“...Never let anyone discourage you because of your age/gender and at the same time, never use your age/gender as an excuse for mediocrity.” -- Josanne Francis

Her story, her reality, her journey - A Pan story... In an exclusive interview with When Steel Talks, Josanne Francis of Trinidad and Tobago—now an NIU graduate—shares her fantastic journey with the steelpan instrument as her guide, wind and sail.

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

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

No respect for national instrument -- TT Unified Teachers Association

-
Image
  “STEEL PAN, oh what an invention./It should be the pride of our nation./Steelband music the world knows about it,/And is we invent it so why should we disregard it?/But what I am seeing lord it have me grieving./Why is the steelband still suffering?” – Merchant. When Merchant sang Pan in Danger he was begging our country to pay respect to the instrument that was born in Trinidad and Tobago – it being the only instrument invented in the 20th century. At that time there was a lot of lip service paid to the steel pan, but nothing changed. In 1998, Ian “Teddy” Belgrave, a teacher at the Arima Senior Comprehensive School, initiated a meeting inviting teachers who were interested in promoting the national instrument as a necessary part of the school’s curriculum. This meeting was held at the office of the and the result was the formation of the Pan in Schools Co-ordinating Council (PSCC). This body immediately decided to host a School Steelband Music Festival in 1999. The idea was to c
Read more

New York Steelband Panorama is a different animal

-
Image
No New York Panorama Brooklyn, New York, USA -  It’s easy to be angry. Sometimes it seems like our entire culture is being destroyed right before our very eyes. This year’s lack of a Panorama in New York is disappointing on so many dimensions. Even if we allow for some grace in the post-COVID (is it really post?) come-back era, if we look far enough down the road we can see that pan as we know it is irreparably damaged and changed when we don’t hold the competition. We can’t blame this all on gentrification and neo-colonization. see more
Read more

Roach to be honoured with Caribbean Artistic Development award in the U.S.A.

-
Image
Global: Three years ago, the visionary Tobagonian Nevin Roach showcased ingenuity during the challenging heights of the COVID-19 lockdowns, giving birth to PanoGrama , the world’s first online steelpan competition. The inaugural event drew thousands virtually on Instagram, gaining popularity in subsequent years. Now, Roach is set to receive the 2024 Young, Gifted & Black (YGB) Entrepreneurial Award for Caribbean Artistic Development. At its core, PanoGrama is a testament to the power of simple yet innovative ideas. The solo competition united the international steelpan community, providing a platform to showcase exceptional talents. However, PanoGrama's impact extended far beyond entertainment and became a highly anticipated event globally. Since the inaugural event, Mr. Roach expanded the competition to encompass holistic development. He secured international television deals, reaching a potential audience of over one million, and fo
Read more

Diversity is a key element in Sō Percussion’s contemporary chamber works

-
Image
  Scott Iwasaki Sō Percussion, from left, Adam Sliwinski, Josh Quillen, Eric Cha-Beach and founder Jason Treuting, is known for creating new music through rhythmic experiments. The contemporary chamber-music quartet will perform Saturday at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts. Photo by Stefen Cohen See complete complete article Sō Percussion’s mission is to “create a new model of egalitarian artistic collaboration that respects history, champions innovation and curiosity, and creates an essential social bond through service to our audiences and our communities.” The chamber music ensemble, which is scheduled to perform on April 9 at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, does that through diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, said founder Jason Treuting. “We talk about the music, nerdily, as a flexible instrumentational form of music,” he said. “In classical music, that means we try to discover anything new about the music we play.” It also produces new in
Read more