Trinidad & Tobago,
W.I. - “In 2004 Hurricane
Ivan destroyed The Cayman Islands
and evidently shattered my personal
possessions including steelpans
and household articles. The
Canadian government hurriedly sent
passenger planes to evacuate all
Canadians which included me and
my family” - the La Pierre Family
Steelband.
Earl La
Pierre
These were the words of Trinidad-born Earl La Pierre recently on
“Pan Diaspora” during an interview
on Trinidad & Tobago’s WACK Radio 90.1 FM with Hollis
Clifton and Steve Sealy.
Earl, speaking via telephone (from
the Caymans), revealed that prior
to that natural disaster he had
spent 18 prolific years in the islands. It was in 1986, when he was invited
for the Pirates Week Festival,
that an
opportunity to teach pan arose.
While there he opened a school called
Cayman School for Pan, had a carnival
steelband named
Panoramers, and taught
pan at the primary, middle and high
schools, as well as Catholic Schools
- in Grand Cayman. As a result of
Earl’s efforts all the schools offer steelband as part of their educational
program. Earl won every School Music
Festival and every Carnival Pan
Competition in Cayman Islands from
1988–2004. His three–year old
college band (PANDEMIX) is getting
stronger and seems to be giving
his own Panoramers, some serious
competition. From 2008 to present,
Earl has been the arranger for
Pandemix Steelband which has been
running
second to Panoramers.
As a steelband teacher and a performer,
La Pierre performs at all the major
hotels in the Cayman Islands, but
mainly at Treasure Island Resort.
He is credited with introducing
Trinidad and Tobago’s national instrument
to this island grouping, to the extent
where it has become an indelible
part of that country’s culture.
Afropan
Steelband
La Pierre took up residence in Toronto
from 2004-2006 but returned to the
Cayman in 2006 where he is now domiciled.
The pan aficionado however, takes
time out every summer to fulfill
contractual arrangements with Afropan
Steelband in Toronto
for Caribana.
Formerly of St. Clair, Port-of-Spain,
Trinidad, La Pierre is one of many
Trinidadians who have made their
mark in the pan diaspora. While
living in Canada he taught steel
pan music at the University of Toronto,
North York Board of Education and
the Toronto Board of Education.
Earl was instrumental in getting
the Steel Pan offered as a credit
course in the North Schools. Earl
has won all Kiwanis Music Festivals
in the Steelband category in Secondary,
Junior and Primary School from 1979–1986. During that time the bands
under Earl’s tutelage (most notably
those from West View) received 29
wins at Secondary level (with 1
second place in 1983) and 6 wins
at the Primary level. In the Jazz
and Pan category the West View Steel
band received 3 wins from 1984
through
1986. At West View Earl was instrumental
in getting no less than 8 steelbands started; at the Secondary
level there was Pangroove, Pantario,
the Senior Band, the Junior Band
and the Open Band, and at the Primary
Level there was Topcliffe, Day Strome,
and Firgrove.
When asked by Clifton about where
he honed his skills, La Pierre revealed
that he was a former member of Metronomes
where he place 3rd as a soloist
in the Trinidad Music Festival.
He arranged for Invaders Steel
Orchestra
where he placed 2nd in the
‘Bomb’
competition and 5th in Panorama
Final. He was also a member of Starlift
Steel Orchestra and for the past
26 years has played as a member
of Phase II Pan Groove.
In 1999, he arranged the panorama
tune for Southern Marines Steelband
Foundation from Marabella, south
Trinidad, and for the past several
years he has been arranging for Harmonites Steel
Orchestra garnering several
accolades. In 2002 he placed 1st
in the East and 4th in the finals
of the Pan in the 21st Century competition.
In the Panorama competition with
Earl as their arranger, Harmonites
were the People’s Choice in 2006,
and received 7th place in 2007 and
10th place in 2008.
The La
Pierre Family
In the ‘Bomb’ competition, Earl
and Harmonites have also garnered
several notable awards. In 2006
they achieved the following
results in competition: 2
firsts, 3 seconds, and 1 third. In 2009, they
tied for 10th
position in Panorama. At Pan
in the
21st Century in 2007, Harmonites
came 3rd; in 2008 - 5th
and in 2009, 6th.
Back in North America Earl has distinguished
himself as Canada’s top arranger,
by being adjudged the Best Playing
Steelband at Toronto’s annual Caribana
celebrations for an unprecedented
30th time. Earl La Pierre, Sr. has
garnered 31 wins out of 40
competition entries, placing second
8 times, and third once.
In 2002 in recognition of his contribution
to the steelband movement at the
annual Snowflakes of Steel show,
the Pan Arts Network made Earl La
Pierre their first ambassador of
the Pioneer In Pan Award. This was
followed by the Counsel General
Diaspora Award for excellence in
2008 and then the 2010 Caribana
Tribute Award.
Currently the La Pierre Family Steelband
consists of three boys and one girl.
Earl La Pierre, Jr. is a pan tutor
in Toronto while Olujimi teaches
in Grand Cayman and Noel teaches
in Trinidad.
During the discourse, Clifton questioned
the purpose of a set of PHIs (Percussive
Harmonic Instruments) on location at Afropan’s Pan Theatre
near Lamport Stadium in Toronto,
during the band’s rehearsal prior
to the 2010 Pan Alive competition. In
response Earl quipped that they
were simply for display purposes.
Again Clifton asked La Pierre if,
in his view, the PHI could ever be
incorporated into the traditional steelband. La Pierre appeared to
have eluded the question and threw
it back at Clifton.
Clifton then drew reference to the
PanJazz fest held the previous
evening atop the San Fernando Hill
in Trinidad.
He cited the use of the PHI by two
of the pan bards – Darren Sheppard and
Earl Brooks of the Kenny Phillips–led 90.1 Degrees Band. Sheppard played three instruments – the traditional
ping–pong (1940s), the modern tenor/soprano
and the PHI, which he referred to
as the ‘futuristic’ pan, but
said he would
rather stick to his “Betsy” –
the conventional
tenor.
In elaboration Clifton referred
to a chat he had with
Professor
Brian Copeland of UWI
(University of the West Indies) the same
evening with respect to
Sheppard’s reference to the PHI
as part of the pan family. The
Professor lamented the assertion
positing that the PHI –
Percussive Harmonic Instrument -
in the strictest sense is not a
pan. It is the marriage of pan
and modern technology. Its DNA
link to pan is its shape and
note layout. The goodly Doctor
reckons that one can call it a
PHI Pan if one thinks of Pan as
its surname. For those who are
still working hard to get it to
a level of product of which the
nation could be proud, it is just
a ‘PHI’. The inventors, apart from
Copeland, include Keith Maynard,
Marcel Byron and Earl Phillips.
Pan Diaspora brings to bear
individuals who promote the
national instrument of Trinidad
and Tobago in the Pan Diaspora.
by
Hollis Clifton Educator
pandiaspora@gmail.com
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