THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507150330
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Bouncing off brick and cobblestone streets and making its way through the alley past the Large Brothers soul food restaurant, the sound of island music wafts through the air.
Except this island music has a decidedly American flavor; there are classics like ``Amazing Grace'' and Scott Joplin's ``The Entertainer.''
At the 600 block of Queen Street in the old Steiner's warehouse, Portsmouth children learn to play the pan. To Americans, its known as the steel drum. But for people from Trinidad, the true description of the instrument is the pan.
And after nearly two months of practicing, 10 of the 30 members of the Pan Project will make their national debut today during pre-game and halftime of the National Soccer Team and the Trinidad & Tobago National Team game at Old Dominion University's Foreman Field Stadium. The 7 p.m. game will be broadcast live to Trinidad.
The Pan Parrot Steel Drum Band, the 10-member performing unit of the Project, will also perform at Portsmouth's Ida Barber Community Center at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The Pan Project allows seven to 17-year-olds to practice with professional pan players during July and August at no cost. The Project, which started last year and is part of a non-profit parent organization called the Portsmouth Community Development Group, is funded through private contributions.
Staffers at No Limits, a group that raises funds for the Project, say they need donations to keep the project alive next year. It's no cost to the kids, but program administrators say they must raise about $1,500 to pay for each child. Yet the prospect of getting national notoriety excites the youngsters.
Myesha Bellamy, a 14-year-old student at I.C. Norcom Senior High, took part in the Project last year. She got involved this year because it ``keeps her busy'' during the summer.
``It's just something to do. I really enjoyed it last year, and I like the way it sounds,'' said Bellamy, who plays tenor pan.
``I like it a lot,'' says Ebony Harrison, 12, from New York City. Harrison is staying with her aunt and uncle in Portsmouth to take part in the project. She was encouraged to join after watching the Pan kids perform at a high school graduation last year.
But the project isn't all fun and games, say program administrators. Kids can't cuss or fight, and they must ask permission before leaving the pan yard, the place where the music is played.
Pan music, commonly played in island countries such as Trinidad, has strict rules of conduct, explains Barbara Pierce, a program administrator. Pierce says that pan players in Trinidad can leave their pans, valued at about $600 each, in the yard unattended, because of the moral codes upheld by the players.
And at the Queen Street warehouse, signs informing kids not to fight or cuss decorate the walls.
It's a culture, say pan instructors, that needs to be taught to American youngsters.
Keith St.Louis, a member of the Trinidad and Tobago Pan Professionals, said the music is an outgrowth from slavery. When African slaves were brought to Trinidad, they communicated via call and response by drum, said St. Louis. Over the years, the instrument evolved into a pan.
St. Louis said the music is also popular in Britain and Japan. He and other instructors freelance around the country teaching American kids.
``It's the only instrument to be invented in the 20th century. It's a new thing. You have to be a part of new times,'' says St. Louis.
A pan is made after sinking the top, and cutting and tuning a steel drum.
But don't ever tell a Trinidad native it's a drum.
``It's an instrument, but it came from a steel drum,'' says St. Louis. ``In America, they call it a steel drum, so I guess we've just fallen in line (in calling it that.)'' by CNB