A Steel Pan Documentary - Sounds Like Steel (2023)

[Applause] [Applause] this is not a story about an instrument it's about music and the people who play it it's about how necessity feeds Innovation how oppression feeds resistance and how a sound becomes ingrained within the culture of a Nation this is a story about [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] pan [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] the [Music] [Music] [Applause] over the next few weeks 6,000 players in 130 Bands Will compete in Panorama the biggest steel pan competition in the world but our story starts long before that with a 55g oil drum and the bird birth of a new [Applause] instrument well uh my name is Jim Jimmy Phillip I um started playing pan when I was about 5 years old with a band called Wonderland steel band from St Thomas Village in sh owners also known as Boot Hill my father used to make fan when I started playing with the band he did make two pans for me but he never finished tune them he just reached a grooving and cutting it off the drum and and it it it was stay there and he never tuned it right so um I saw what he did and then I get drum and I start to sing the drum and start to groove I wasn't sinking good I wasn't grooving good and I was trying right and then I met um Wallace Austin he's now deceased about 5 years now and he needed some somebody to work with him so I had some experience in Sinking and things so I started working with Wallace Austin and I learned from all the tuning from wace Austin the modern steel pan is a relatively new invention but it has its roots in the 1700s with enslaved Africans brought to the cotton and sugar plantations of Trinidad and Tobago as with enslaved peoples everywhere attempts were made by the colonial authorities to suppress their culture but this oppression continu even after emancipation and in the 1880s laws were passed the restricted musical performances and essentially banned African drumming to get around the band musicians improvised drums from whatever they could get their hands on they first tried bamboo poles but they quickly added improvised metal instruments to their ensembles as well car pots biscuit tins and kitchen utensils also their use but to get the best sound of all some players would steal the oil drums that were a byproduct of Trinidad's growing petroleum industry but you see well you know we had the Tambo bamboo where you knock the bamboo boom boom boom so a man maybe while they doing that a man pick up a a hub from a a c thing a man see a piece of anything could make a noise and while it hitting it now it's it it dented and thing and then something start to sound you know so they we like hey this might be sounding like something right there were no no musical tones in it as yet those are what you call non- pitch instruments but it doesn't mean to say there would be just one single tone anything you beat if you if you beat a a piece of wood depending on how you hit it you could get more than one tone but there was no idea of having a particular pitch there was certainly no idea of um different instruments having any harmonic relationship to one and you played what you got but once you had discovered you could get different tones different bands different groups try to outdo one another so they began to see it well if we could get two tones maybe if I do this I could get three tones and sound better than them so there was this competitiveness between different organizations and it not only pushed them musically further it became physical competitiveness in the forms of gang Warfare some two men in in in a party whatever we get into a tussle or whatever and they bands would come and it become a fight and you fight someone from my band my whole band is going to jump on you but when that happens your band is going to jump on any member of my band and bands even during the earlier days were deemed to be violent and there are many stories of steelband clashes particularly during the Carnival season all on the road and things of that nature but we've come a long way since then and bit by bit Society gradually came to appreciate the contribution of the steel pan to the musical development of Trinidad and Tobago and to steal bands as pan gained more social acceptance the violence between bands diminished but their competitive nature remained and players were still Keen to show that their band was the best around there was created what was called the bomb competition just an informal competition it was informal at the time it was created by Trin at all stars and how it was created is that when bands met on the road each would bring on their best tune and play and try to show that our tune is really better than yours and if when we going we could take the crowd away from you that's it so there was this musical competition that who would get the crowd away and so on and that started the bomb competition they would confront one another very often in front of the police headquarters and they would drop their bomb Tunes I mean and and they were memorable they started with classical music but then they just drew from whatever whatever was possible come Independence 1962 um there there had been a sort of big Sunday night steel band competition but the big bands the the most popular bands did not play there because they made more money playing in parties and the the steelband association and the the minister of culture came up with this idea we're going to have the company competition so we're going to pay all the bands more money than they would get if they played for a party and that way we'll get all the the the top bands so the first Carnival after Independence which was 1963 they had Panorama it was the first panorama [Music] Panorama steel bands play throughout the year but every February at carnival musicians from around the world take to the streets and stages of Trinidad and Tobago to take part in a competition unlike any [Music] other [Music] again to describe a panorama to somebody who you know does not understand it or never experien it Panorama is the greatest celebration of Trin bonian culture and tradition it's where you see a congregation like no other a rivalry like no other Panorama is where you see communities come together it's something you actually have to feel and experience to truly truly understand Panorama is the Premier um event competition right music has no boundaries Panorama arrangement has no bound Panorama Panorama is my thing I just always look forward to it to no matter what I will make the time for if I have to you know take a p up for lunch and thing just to get you the day I'll do that but people may say it's old noise people may say it's just metal beaten people may just say it's at a stick beaten on metal but it's not that is the best experience you could ever get as a pan player it's one of the biggest pan events we have in the country in the world when we start to get time coming back again it's so much my could say I feel like I'm born again freedom and last raise [Music] boy and only look away sh up in people place look when we the of of we in the of the Cure we of of we of [Music] it it's January and in panyards Across the Nation Panorama preparations are ramping up tropical Angel hubs are one of 17 bands competing in the large bands category and this year over 125 musicians from the local community have joined the band in the runup to Panorama tropical Angel hops have never won the Panorama title but their youth band is coming off a huge win in the junior Panorama competition and there's a real feeling in the panyard that they just might get their first ever Panorama Victory before that can happen though each band needs to choose the song they'll play for Panorama selecting and refining the song is the respon responsibility of the Bands arranger Clarence [Music] Morris one of the most important thing is to select the song you have to be very cautious in selection because you want to make sure that what you select can match up to what other bands might be selecting so you always have to you know have a visualize of how will this song how am I going to to take this piece of music and um make it into what make it into a work that can compete with the other bands and as I said with Hall of Fame I looked at the I looked at the theme I looked at the the quot progression and everything and when I was satisfied I said yes because I didn't select Hall of Fame initially the players the team that I have they came they came to me and said we want to play this in my mind I wasn't feeling this song yet today you know yeah and then eventually I came back a couple nights after I told them I'll I'll put it down on the instruments and we'll play it and we did that and I asked them again you all really want to play this song and it was a resounding yes and if you if you delve deeper into it you would realize that Mikel um was kind of honoring all the past um icons not only in Calypso but in steel pan and also the MK when you look at his video you see he's he's he's um focusing on what I call the Tre arms of Carnival steel pan Calypso and mass there's this sense that you know youths kind of out of touch with culture and they don't really feel it and I think that's not true I think it's how it's packaged is how it's it's it's put forward um because during Co like I find myself really kind of going into culture a little bit more and learning so much about it things that I didn't even knew and Hall of Fame really was just that sonical piece of trying to show not just myself but my generation and my peers that culture is cool you know kind of drain from references like David rder and him in his time what he was able to do um drawing from people like you know crw crew guys who would lyrically kind of give you that lyric and that Melody that make you want to like think about things a little [Music] deeper with the song chosen the arranger works with a small team of the best players in the band to develop the piece on all the different instruments that make up a steel Orchestra there can be more than 20 different types of instruments in a steel Orchestra ranging from tener pans that play Fast lead lines to Bass pans that require nine or more drums to get the required pitches in order to impress the judges the arrangement needs to highlight the strength of each of the sections and show off the technical skill of the players all while retaining the original Spirit of the [Music] song [Music] very few of the players are professional musicians from electricians to Bankers to school children they come from all walks of life to participate and many of them will be playing at Panorama for the first time the job of coordinating the players and bringing the band up to the required standard falls to the band's Drill Master Jared superville well as a Drill Master in the senior band um I have to make sure the music sounds properly you know um the hardest thing is to get players out to practice early but we have a thing that you know we come out late we stay late so we practice till 1 2:00 in the morning especially for the last week that way I mean you have tired arms you have tired eyes so you wouldn't get exactly what you want but again it's all in fun we just just remind them we here for fun but we need to play good fun you know so drilling does be the hardest thing to do especially on this time getting the band to sound like one and we have 125 players you know to have them sound like one is one of the most challenging thing but it's all fun you know yes some people will get buff as we say you know for not listening you know you talking about adults you know um but it's all it's it's all in work it's all in the work I have no musical background I don't have a grade one or a grade two nothing in music all I do is is listen and I could play it all right for some reason I have that Talent all right um what I do is business I'm doing I'm I'm doing an MBA in business right now so I have nothing related to music but I love music I love to teach once you learn the song is one is one retainers is like a dance you literally have to remember everything the emotion of body cuz if you turn a different way your hand going to go there cuz there muscle memory as well panyards aren't just practice spaces because of the cost of steel pans and the difficulty in transporting them most players don't actually own the instruments they play instead they're owned and maintained by the bands and stored in the panyards which over time have become de facto community centers where the band performs and when new players come to learn during the early days of the seal band even the P themselves did not encourage entry and particip patient because they were essentially sometimes under a house or or a shock or something like that but we've come a long way since then my best experiences of pan have not been on when they on a stage it's on the drag leading up to Stage or in the panyard that's when you become part of the music making really most intimately and it's important as I said when you're hearing a complex piece of instrumental music because usually when you hear that for the first time you don't get it you need to hear it several times and then you can fall in love with it but you need a high level of musical sophistication to get it the first time there are people who can obviously and a lot of pan afficionados can but the John public they can't and the steel band cater for that so part of the tradition of panis people go from panyard to panyard before the competition to experience the music growing I just like when people come in the Y to hear we practicing cuz it do be real cool from people in the neighborhood just pull up in the yard and park up outside come inside Jam the band too so it be amazing thing the love it just get from this band is it's like wow a band that's how it's supposed to be a community band anybody could come in if then hungry they get something to eat you know that's my goal for the band to help the whole Community you know but eventually we will get there the steel band is quite an Enterprise that is not cheap it is not not cheap and mind you some of the services that we get are offered for free I mean some of the members contribute their skills sets and so on to the band I could tell you for instance our Treasurer he is a senior officer of a Commercial Bank and he is able because of his skill sets to use his experience and his skills for the benefit of the orchestra at no cost so I am saying in addition to the cost or the services for which we have to pay there are so many other services provided to the band for which we don't have to pay so you are are pretty involved now in the logistics of Making the Band work work yeah like I'm going with them ensure the youths The Young Ones taking care of them well I do mostly lighting lighting up when they we're going go on stage I do a lot of lights I have lights in there that we put up and the lights and them do all kind of fancy thing and that that is my job I and another guy there guy there all these lights on them here we um I would I would come together and do a little sketch about what to be done and I would pass it on to the finance guy I'm retired I have all the time in the world to do everything and to do anything and still do my little private job here and there and do Al to makeal buy in my pocket so that's how it gos tonight tropical Angel hops will face the preliminary round of Panorama judging it's the first opportunity for the band to really show off what they've been working on for the past few weeks but it's not just any performance Panorama runs in three rounds with the lowest scoring bands being eliminated at every stage mess up hair and tropical Angel hops won't even set foot on the Panorama stage the band needs to bring their a game [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] of of of 255 points Ninth Place tropical Angel hops have got an uphill battle ahead but they're through to the semi-finals and for the community of Enterprise the fight is worth it there's more than a trophy on the line now within the Trinidad and Tobago context if you say you are from Enterprise people will look at you with a certain kind of a glance which suggests to you that boy you are probably from your product of that area that is deemed a hot spot in Trinidad and Tobago Hotpot being labeled for areas where you have a lot of um violent activity and um even violent crimes being committed and and so on even murders being committed Enterprise has a stigma so most people like to know that good things are coming out of this band not only bons and guns and whatever we do have that period they cannot come in here with that kind of behavior yes because we have a reputation for being not the nicest place to to be you know so we want to get that stigma away people must know that it's not everything that you hear about in the price is not good there are a lot of good things there are a lot of good people and there are young a lot of young people who are doing well for themselves they not everybody in crime yeah you know there are a lot of young people who doing very very very well for themselves academically um music wise you know and so on so yeah when the children come to practice we make sure that they do their homework and then they come to the pan who needs help there's people around here that would help them along and we don't we don't as we don't let smoking and things as much as we could avoid all these things from coming into the P because you have little ones here so we have to set an example for them especially people want their children to come here you can't let them come into a b a panyard that they're afraid of or they scared of letting the children come in so be Mr Ben and all of them they make sure that it is safe and song for anybody to come and play all right we AG that be stick the plane F this looking like a rocket launcher one for many of the players the panyard is like a second home even when the band isn't practicing the pan is a hive of activity from music lessons to academic support and even social Gatherings for the band leaders this presents a real opportunity to bring about positive change in the community exemplified in the incredible success of tropical Angel hops youth steel Orchestra who won the Under 21's category at youth Panorama earlier this year 2012 is where I started with the youths um T just after panorama I came in the panion I was just sitting and I said but what I could possibly do to help everybody in Enterprise here you know cuz I seen the youths walking up and down the road obviously they're up to no good you know they up to no good so I went inside for a choke and I come outside and I write on the board free pan lessons starting today at 5:00 p.m. I had about 60 youths that's same day I didn't know what to do cuz it wasn't expected and know I had to get pan sticks had to get forms I had to talk to parents cuz from age 6 to age 21 I even had a lady 64 years old C you say I just want to be part of it you know and I think it's the word free that catch them I know everybody charged for for knowledge I believe when you have knowledge you willfully give it you know you genuinely give it so it was just me again giving back to the community to see how I could get the children off the streets cuz you know it have leaders there but they have drug leaders missing positive leaders you know and from there on so from 2012 to now you I say 11 years I've been doing this voluntarily you know and is a passion I love working with youths if out of that 60 I had about 40 stayed then 10 go and I again next 10 and that it been going for for the past 10 years you know and after that we were just in theard plenty when even though practice we theard every single day after school we would come straight to the panyard this was like a second home for us so like the elders watching over us we were safe learning music interacting with other folks around our age so here was just like a second home really and truly once I am not at home my parents knew I was here and I mean from me last year to now is a huge development a real great progress from coming and playing drums not only as a drummer but as a young man you know respect again more respect again a lot of discipline cuz it have a a lot of old solders in the band so respect and discipline is something is key in the band you know and I developed all these players that you know played this year I I developed from age eight some of them was eight some of them was six and we were victorious you know some of the kids they start to cry they didn't know even from preliminary round you know we have a little WhatsApp group I send the results in that and I just waited to see their reactions you know I was so Priceless you know it can't it can't be that it can't be that is the the whole atmosphere everything was just joyous I would vividly recall what happened on the stage that that particular evening at the Savannah they l literally exploded on stage and so I really will want to congratulate that group of youngsters um the arranger Mr Jared superville it was the first time his first time at arranging so he really succeeded and did a fantastic job and what this Victory would have done would be to generate not only Pride but a kind of enthusiasm within the village of Enterprise they used to call it a village it's a community it's a district now it's fast becoming a very thriving community and uh the perception of the District of Enterprise hopefully would have been changed drastically because of this Victory by these young people so in my humble view it is yes at the national level and at the social level cultural level it's a victory which will go into our records we've won the trophies and so on but more fundamentally it is sending a signal to all and Sundry that we are from Enterprise and the people of Enterprise can produce National winners and National [Applause] success [Applause] [Music] head [Music] [Applause] on [Music] [Music] again yeah oh on the 5th of February tropical Angel hops performed in the semi-finals round ging an extra eight points over their qualifying performance they're still behind the leaders but they've made it into the finals there's everything to play for with Just 2 weeks until finals night the final preparations for the performance are made the instruments get a fresh C of paint and the players prepare to put it all on the line and so where are where are you now in I kind of in terms of the head space coming up on the potential to have a double victory yeah well H how to answer that we had to Face Reality right reality is that we have to go for it right it can be too out of it because I mean you need to put your best foot forward we need all Minds at ease so we trying to be at ease we trying to get this done we trying to get the players in the frame of mind that hey we can actually win this competition is a couple points away now yes we are running eighth but it's literally about eight points away which is one judge alone could give you that eight points right um judges will pinpoint certain areas where we need to work on right and we'll try to work on that you know so they'll say Okay City the percussion needs to step up a little bit they need to be a little more clean or the front line pan need to be a little more clean or the pant need to tune a little more all those things we take into consideration and we work specifically on those parts make sure we perfect it and you'll get the extra two three points from each judge moving forward there you know but then it's based on the vibe of the players as well cuz we could do it here but on stage we do something different you know say it's more a mental thing is how we is how we um prepare the players for that night it's not about fixing music alone but fixing the players well mentally you know cuz on that night when the lights come on and it shine on you everything what you learn could be thrown out the door you know that is the adrenaline everything that's being slow motion I can speak about me everything that's being in slow motion I could be playing at 136 and I feel like playing at 110 my hands moving slow and it's very fast we playing that is the adrenaline that is the excitement you know that we all live for as musicians yeah so it's just um to to maintain the mind you know make sure we frame the Mind properly and have them ready at first I was nervous like when we was playing in here in the panyard when the judges came for junor B I was nervous and then I just get full with it and the players are supporters they all support one another like me I when I telling um Jared I say I don't want to be in the front of the band and everything you know me anyway so I put me in a rock with some children I can talk to them and give them some ideas because some of them is their first time out there playing so youve have some somebody like me with all my experience in them to calm down and keep them calm give them relax so you know yeah so back then I was frightened to be in front I was frightened to be anywhere close to the front that I used to play Four Bas and then after I say get energies together and I remember my first time playing in the front line I was frighten I stand up and I I wasn't I didn't dance I didn't move nothing so I say I get my energies together and when the P knock is a different person on the stage it's not me until after the song we're walking off yeah K man come back [Music] yeah yes so it's all about at this point is to get Precision playing um from the band to get the sections tight right to get the overall bang band song really tight and really crisp and almost perfect um and to add any little changes that I want to add to the music and in doing so the main primary thing is is to get into the head of the players the psychology and let them know that we are going for war it's like a war it's the pan War so they have to develop over the next few days the motivation and the determination to really come out there for that final and give it their all Panorama takes sacrifice for the weeks leading up to the competition players will leave their work or schools in the evening and head straight to the panyard with finals night now just days away the band practices into the early morning and new players realize just how much it takes to have a shot at the trophy right this here I going and change coming back before the band strike up again but guess what the band strike up and this one running to put on makeup and to do the here come on well you're not ready for this game right so try and avoid those kind of things are because you all might see another sign of me right one more thing so how have you found the difference between practicing with the Juniors and coming in the Big B it is much more work a lot more work yeah and late as we real time because sometimes I do we want to go into school because so late but I still get up and go to school during school after the the late nights and the you know stuff I sleep a lot in class so like for last week for instance when we had the semi-finals and then I had school the next day you know it was really exhausting to be in class while I was you know up in the panyard unloading rocks making sure everything come in the panyard you know make sure to have all the pans no pan get left behind so it was a little bit challenging to be in school while I was third after the semi-finals but it's good it's every night until L until yeah after Carnival is drums every day whole day whole night sweat tears is drums and I love it cuz I born with natural talent to play drums so it's something that I can't give up you know we are practice every day you know from 7 till cleaning up the song Friday we'll go probably until 23 :00 in the morning yeah and from there we going and load up and go up in pter Spain cuz we have to be there before Kitty's Carnival yeah once it reach after chaos I've kind of gotten accustomed to the late hours so sometimes especially during Panama time you get them at 3:00 get a few hours in in and then you wake up at 8:00 for work and my body is actually gotten accustomed to over the years I have no problem like 3 4 hours of sleep sometimes 2 days no sleep it's just something you got accustomed to at first it is hard when you're at school you have cxt and exams some days from Panorama you get home and it's already daylight you need to just be change and head to school yeah but now it's gotten easier over I guess over time you get custom it's much easier the night before Panorama is the final practice the band will have in the panyard the tune is near perfect but across the country 12 other bands have been preparing too at Panorama finals a single missed note is certain fail so tonight tropical Angel hops will drill the song section by section again and [Music] again [Music] n [Music] so everybody tomorrow make sure lat later is a big show later yeah Angel hops is going to show them how to operate our [Applause] state I want everybody to enjoy the this the last the last after tomorrow night is rest so I want everybody to have a good time yes but make sure that you execute according to the plan right and of course in all things going to bring the title [Applause] home just before 4 3:00 a.m. the last practice wraps up but the night is far from over with the crowds and traffic at Panorama finals the ven won't be accessible later in the day so with tied arms the band works together to load the instruments and Equipment onto rented trucks and heads for the [Music] Savannah [Music] n [Music] by the time the trucks arrive on the Savanah a gray Dawn light is on the horizon hundreds of instruments and racks need to be unloaded from the trucks and set up in preparation for the finals despite their tiredness the band Works quickly but they're running on empty and inevitably mistakes get made one of the racks has dropped from a truck during unloading some of the panss have been damaged and will need to be retuned but as the sun rises on the morning of Panorama finals all the preparations are in place it's time to get some rest the atmosphere of Panorama finals is electric tens of thousands of fans have come from around the country to chair on their favorite bands as the sun sets the first bands take the stage and the competition begins slowly the bands move up the drag and one by one they play their tune for the judges until amid the den of a thousand other players tropical Angel hops run through their tune for the final time before the fans push them forward into the bright lights of the Panorama stage the countless hours of practice the months of sleepless nights it all comes down to this for 8 minutes the world stands [Applause] [Music] still [Applause] [Music] SA prision [Applause] [Music] precision [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] the [Music] yeah [Music] d [Music] [Music] d [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Applause] St [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] way [Music] he [Applause] [Music] sa in the world [Music] or put your hands together [Music] show 272 points tropical Angel hops didn't win this year and the band's hopes for their first ever Panorama Victory are on hold again the winners celebrate the fans file out and the pans are loaded back on the trucks to head H hope it's not the result they wanted but but in the hearts of the players Burns a passion that'll bring them back next year and they are after that and they areir after that because at the end of the day nothing sounds like Ste it's so much man I could take I feel like I'm Bor again Freedom At Last glass boy can't live in the past so look [Music] only yeah yeah I could do that this is natural Trin and Tobago right yeah yeah yeah nice to see you all right this is we putting all that if dog pass andg backing that too

Channel: Chas Sheppard

Views: 14,675

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Id: SGJQ0_BLMGI

Length: 62min 13sec (3733 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 26 2023