On This Day in Pan -- The Legendary Herman “Rock” Johnston

-
On this day April 30, 2001, Herman Johnston, who rocketed to fame from his native Trinidad with his innovative work on the steelpan music instrument, loses his battle with cancer at age 63.

During a career that catapulted him from his native Trinidad to appearances at the United Nations, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall and with the Boston Symphony at its summer festival in Tanglewood, Mr. Johnston's repertoire spanned musical genres, including rock, spiritual, classical, show tunes and Caribbean folk melodies.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Steel Talks (WST) extends Happy Birthday greetings to panists Jabari Sharpe & Jahi Sharpe

-
Image
  Jabari Sharpe & Jahi Sharpe Happy Birthday to Jabari Sharpe & Jahi Sharpe March 28th When Steel Talks extends Birthday Greetings to panists, Jabari Sharpe & Jahi Sharpe Relevant content Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra - Performance at BSO’s ‘Pan Is Sweet’ competition Relevant videos Pantonic Steel Orchestra - My House "Hideaway" - Tessanne Chin - Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra Let Me Love You - Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra - BSO - Special - "Pan Is Sweet"
Read more

Aubrey Bryan | MASTER PAN TUNERS' PROFILES | UK Pan Tuners Guild

-
Image
Better known as ‘Maubert the Pan Man’ Aubrey ‘Boss’ Bryan came from Guyana in 1964 and settled in the UK. During his first few months in the UK he worked for Phillips Radio/TV Ltd in Croydon where he experimented with new techniques for heat-treating pans. In the mid 1970s he was invited with Sterling Betancourt OBE to tune some pans for the firm of A Major of Purley Way, which was intending to mass-produce the instruments. They soon realised there was a fault in the preparation of the material. As they could not get the desired tones, the venture never materialised. In 1979, he toured Germany with the British Airways Groovers Steel Orchestra as player and tuner and was invited to produce a complete set of instruments for a high school in West Berlin. This was the first of many such commissions. Around the same time he featured in several short films about the making of pans, started a three year BSc in Social Sciences and invented the ‘Octopan’ - the prototype of which was exhibited i...
Read more

Pan Evolution - A Steelband Grows in Brooklyn

-
Image
by Garvin Blake Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra at Celebrate Brooklyn Provided with the expressed permission of: the Author Saturday, June 11 was etched on my calendar since BRIC released their Celebrate Brooklyn schedule in late April. Pan was again taking center stage at the borough's biggest and best summer festival. Adding to the anticipation, this spring the fabled outdoor performance space was renamed the Lena Horne Bandshell in honor of the Bedford-Stuyvesant-born singer, actress and civil rights activist. It’s been a few decades since Renegades turned Prospect Park upside down. This year it was Pan Evolution's (PESO) turn to shake-up Park Slope. With about ten pan players, bolstered by a rock-solid rhythm section, PESO presented a well-rehearsed set of reggae, R&B, Latin, soca and calypso that reverberated through the historic n...
Read more

New pan factory officially opens on World Steelpan Day

-
Image
  Loop News T&T Akua Leith showing off one of the pans in the new MITTCO facility Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. -  World Steelpan Day  was celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago with the official opening of a new pan manufacturing facility. The Musical Instruments of Trinidad and Tobago Company Limited (MITTCO) opened its doors in the e-Teck Industrial Park in Diamond Vale, Diego Martin on Thursday evening. MITTCO is the brainchild of  Akua Leith , the Artistic Director and Conductor of the National Steel Symphony Orchestra of T&T. see more
Read more

When Steel Talks (WST) extends Happy Birthday greetings to panist, tuner, composer, arranger & educator Khuent Rose

-
Image
  Educator, Arranger, Composer and Performing Artist Khuent Rose   Happy Birthday to Khuent Rose January 16th When Steel Talks extends Birthday Greetings to panist, Khuent Rose “….Coming from the Brooklyn genesis of pan - it was the pan yard, you know? It has always been the panyard. You fall in love with the panyard. Even people that come from the academy, that come from the school, and have any kind of experience with the panyard – they fall in love with it. It's visceral. It's like eating - ribs with your finger- it just does that to you.... Sometimes the people sitting in the classroom, look at the panyard and say “It’s unrefined.” And then the people sitting in the panyard look in the classroom and say “It’s sterile,” when really it’s just a matter of understand the perspective….””   - Khuent Rose A musical tribute to the Mighty Shadow by Khuent Rose See more Relevant Content Meet Khuent Rose - Educator, Arranger, Composer, Performing Artist - UpClose! Randy Wes...
Read more