THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 18, 1994 TAG: 9407160040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 167 lines
MAESTRO GEORGE ``Yo Yo'' Kalicharan sat hunched over a steel drum - an alto - with a cigarette dangling from his mouth and an Army-fatigue hat atop his bald head. He rapped on the drum that was balanced between his knees and listened. Then he hit it with his hammer and listened again.
This is Kalicharan's calling - transforming what used to be sticky and pungent 55-gallon oil drums into musical instruments. Each B-flat, each E, each F-sharp has to be pounded out and shaped just right to elicit its unique sound.
Listening for the difference between the tuned and the untuned note is what Kalicharan, a master steel-drum tuner, does best.
Kalicharan is so renowned in his native country - Trinidad and Tobago - that an admirer in 1986 composed the song ``Fire and Steel'' about him. It was played by every band in that year's national steel drum competition.
Kalicharan, 54, and six other professional Caribbean musicians have come to Hampton Roads on a cultural exchange to share their talents and the rich melodies of their homeland.
``We're trying to pass this on,'' Kalicharan said. ``We want the steel pan to live on, not only in Trinidad, but in the whole world.''
Under the shade of a tree in the front yard of the Berkley Community Center in Norfolk, the hammer comes down hard on the steel. As the tool and the drum meet, the clanging startles observers, who suddenly become creatures of reflex, blinking with every bang. Kalicharan doesn't even wince. He concentrates on his task, knowing that soon the noise will be replaced by rhapsody.
And what sweet music it is. The steel drum, or pan, as its Caribbean creators call it, produces chords that enrapture listeners. Sometimes pan musicians play classical favorites. Often, though, they produce calypso - the vivacious, fast-paced music with a repetitive rhythm and a makes-you-want-to-get-up-and-dance flair. As each note reverberates across the concave top of the steel pan, the sound is as boisterous as the music of an entire orchestra.
``When you can take oil drums and get the sounds of a complete orchestra from the violins all the way down to the drums, that's something,'' said Harold Foster, a deputy sheriff in Norfolk and the only local musician in Kalicharan's band. ``It catches people off guard. They can't help tapping their feet.''
Every place Yo Yo Kalicharan's Caribbean Pan Groove performs, the audience reacts with wonder. Outside of Mahi Mah's restaurant on the Boardwalk at 7th Street in Virginia Beach on a hot Sunday afternoon, sunbathers listened. They watched the rapid wrist movements of the pan professionals, most of whom wore tie-dyed Bob Marley T-shirts. And they started to dance. Cyclists came off the bike path and circled the group, like the gulls that hovered above leftover lunches on the sand nearby.
``People are amazed. They've never seen this. They've never heard it. Some of them want to look under the pan for an electronic device,'' Kalicharan said. ``We have to explain the sound comes from the vibration.''
Even babies revel in the magic. On July 9, at a performance during a community clean-up day in the Huntersville section of Suffolk, 17-month-old Dallas Davidson couldn't stop himself from being drawn in by the lure of the pans.
The toddler marched up to the array of pans twice as tall as he. Then he stood in front of them and absorbed the sounds. He bent his knees in a spontaneous bounce, as a group of older, but much more self-conscious kids, gathered behind him.
``Trinidad has come to Huntersville,'' a man in the crowd yelled. ``You just keep on playing because it sure sounds good.''
To the Caribbean Pan Groove, children are the best audiences and places like Huntersville, the best arenas. Entertainment is at a premium in Huntersville, a close-knit, but dilapidated neighborhood, where some residents still have outhouses. In places like this, the steel pan's future and past come together.
Innovators pounded out the first pan about 50 years ago in the noisy, crowded streets of Trinidad and Tobago's capital city, Port of Spain. The pans came from the oil drums that were stockpiled and left behind by the American military during World War II. The pan yards in Port of Spain were poor in resources, but rich in rhythm, creativity and pride.
These are the characteristics the visiting musicians hope to bring to Hampton Roads. Ideally, they would like to target community centers, urban developments and schools, teaching kids how to make, tune, play and appreciate the steel pan.
There are several different types and shapes of pans - among them, the bass, the tenor, the cello-pans and the guitar-pans - but they all start out as oil drums.
Finding the empty oil drums here hasn't been easy. In Trinidad, factories manufacture drums especially for steel pan makers, Kalicharan said. In Hampton Roads, the master tuner settles for donated oil drums. The oil drums aren't ideal. Sometimes the the steel isn't thick enough. Other times, company logos imprinted into the metal cut too deep. Nevertheless, they are free, generously donated by Miller Oil Co. and other companies.
The depth of the pan's top depends on what sound is sought: The lower the desired note, the deeper the concave. The center of the deepest pan drops about 8 inches below the rim of the drum. A pan maker must have geometric precision, especially in the first few stages.
As he ``stretches the metal,'' hammering out the concave until it dips inward, the crafter measures constantly to ensure that every part of the pan's top falls equally from the perimeter. In addition to rulers and tapes to take measurements, the masters use different weight hammers. The lightest 4-pound hammer helps to smooth out the pan's surface.
``You shouldn't be seeing any hammer marks on a well-made pan,'' Kalicharan said.
Next comes the placing of the notes. The crafter has to target just the right spot for each note. This is no easy task. Just about every inch on the pan is designated for a note, and none can overlap another. When satisfied, he etches grooves into the surface and cuts the pan from the original oil drum. The pan is turned over a wood fire to rid it of oil residue and impurities, all of which could interfere with the quality of the vibrations. Caribbean Pan Groove engulfs its pans in flames at a vacant lot in Virginia Beach.
Finally, it is time for an initial tuning and refinement. In some cases, the pans are chrome-plated. Others have small holes drilled in circular patterns to elicit stronger vibrations.
All these steps occur before Kalicharan sits down with his rubber-tipped hammer and well-trained ear. It takes him a few hours to tune a pan, and he speaks little during the process.
He's eager to share his optimism, though.
``If we work with these kids for the next three to six months, we will be able to leave a few good players and pan tuners in Virginia,'' Kalicharan said. ``That will be good. We can't supply the world ourselves.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos] CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
George "Yo Yo" Kalicharan has come to Hampton Roads to share the
talents and melodies of his homeland, Trinidad and Tobago.
Kalicharan, left, tunes a new steel pan while Lennox "Shuck"
LaFleur, who plays the tenor in the Caribbean Pan Grove band,
watches.
Michael Morris is a member of the Caribbean Pan Groove band. The
band plays everything from classical to calypso.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Map
JOHN CASERTA/Staff
INFOLINE
[Box]
CONCERT DATES
This is Caribbean Pan Groove's summer performance schedule:
African Touch Dance and Fashion Show
Holiday Inn - Hampton
Saturday from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Phillips Waterside
333 Waterside Drive, Norfolk
Friday, Saturday, July 30 and every Friday and Saturday night in
August from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Mahi Mah's Restaurant
On the Boardwalk at Seventh Street, Virginia Beach
Sunday and July 31 from 3 to 5 p.m.
Berkley Park
Wednesday, Aug. 6, from 5 to 8:30 p.m.
These are confirmed performances. For schedule updates and
information, call Harold Foster at 545-3699 or 670-8450 (pager) or
Olive Ezell at 1-838-1799.
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
Errol Zephyrine, arranger for the Caribbean Pan Groove, demonstrates
to Johnathon Outsey, 10, how to play the steel pan drum at the
Berkley Community Center in Norfolk.
by CNB