Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 10/Aug 14:20

A tribute to pan pioneers: Woman on the bass

IN 2023, the UN officially declared August 11 as World Steelpan Day. It acknowledged that the steelpan promotes inclusive societies, sustainable communities and the creative economy and can have a positive impact on mental health and well-being, gender equality and youth empowerment. WMN pays tribute to the women pioneers of steelpan as Trinidad and Tobago mark the third World Steelpan Day. In the early days of the steelpan, between the 1940s and the 1960s, the steelpan culture was dominated by men, particularly young black men at the bottom of TT’s social ladder. As a result, respectable families did not allow their daughters near a panyard, let alone to play pan. Still, women found ways to represent. Though not visible as performers, they were the lifeblood of steelband culture as flag-wavers, supporters, pushers, cooks at panyards and sometimes peacemakers. The steelpan’s early days were marked by courageous women who chose to belong in the musical realm controlled by men people at the time would call rogues. But most notable were women like Daisy James-McClean who was one of the earliest known female pannists. She started playing on her brother’s three-note ping pong pan in 1944, at age six. She played with the Casablanca band, unbeknownst to her mother, then City Syncopators and the Starlighters steelband. At a time when the mere presence a woman was scandalous in a panyard, James-McClean performed publicly and even played alongside calypsonian Brother Mudada during his Dimanche Gras appearance in 1976, the first woman to ever do so. In 1999 she founded the Harlem Syncopators to nurture young players and was honoured with the Public Service Medal of Merit (Silver) in 2005. [caption id="attachment_1171416" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Daisy James-McClean who was one of the earliest known female pannists. - Photo courtesy When Steel Talks[/caption] In 1967, Pat Bishop became the first woman to sing publicly with a steelband, Esso Tripoli Steel Orchestra, as part of a bet that the orchestra could play softly enough to accompany an unamplified female voice. She went on to become one of the first women to arrange steelband music and was awarded the Trinity Cross (now The Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago). In 1972, Merle Albino-de Coteau made history by being the first woman to arrange a steelband for Panorama, arranging Mas in May by The Mighty Sparrow for Chase Manhattan Savoy. She also founded Music Makers, a music school in Laventille, judged competitions across the Caribbean and North America and earned prestigious accolades, including an honorary doctorate from UTT and the Hummingbird Medal in 1993. [caption id="attachment_1171417" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Merle Albino-de Coteau, first woman to arrange for Panorama. -[/caption] In 2011 Michelle Huggins-Watt became the first female arranger to win a National Panorama competition, winning the Medium Band title with Valley Harps and Do Something For Pan composed by Len "Boogsie" Sharpe and Gregory Valentine. And in 2018, Vanessa Headley became the first female arranger to win in the Small Conventional category with her original composition, Trouble Sans Humanite, played by Golden Hands. As the steelpan movement matured, so did female representation and institutional support. In the early 50s, music teacher Hazel Henley founded Girl Pat Steel Orchestra, the first all-female steel orchestra, at her home in Newtown. With the support of her parents, she gathered schoolgirls to challenge society’s scorn of the steelpan. They had to learn how to play clandestinely because, if found out, they could have been expelled from their schools. Ellie Mannette, captain and tuner of Invaders Steelband assisted and with the musical assistance of Jocelyn Pierre, the group performed at charity shows, dances, on radio and at bingoes. And when it became more established, the band toured Guyana and Jamaica with the Little Carib Theatre, breaking both class and gender barriers by their presence and formal training. Women also pioneered steelpan in education. Dr Dawn Batson, initiated the Pan in the Classroom program, helped launch formal associate degree music performance (with steelpan) at Costaatt, and chaired TT’s National Steel Orchestra board. Later on, organisations like Pan Trinbago introduced school and youth festivals, widening the pipeline for girls to engage with the steelpan. In Tobago, history was made again when Beverley Ramsey-Moore, manager of the Katzenjammers Steel Orchestra, became the first female president of Pan Trinbago in 2018. She not only lead but raised accountability, streamlined finances, secured sponsors and earned the Gold Tobago Medal of Honour in 2023. Today, women stand with men in bands across the country as musicians, arrangers and leaders, thanks to these early female trailblazers. Information from When Steel Talks, Pan Trinbago and the National Archives of TT.   The post A tribute to pan pioneers: Woman on the bass appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.