Blog Archive, December 2023

December 22, 2023

Roadblock Steel is an music ensemble with a proud mission: its members want to share Trinidad & Tobago’s culture with the world. Already, the group of young musicians have toured West Africa, visiting Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. They have performed at the Miami Panorama (2022) and at the iconic Barclays Centre in New York at a WNBA game.

But they still crave wider public recognition at home. Having come only as high as eight in the small bands Panorama competition may be one reason their potential hasn’t fully exploded. They are determined, however, to rise to the pinnacle of that competition given the immense talent of…

December 5, 2023

We’ve lost another pan icon. The Point Fortin musician who mashed up town with his energetic music for Solo Harmonites has gone to the ancestors. In the 1960s and ‘70s, Rodney, much like his contemporary Clive Bradley, arranged for both steel and traditional orchestras. He played and arranged with the Dutchy Brothers, and when Vincent Yip Young convinced him to join Harmonites he won them Panorama titles in 1968 1971 and 1972.

He arguably deserves…