GREETING TO PANMEN AND WOMEN OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO --AND ALL OVER THE WORLD.
WHY GIVE CREDIT TO ANY ONE PERSON WHEN SO MANY HAVE GIVEN TO THE MOVEMENT.
LIKE IMMIGRANTS TO A NEW LAND. PAN WAS AS SOMEONE COMING TO DEPRIVE US OF SOMETHING THAT WOULD HALT OUR GROWTH AS A NATION. AND WAS NOT IN THE HANDS OF THE AUTHORITIES. CERTAINLY NOT BRITISH. AN ALIEN SO SECRETIVE THAT IT CAUSED LAWS TO BE MADE TO KEEP THE OIL DRUM FROM PULSATING THROUGH THE LAND. SO LETS SPEAK OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INSTRUMENT.( i dare to call it so - now.).. LIVING ACROSS THE HILL FROM WHERE THE MODERNEERS STEEL BAND USED TO PRACTICE..I MUST HAVE BEEN BORN ON THE NOTE (E). ( my parents called me ELTON) I HAVE HEARD PAN AS MUCH AS I HAVE HAD TIME TO BREATHE.
BOYEE, SKEFFY, MUGIL, BIG PANTS AND CARLIE BUYER. DAVID AND SOME OF THE NAMES I CANT REMEMBER. MEN IN THEIR 20s.OR 30s. PAN AROUND THEIR NECKS HELD UP BY A STRAP WITH HOOKS AT THE END. PANS MADE OF OIL DRUMS, ( AND BISCUIT DRUMS WHICH PLAYED THE LOWER TONES.).. TENOR PANS, SECOND PANS, AND GUITAR PANS, DUDUPS. RYTHMS PLAYED ON STEEL. DISCARDED RIMS FROM CARS. SHACK SHACKS. SCRATCHERS MADE BY PUNCHING HOLES IN A PIECE OF TIN METAL TO LOOK AS A GRATER, PLAYED BY A WOODEN HANDLE WITH THICK WIRE STICKING OUT. ( EXACTLY LIKE AN AFRO COMB ).
PAN MUSIC ALWAYS SOUNDED DIFFERENT- TO WHAT IS ACCUSTOMED TOO. EVEN WHEN THEY PLAY A FAMILIAR MELODY THAT YOU HAVE HEARD BEFORE BY SOMEONE ELSE. PAN, ( NOT LIKE NOW ) HAD ITS SOUNDS THAT IDENTIFIED ITS MAKER.
PAN CONSUMED THE POOR, AND RECRUITED THEM INTO THIS ARMY THAT DEFIED THE RULES. LOUD BANGING AND FIRES BURNING, CUSSING AND GAMBLING FIGHTING AND COMMITTING CRIMES CAUSED A LIGHT TO EMERGE AND A VOICE THAT BECAME LOUDER. JOBLESS. LOTS OF TIME TO SPEND POUNDING AND SINKING DRUMS. THESE INNOVATORS WERE FEARED . STILL, THEY HAD CREATED A KIND THAT THE COUNTRY RECOGNIZED. SO NOTORIOUS THAT THEY STOOD OUT AMONGST THE REST. STORIES OF THEIR VAGABOND ATTITUDE WOULD BE TALKED ABOUT ON STREET CORNERS AND SOMETIMES IN THE HEWSPAPERS WHEN THEY WOULD DO SOMETHING THAT HAD THEM ARRESTED.
IF YOU SHOULD MISS YOUR DRUM. IT WAS SURELY UNDER CONSTRUCTION AS AN INSTRUMENT. THIS UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN COMMUNITY AND PAN MADE THE MUSIC PLAY THROUGH THE NIGHTS WHILE ALL THE NEIGHBORS LISTENED BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. ITS MUSIC-THE FOOD OF LIFE. THIS WAS HAPPENING AND HAD BEEN SO IN ALMOST EVERY POOR DISTRICT THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. IT WAS HAPPENING IN OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE CARIBBEAN AS PEOPLE TRAVELED BACK AND FORTH TAKING THE PATTERN OF THE TRINIDAD PAN WITH THEM. ONE OF THE EARLY STEEL BAND RECORDINGS WAS MADE BY A GROUP FROM ST LUCIA CALLED THE BRUTE FORCE STEEL BAND, WHO IT WAS SAID PLAYED THEIR INSTRUMENTS WITH STICKS THAT HAD NO RUBBER AT THE TIP. IN THE DIMLY LIT STREETS OF TRINIDAD, STEELBANDS WOULD WALK AND PLAY AROUND THEIR DISTRICT. MANY NIGHTS YOU COULD HEAR PANS HITTING THE GROUND AS PANMEN WOULD HAVE TO RUN AND GET AWAY FROM THE POLICE. PAN WOULD ONLY BE ALLOWED ON THE STREETS ON CARNIVAL DAY. BUT THE PEOPLE COULDNT WAIT TO PLAY ON THE STREETS ONCE EVERY YEAR. ( IT IS RUMORED THAT SLAVES BROUGHT TO TRINIDAD FROM AFRICA WERE MUSICIANS OF THEIR TRIBES AND SO THEIR DESENDANTS WERE NOW THE GIFTED PAN MAKERS AND MUSICIANS ) AND THIS IS HOW IT WAS- ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. IT WAS FASINATING TO BE A PART OF THIS NEW MOVEMENT THAT SWEETENED THE AIR. THIS SOUND THAT WAS SO PURE IN ITS OWN WAY. MAGICAL, KNOWING THAT IT WAS CREATED RIGHT THERE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD BY THE FRIEND OR BROTHER OR THAT FATHER.
LOGICALLY, PAN YARDS WERE ALWAYS SITUATED NEAR LOTS OF FRUIT TREES. BREADFRUIT TREES USUALLY. FOR THESE MEN WHO WOULD SPEND MOST OF THEIR DAYS MAKING AND PLAYING THE PAN - THERE WOULD BE NO TIME ENOUGH FOR THEM TO GO HOME FOR LUNCH..FOOD HAD TO BE RIGHT THERE. OR BROUGHT TO THEM BY THE WOMEN WHO PLAYED SUCH AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PAN. THE RUM SHOP WAS ALWAYS VERY CLOSE TOO. BELMONT WAS BELMONT, ST JAMES WAS ST JAMES AND SAN JUAN WAS SAN JUAN AND SO ON. EVERY DISTRICT HAD A NOTORIOUS CHARACTER OR TWO THAT THE PAN AND THAT BAND WAS CONNECTED TOO. THERE WERE NO GUNS INVOLVED AT THAT TIME. IF SOMEONE HAD A GUN, THEN THAT WOULD BE THE MOST TALKED ABOUT SECRET IN THE LAND. CUTLASSES, KNIVES AND RAZORS. A BOTTLE TO THE HEAD , WOULD BE THE WEAPONS OF CHOICE THAT LEFT SCARS ON FACES, FINGERS AND LIMBS MISSING. BUT IT WAS ALL GOOD. THESE WERE THE CHOSEN ONES TO FIGHT FOR PAN. GOLD TEETH FROM RENEGADES. PALANCE FROM SAN JUAN ALL STARS, PANG AND BEH, CATA NOSE. AND SO MANY OTHERS . PAN WAS THE BRIGHT LIGHT, THE ENERGY, THE TIME CAPSULE THAT WOULD HAVE TO BE OPENED. CARNIVAL WAS CHANGED FROM STILT WALKERS, CLOWNS, DEVILS AND DRAGONS. THE ROMANS THE ROBBERS. WHEN PAN TOOK TO THE STREETS PORTRAYING SOLDIERS, SAILORS. GANGS, AND AMERICAN INDIANS AMONG OTHER THINGS, PAN MEN BECAME FAMOUS. ELLE MANNETTE, COBO JACK, EDDIE BOMB, PALANCE, KATA NOSE, BONE SHAKER, PINK EYE, ARTHUR BYER, ARNIM SMITH, RUDOLPH CHARLES, BERTIE MARSHALL.
RED ARMY, TOKYO, SUN LAND, INVADERS, DESPERADOES, CASA BLANCA, RISING SUN. EVERY TRINIDADIAN KNEW THESE NAMES AND THE DISTRICT THAT THEY CAME FROM. THE BAD PEOPLE AND THE MUSICIANS AND PAN MAKERS. PAN WAS MOVING IN FULL FORCE AS THE INSTRUMENT IMPROVED IN TONAL QUALITY AND VOICING.
NOT TO FORGET.. YOU SHOULD NOTICE THAT STEEL BANDS WERE NAMED AFTER MOVIES. AFTER ALL EVERYONE WENT TO THE MOVIES (THEATRE) AS WE CALLED THEM.
IT IS BELIEVED THAT EMPTY STEEL DRUMS LEFT ON THE SIDE OF THE STREETS TO COLLECT GABBAGE WERE THE FIRST INSTRUMENTS. SO WERE BOTTLES AND SPOONS, OR ANY THING THAT WOULD CREATE A SOUND. AFTER ALL BEATING BAMBOO ON THE GROUND WAS ONLY RYTHM. TAMBOO BAMBOO AS IT WAS CALLED CAME FROM AN AFRICAN CULTURE. AFRICANS THROUGHOUT THE CARIBBEAN WERE PLAYING TAMBOO BAMBOO LONG BEFORE THE NEED FOR NOTES TO CREATE MELODIES. BUT THERE WAS THAT CHANT AND RYTHM THAT MADE YOU DANCE THAT FUELED THE NEED FOR MORE.
PEOPLE FROM THE ISLANDS OF ST VINCENT, GRENADA, BARBADOS. ST LUCIA, ST KITTS AND THE SMALLER ISLANDS MIGRATED TO TRINIDAD. TRINIDAD WAS WHERE THE AMERICANS WERE BASED AT CHAGUARAMAS AND WALLAFIELD. THERE WAS WORK THERE. THE STREETS WERE POLICED BY MPs IN MILITARY UNIFORMS IN THE DOWN TOWN AREA OF PORT OF SPAIN, AT NIGHTS. MY FATHER WOULD LEAVE AT 5am IN THE MORNING TO CATCH A BUS THAT WOULD TAKE HIM TO THE BASE WHERE HE WORKED AS A CARPENTER. MOST MEN WERE UNEMPLOYED. WORKING AT GARDENING OR AT SEA FISHING. THE OTHERS WERE PREPARING THE WAY FOR THE WORLDS NEWSEST INSTRUMENT. IT WAS NOT JUST THE DRUM. IT WAS THE PEOPLE WHO SUPPORTED THE MOVEMENT. THE MOTHERS AND WIVES. THE WOMEN WHO WOULD BE HAPPY TO SEE THESE MEN WHEN THEY CAME HOME DIRTY FROM THE SMOKE AND OIL FROM THE DRUMS. WOMEN WHO WOULD TAKE CARE OF THE CHILDREN THAT THEY HAD FOR THESE MEN. WOMEN WHO WOULD DO ANYTHING TO SUPPORT THESE MEN. THESE WERE THE FIRST WOMEN OF PAN. SOME , AS FAMOUS AS THE MEN WHO WE TALK OFF WHEN WE MENTION PAN. BUT THEY DESERVE THEIR OWN STORY.
THERE WERE GANGS IN EVERY COMMUNITY. BEFORE THEY BECAME STEEL BANDS. THEY WERE GANGS. CARRYING THE SAME NAMES THAT SOME STEEL BANDS DO FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS. RENEGADES-DESPERADOES-CASABLANCA AND ON AND ON. CALYPSO WAS ALSO ON THE RISE AS A FORM OF SOCIAL COMMENTARY. A PEOPLE WITH SO MUCH TO SAY. NOT YET A NATION. FUMBLING WITH POLITICS.
THE STEEL BAND BECAME THE HEART OF THE PEOPLE THAT LIVED IN THE COUNTRY. A VOICE THAT WOULD BE RECOGNIZED WHEN A STEEL BAND WAS COMING DOWN THE STREET ON J'OUVERT MORNING. EXCEPT FOR THE SOUND OF FEET ON THE PITCH ROAD. DANCING TO THE MUSIC AND THE SOUND OF THE BUGLER (WHICH EVERY BAND HAD) . PAN MUSIC HYPNOTIZED THE PEOPLE INTO SILENCE.. ALL YOU COULD HEAR FROM THE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE IN THE BAND WAS THE SOUND OF THEIR FEET ON THE GROUND. I CAN REMEMBER THAT I COULD NOT SLEEP ON THE NIGHT BEFORE CARNIVAL. MOTHERS HOLDING THEIR CHILDREN HANDS AS THEY DANCED TO THE MUSIC OF THE STEEL PAN. THE CITY BECAME A STAGE FOR PAN MAKERS AND MUSIC ARRANGERS. GANGS AND PAN PLAYERS. THE MOVEMENT SOMEHOW TERRIFIED THE AUTHORITIES. CARNIVAL-- IT WAS THE TIME WHEN THE CITY WAS OVERCROWDED AND THERE WERE FIGHTS AND ALCOHOL AND MERRIMENT BEYOND DISCIPLINE.
THIS WAS WHERE THE INSTRUMENT CAME FROM. DRUMS PLACED ON THE SIDEWALKS TO COLLECT GARBAGE. THE DRUMS THE WOMEN AND MEN AND THE GIFT THAT TRINIDAD HAD TO GIVE TO THE WORLD.
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ANTHONY WILLIAMS--CURTIS PIERRE--ELLIE MANETTE--- ARTHUR BUYER---RUDOLPH CHARLES---WINSTON SPREE SIMON--BERTIE MARSHAL
JIT SAMAROO---MERVIN RAY
SUN LAND--RISING SUN---CITY KIDS--ALL STARS---ANGEL HARPS---RENEGADES---CASABLANCA---PANDEMONIUM---FIFTH DIMENSIONS---
MODERNEERS---FASINATORS---TOKYO----SILVER STARS---CAVALLIERS---HARMONITES
WE WELCOME YOUR INFORMATION ON ANY OF THE ABOVE PERSONS OR ORGANIZATIONS AND ANYONE THAT HAS MADE A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STEEL PAN MOVEMENT. THANK YOU
prince369@msn.com...THE TRUTH.
