What a weekend that was. It actually began on Thursday evening with the special screening of Star Trek Into Darkness at Digicel IMAX, followed by the Johnny Walker Blue event, hosted by Bryden’s at Prime Restaurant. Pre-committed to Raf Robertson’s Majesty concert at Queen’s Hall on Friday evening, I regrettably was unable to attend the pan jam by Neal & Massy Trinidad All Stars Duke Street panyard in Port-of-Spain.
When I attended Queen’s Royal College back in the ‘60s, a standard joke was that the priests at rival St Mary’s College said special prayers each time Saints beat Royalians in an Intercol football match. Well, apparently some special prayers were offered, and answered, last Sunday when St Mary’s College Past Students’ Union held its first ever Pan With The Saints production at the College, located on Pembroke Street, Port-of-Spain. Torrential rain fell the entire day but miraculously ceased just before the 5 pm start of the event, with the weather staying perfect throughout the show’s three-hour duration, so much so a semblance of a rising full moon could be seen at night.
A surprising revelation was made early in the proceedings by St Mary’s Dean Enrico Rajah, one which sent pan archivists and Pan Trinbago officials searching their memories for verification.
Rajah said he had been informed the previous Thursday, by St Mary’s alumnae Ernest Ferreira, that St Mary’s College had a school steelband in 1947. Rajah added that students of St Mary’s and St Joseph’s Convent also produced a Carnival band in 1951. Rajah said the well-beaten belief that Catholic priests outlawed the playing of the national instrument by students is a myth, and that students were neither given detention or suspended for playing pan. But, a few St Mary’s alumni, who attended the College in the ‘50s, said that they were disciplined for playing in steelbands.
One alumnae said when students played in steelbands on Carnival days, they had to exit their band on approaching the college on Frederick Street and take a detour along adjoining streets to avoid been seen, and rejoin the band beneath Park Street, en route to Marine Square (Independence Square). Astounded Pan Trinbago officials in attendance say they will do a thorough investigation into Perreira’s claim as this can be one of the most significant revelations made about the history of pan. In the mid-’40s, pan was well on its way to being perfected as a legitimate instrument, its metamorphosis being pioneered by technicians like Neville Jules and Ellie Mannette. In the wake of World War II, after 1945, based on Stephen Stuempfle’s book (The Steelband Movement), emerging steelbands, taking names from war movies, and their locations, included Casablanca (based near La Cou Harpe); Destination Tokyo (John John); Cross of Lorraine (Hell Yard); Night Invaders (formerly Oval Boys, Woodbrook); Desperadoes (Laventille Hill); Sun Valley (St James); Bataan (San Fernando); Hill 60 (Gonzales); and, Pearl Harbour (San Fernando).
Last Sunday’s event featured the coming out of the present-day St Mary’s College Pan Ensemble, under the baton of music teacher Michelle Marfan-Urquhart, as well as five of the country’s most established steel orchestras—Witco Desperadoes, Republic Bank Exodus, PCS Silver Stars, birdsong, and White Oak Starlift. The college students opened proceedings and, despite their inexperience on a big stage, did a commendable job. They were followed by birdsong, its pans augmented by a horn section. Opening with the forceful Egbe Mio by Fela Ransom Kuti, the band’s eight-item set was varied and included an Antonio Carlos Jobin medley, Tito Puente’s Oye Como Va, Joey Lewis Pint o Wine, an Earth Wind & Fire medley, and Kitchener’s Fever.
Starlift also performed a mixed repertoire, embellished with arrangements by Ray Holman, Clive Bradley and Keith Salcedo.
For older pan aficionados present, it was a moment of nostalgia when Starlift dusted off Holman’s arrangement of vintage Paul Mc Cartney/John Lennon’s Penny Lane, setting feet atapping.
With intermission taken, Exodus resumed the feast of exquisite pan music, with music director Pelham Goddard on keyboards. Second pannist Franklyn Garcia drew curious stares as he left his instrument and proceeded front and centre stage to render Damian Marley’s Affairs of the Heart.
More surprise came when renowned saxophonist Francis Prime emerged from the bowels of the audience to join Exodus in its performance of George Benson’s On Broadway. Silver Stars presented a short but exhilarating set, one infused with pace and fury. Selections played, conducted by the band’s drill master Donnell Thomas, included Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. As was expected, Desperadoes was kept for last, and with good reason, as the Laventille steelband literally raised the mood of the evening to a higher level of intensity. Having played Bradley’s arrangements of Ordinary People, This Melody Sweet, rounding off its performance with 1983 National Panorama winner Rebecca, the band was encored and obliged by playing Don’t Leave Me This Way and Kitchener’s Love in the Cemetery.
Despers also played Eddie Quarles’ arrangement of Autumn Leaves, and an excerpt from Offenbach’s Orpheus of the Underworld, arranged by the late Pat Bishop. This pilot of Pan With The Saints deserves an “A” grade and must be included on Pan Trinbago’s annual calendar of events. Old boys of St Mary’s, like current St Mary’s principal Father Mendes, Nestor Lambert, Roderick Ward and Rajah, did a magnificent job pulling off this bold and ambitious project. Upcoming steelband events in June include Pan Trinbago’s second installment of Pan in De Countryside, scheduled for June 8, at the Biche Recreation Ground, and the June 13 WeBeat St James Live 13 Pan Explosion, staged by the St James Community Improvement Committee at St James Amphitheatre, Western Main Road, St James.
Pan in De Countryside is being headlined by Neal & Massy Trinidad All Stars, Arima Golden Symphony, Marsicans, Panatics and Supa Novas. In ending, Pulse extends a speedy recovery to Silver Stars music director Edwin Pouchet who this week has been under the weather. More surprise came when renowned saxophonist Francis Prime emerged from the bowels of the audience to join Exodus in its performance of George Benson’s On Broadway. Silver Stars presented a short but exhilarating set, one infused with pace and fury. Selections played, conducted by the band’s drill master Donnell Thomas, included Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera.
As was expected, Desperadoes was kept for last, and with good reason, as the Laventille steelband literally raised the mood of the evening to a higher level of intensity. Having played Bradley’s arrangements of Ordinary People, This Melody Sweet, rounding off its performance with 1983 National Panorama winner Rebecca, the band was encored and obliged by playing Don’t Leave Me This Way and Kitchener’s Love in the Cemetery. Despers also played Eddie Quarles’ arrangement of Autumn Leaves, and an excerpt from Offenbach’s Orpheus of the Underworld, arranged by the late Pat Bishop. This pilot of Pan With The Saints deserves an “A” grade and must be included on Pan Trinbago’s annual calendar of events. Old boys of St Mary’s, like current St Mary’s principal Father Mendes, Nestor Lambert, Roderick Ward and Rajah, did a magnificent job pulling off this bold and ambitious project.
Upcoming steelband events in June include Pan Trinbago’s second installment of Pan in De Countryside, scheduled for June 8, at the Biche Recreation Ground, and the June 13 WeBeat St James Live 13 Pan Explosion, staged by the St James Community Improvement Committee at St James Amphitheatre, Western Main Road, St James. Pan in De Countryside is being headlined by Neal & Massy Trinidad All Stars, Arima Golden Symphony, Marsicans, Panatics and Supa Novas. In ending, Pulse extends a speedy recovery to Silver Stars music director Edwin Pouchet who this week has been under the weather.