With most of the old guard of the steelband world in the autumn of their years it is now up to the youth to take the national instrument forward and upward to greener pastures and higher ground. Almost every one of our steel orchestras, inclusive of Trinidad All Stars, Desperadoes, Exodus, Renegades, Invaders and Skiffle, are all blessed with qualified and excellent musicians.
Recently the youth of Exocubs were the stars at a graduation exercise held at the Eastern Main Road pan amphitheatre of Republic Bank Exodus in St Augustine.
Not to be outdone, CAL Invaders hosted a fund-raiser for one of its members Lemuel Davis and again youth came shining through. Davis, also a student at the UTT, is the recipient of a cultural exchange tour between the UTT and the University of Tennessee Martin, USA.
The show’s first half featured mostly young people, some members of Invaders Steel Orchestra, and students of UTT, under the direction of UTT lecturer Michael “Ming” Low Chew Tung and including Atiya O’Neil, Toni Williams, Zachary De Lima and Davis.
With Low Chew Tung on keyboards, other instrumentalists were James Jesse Joseph (guitar); Dion Mansingh (bass guitar); Denilson Gulston (drums); Luke Walker (double seconds); Atiya O’Neil (tenor pan); Akinola Sennon (double seconds); and, Zachary De Lima (guitar). De Lima also sang as did Samuel Thomas, Kiana Tinto, Anna Birot and Williams.
Selections performed and attracting loud applause from a well satisfied audience were Coffee Street, Jus teasin’, Kaiso Kaiso, Calypso Music, and MX Prime’s Full Extreme, played at a slow pace and featuring De Lima and Thomas.
Other items which seemed to move patrons were Voice’s Cheers to Life, performed by Sennon, and Ella Andall’s Missing Generation rendered by Williams, and the late Andre Tanker’s Forward Home.
After a short intermission, senior musicians of Invaders occupied the show’s entire second half, again producing a lively and entertaining performance.