Dara E Healy

Lorraine, you better wake up

Ah need ah jet plane to take me non-stop

Ah cyah stay in New York City

When there is sunshine and pan in my country…

If de bug bite yuh baby

Then you could come and join me

Inside Catelli steelband

Jammin' wit some man woman

– Lorraine by Explainer, 1982

IN THE midst of East Port of Spain, there was joy. Music, drinks, food and a large crowd of supporters commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra (TASSO). Sometimes, members of the youth band drew the attention of the cameras with their dancing, singing and euphoria when they were not on stage performing.

As I watched them, pan sticks in their back pockets, I understood. They knew they were part of an institution, an organisation rooted in the community and the culture of TT. They were the next generation of pan players and they wore this knowledge with pride.

Watching the young people, it was hard to imagine that over the decades there have been debates about whether calypso and steelband are art, or of “any real cultural significance” to our creative landscape. In spite of consistent innovations, such damaging opinions persisted against these mainly African forms of creative expression.

In his 1963 calypso Outcasts, Sparrow commented on the hypocrisy and negative views of society toward calypsonians and steelband players. “They enjoy the song/They enjoy the music/And yet they so damned prejudice/They bracket you in a category so low and mean/Man they leave the impression that your character is unclean.”

The living conditions of calypsonians, pan players and masqueraders were substandard. Barrack yards provided quick and easily accessible accommodation, but they were crowded, unsanitary and lacked privacy.

Outside of creative pursuits, the urban working class were mainly employed in occupations such as dockers, domestics, messengers or cab drivers. As such, many existed in a cycle of financial hardship or poverty. The upper classes therefore found it difficult to respect the creativity of people from such humble circumstances.

There was also a tendency to make fun of local forms of creative expressions in comparison to European art. I have often wondered where the tradition of playing classical music on pan came from. Undoubtedly, consistent scorn for local music motivated the pan fraternity to prove their versatility.

All Stars is well known for its classical performances. The 1974 Classical Jewels album by Catelli Trinidad All Stars, as the band was known then, features an interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.

The explanation at the back of the LP proudly says the “music recorded for your pleasure on this disc by the Catelli Trinidad All Stars Steelband, at Queen's Hall, Port of Spain, Trinidad on the 4th November 1974, was performed by a group of young men between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five years, none of whom has had any formal music training.”

It was therefore a pleasure to see Dr Mia Gormandy-Benjamin, artistic director