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September 25, 2007 - Volume 1, No. 7
Hearts of Steel
On a
beautiful summer Sunday (9/16/7) evening
I attended a pan concert at the Hearts
of Steel panyard. The concert was held
at the band’s present panyard at 757
Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. It was well
attended. Many of the season over-fifty
(who know this music) supporters found
their niche in the panyard as they
danced to the syncopation of the steel
orchestra. The women were well-dressed
and the men (a lot of long time saga
boys) too. This band was a favorite for
Jouvert 2007 and was very impressive.
Their tune of choice for Jouvert was
“Steelband Clash” by Blakie. As I
listened to the band playing on Empire
Boulevard, I said to myself: “This is
the kind of band Brooklyn needs.”
Hearts of Steel Orchestra was formed
back in June 2006 and regrouped in July
2007. The band is currently un-sponsored
and is made up of about 20 veteran
panists. Many of them stopped playing
for a while but returned to Hearts of
Steel. The leader is William ‘Mike’
Demas. The treasurer is Anslem ‘Teach’
Fritz. And, the secretary is Allison
(good to have a woman on board).
According to the band leaders, the band
will not be going to the Brooklyn
Panorama anytime soon or ever. The band
intends to concentrate on the Jouvert
celebrations and do concerts. Also, they
intend to use their influences to engage
the youth in the community and offer
them educational training in computers
and seeking employment.
Mr. Demas informed me that the panists of
Hearts of Steel were paid for participation
in the Jouvert. This is surely an example
I
wish the other steelbands would emulate.
Last Sunday afternoon, the band gave a
concert in Prospect Park. It was well
attended. The band will be working on
getting its incoporation and tax status
papers soon.
At present, the band plays a 1960s
repertoire which I love and hope that
they will keep. The arrangements are an
updated four chord syncopation which
reminded me of the 1960s. Their arranger
is Lennox ‘Ned’ Stephens. Ned is one of
the most underrated pan arrangers today.
Ned is a good arranger from the Boogsie
mold. As I listened to the band I
wondered if the members of the orchestra
knew the impact they could make on the
Brooklyn pan community. Let me explain.
This is the band that can give Ned his
due in the New York steelband world. The
band should stay away from New York
Panorama and concentrate on playing good
music for the people. They should keep
the 1950s and 60s repertoire and the
syncopation beat. The last time I heard
such a steelband was when Emmanuel
‘Jack’ Riley arranged for the band
Invaders in Brooklyn. That year Brooklyn
Invaders played in the Jouvert songs
from the old Invaders repertoire. Jack,
(who gave the pan world pan soloing and
improvisation with songs like
Syncopation in C, Melody in F, with a
song in my heart, Theme from The Student
Prince and Liebestraum), did some
beautiful arrangements for the band. But,
when the Brooklyn Invaders joined with
Pan Ambassadors and entered the Panorama
in 2001 it was the end of a good band.
It was not long after that the band died
due to a shortage of panists. The young
panists do not join steelbands whom they
deemed of having no chance of winning a
Panorama. Hearts of Steel should not be
tempted to enter Panorama and suffer the
same fate like another steelband,
Silhouettes.
The story of Silhouettes is worth
mentioning. Silhouettes boasted that
they would never enter a Panorama. It
was a friend and family (veterans
children played in the band) band with
members from the old neighborhood in
Trinidad. In 1989, they decided to enter
Panorama. They hired the steelband icon
Boogise to arrange for the band. Due to
Boogsie’s following, every night their
panyard was full to capacity with
panjumbies falling out into the streets.
The bar sold out many times every night.
Panjumbies were betting the farm that
the band would be among the top three
for the Panorama. They were at their
best that year. The band came fourth in
the Panorama. Soon, there were
accusations about missing monies from
the band. People who were life long
friends became suspicious of one another.
Within a year the band fell apart. Out
of Silhouettes came the steelband
Marsicans. But, things were never the
same again. The friendships remained
strained. Soon, Marsicans broke up and
another steelband, New York Marsicans
was born. This time all the veterans
left the band. I understand that the new
band is run by young panists.
The Brooklyn pan community needs a
steelband that can keep the syncopation
tradition alive. I would strongly
recommend to the management of Hearts of
Steel that they should concentrate on
playing the music of the 1950s and 60s.
With that concentration as their niche,
they should build a repertoire and
become known as the steelband who
reinvigorated the wonderful syncopation
music of the 1960s. Now, I am not a
purist. I am not saying that all
steelbands should go this way. It is
just that I get the feeling that Hearts
of Steel could fill a vacuum that is
surely missing with that type of music.
If they build on that attitude they can
carve out their own niche in the
Brooklyn pan world. In 2008, Hearts of
Steel should join the annual Sunday Last
Lap steelband jam held at Prospect Park
and display their wonderful music to
panjumbies. They should give open
concerts with other steelbands so that
the community will get to know them and
their music.
This year, the West Indian American Day
Carnival Association (WIADCA) celebrated
40 years of Brooklyn carnival. Most of
those years, the steelband has been a
part of WIADCA. For those 40 years,
WIADCA has followed the Trinidad model
for its carnival shows (Panorama on
Saturday, Demarche Gras on Sunday and
Jouvert on Monday). But, there may come
a time soon for WIADCA and the
steelbands to start thinking about new
model for Brooklyn carnival. My sources
tell me that when the proposed Atlantic
Yard Center is built, the Brooklyn
carnival (Panorama, Demarche Gras,
Jouvert and Mas) will be removed to the
Atlantic Center grounds. No more Mas on
the Parkway and Jouvert.
If this is true it means that the
Brooklyn carnival is on its last to be
taken away from Eastern Parkway and the
Museum. Are the steelbands prepared for
this change? What about the Mas bands,
are they prepared? And Jouvert, will
that change too? Are stakeholders in the
steelband movement meeting to discuss
their place in this new model for
Brooklyn carnival? And, will there be a
new model for the carnival? Maybe the
steelbands will give up their canopies
for this new Panorama center. I am sure
that the City would accommodate the
steelbands by building an egg-shell
covering (like Queen’s Hall) to provide
acoustics for the bands.
Presently, the steelbands are leaderless
but they can get their act together for
this new model if they prepare now.
There is still time for steelbands to
unite under one organization and elect
people to seek their interests at the
table. I warn the steelbands. If the
carnival is removed from Eastern parkway
and you go to this new center without a
legitimate organization to represent
your interests you will be history in
this town. There is a renaissance taking
place in Brooklyn. There will be no
place for leaderless groups.
WIADCA entered the Panorama in 1974.
Since that time (except 1979, 1980,
1986, 2001 and 2002 they have managed
the New York Panorama. Although WIADCA
has been involved with Panorama since
1974, the steelbands do not seem to be
happy with WIADCA management’s style.
New York steelbands continue to complain
about the Panorama. There is much
dissatisfaction among the steelbands
about their prize monies and the sound
system.
In 2001, the steelbands broke away from
WIADCA and operated their own Panorama.
Unfortunately, due to financial disputes
the bands left that organization and
returned to WIADCA. The steelband is an
intricate part of the Brooklyn labor-day
carnival. Of all the shows held at the
back of the Brooklyn Museum, the
Panorama draws the largest crowd. Every
year, panjumbies come out in their large
numbers to support the Panorama. And yet,
every year the steelbands return to
WIADCA in spite of their legitimate
complaints. Perhaps, there needs to be a
new model for the steelband movement in
Brooklyn. But, who will lead this
movement?
Now back to Hearts of Steel. What
impressed me so much about this band was
how its panists played. The panists in
Hearts of Steel played with a style that
I thought was lost. Hearts of Steel can
bring back that style. There was a time
you could go to any panyard in Trinidad
and listen to panists improvising while
they played just for the fun of it. They
were not preparing for any competition.
Hearts of Steel retained that style of
playing. The band should train a new
generation of young panists to play in
that style. (I call it ‘Cobo Jack
style’). It is that style that will give
them their special place in the Brooklyn
steelband movement.
As I watched the panists of Hearts of
Steel I imagined this band leading the
Brooklyn pan world with their
improvisations. Most of the Brooklyn
steelbands do not have panists who
improvise while playing. I attended a
few of the pan concerts and failed to
hear that style of playing. I often
wondered if it is the arrangement or
that the young panists don’t know how to
improvise. That’s an art that I hope
hearts of Steel will bring back. I do
not know what Hearts of Steel plans are
for the future. Are they in this for the
long haul or is this just a temporary
pan side? Do they want to make pan
history? Are they going to look at the
past bands and learn from their mistakes?
Will they take their own destiny into
their hands and stay away from Panorama?
Hearts of Steel can contribute to the
development of a cadre of panists who
can improvise as they play. Will they
become a pan school teaching young
panists the Cobo Jack style? Will they
teach their young panists the history of
the steelband movement?
During the 1950s and 60s, many
panjumbies will remember hearing
Invaders Steel Orchestra coming up
Tragarette Road to Port of Spain playing
their famous Jouvert tunes. One could
see and hear Jack on his soprano (tenor)
pan improvising as the band played. The
famous pan battles on the streets of
Port of Spain on Jouvert morning were a
spectacle to behold. A band would be
moving down Park Street and another band
would be passing alongside. All the star
panists in each band would begin to
improvise as their members and onlookers
danced to the music. It was fun to look
at panists like Cobo Jack, Horse, Spongy,
Mouthabe, Kelvin Hart, Shoreland and the
saga boys from Hilanders.
Travel with me. It is the 1960s at five
o’clock Jouvert morning on Tragarette
Road. Starlift and Invaders are coming
to Town. They are joined by Silver Stars
as the bands reached Cipriani Boulevard.
Now the crowd gets larger and larger as
Woodbrook residents join their favorite
steelbands into Town. You could
distinguish Silver Stars by the sound of
their bass. They were known for a deep
sounding bass. Starlift, the youngest of
the three bands would be playing tunes (Sonata
in C, Penny Lane) arranged by Ray Holman.
Invaders would display their colorful
sounds (Liebestrum, Syncopation in C))
with pans tuned by Ellie Mannette.
Suddenly, the sounds of All Stars could
be heard coming down Park Street playing
one of their favorite bomb tunes (In a
Persian Market, Anniversary Waltz or
Barcarolle).
Names like Boogsie and Master Clive
Bradley had not yet entered the arranger
lexicon of steelbands. The arrangers
that reigned supreme then were: Neville
Jules, Junior Pouchette, Ellie Mannette,
Ray Holman and Bertie Marshall (Hilanders).
Bands like Desperadoes, Renegades,
Exodus, Skifflebunch, and Fonclaire had
not yet entered into the lexicon of
Jouvert bombs. The bands that reigned
supreme during the 50s and 60s Jouvert
were: All Stars, Invaders, Starlift,
Silver Stars, Hilanders and City
Syncopators. The Jouvert stage was led
by these bands until the 1970s.
Today, Jouvert in Trinidad is more
masqueraders than steelbands. It is
pitiful to watch the steelbands with
very few masqueraders in the band. The
large Jouvert crowd is gone. You do not
hear the sweet syncopation of yesteryear.
Today, the bands (those lucky to come
out) play one tune for the whole Jouvert.
In the 50s and 60s a band would have
about three or four bombs to play for
Jouvert. When the captain saw people
tired he switched to another bomb. I
remember hearing about four bombs (one
Jouvert morning) from All Stars under
the melodious arrangements of Master
Neville Jules, the originator of the
bomb.
I wish Hearts of Steel all the best in
their steelband and community ventures.
They should strive to be a community
steelband and interact with members and
the business people of the Caribbean
community. They should seek the support
of the local businesses and invite them
to their concerts. Hearts of Steel, this
is your moment. We support you.
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P.S. For any carnival, steelband or local terms
used here, please go to the
Port of Pan ABC,
or you may contact this writer. Thanks for
reading. |
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