The Cayman Islands is a hotbed for steel pan skill, a point brought home with a triumphant victory in the Caribana Pan Alive festival, 2011.
The festival takes place in Toronto every year and for five hours a packed Lamport Stadium is treated to the best of steel drumming and percussion in the region.
Weekender caught up with Cayman pan legend Earl La Pierre, the engaging Trinidadian responsible for the explosion of pan playing in our paradise islands.
“The kids from Cayman came up and we rehearsed all week before [the concert]. We had nighttime parties … the event was at the stadium which was a block away from our rehearsal area, so when people finished in there they came down to listen to pan, socialise and listen to the music.
“The King and Queen contest was on the Thursday night, the day before the competition. We were all dressed in white, 60-something of us; we entertained the audience and played all our songs.”
Afro Pan – the supergroup formed by Toronto and Cayman’s finest – was the 11th to play on the night, explains Earl.
“… That night we had a momentum going for us that was out of this world. The sound was right, the band had the right vibes, we looked great, played nice and broke the place down.
“We had around 16 coming up from Cayman, some from Bermuda and the rest from Toronto. I started off Afro Pan – it’s the people’s band and we have won the competition 28 times; my personal record is 31 firsts, eight seconds and one third place.”
The song was a classic by The Original De Fosto Himself, a calypso legend.
“The song, A Raging Storm, was really full of rage and storm – I know all about storm because I went through the hurricane. It was my choice and we were the only band which played that piece – we stormed the place and when we finished the place was in a mess.
“The following day, the Saturday, was the parade and a million-plus watched it. It was huge. The kids from Cayman had never seen so many people. [The carnival] is massive – it brings $400 million into Toronto,” beams the affable Earl.
Ultimately, these kind of events have a knock-on effect, he adds.
“The kids came back with an experience that they’d never had before and they are already talking about next year’s Carnival. They have wider knowledge of what is a carnival and can share that with those who are running carnival… Cayman is in good hands as far as culture is concerned – that pan culture I am sure [the kids] will spread.”
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