Desperadoes Steel Orchestra

Desperadoes Steel Orchestra
Origin	Laventille, Trinidad
Genres	Steelpan Trinidadian Calypso
Years active	1950 – present
Website	http://www.desperadoestt.com
Members
J. Hutson, Manager K. Gordon, Captain A. Robbly, Vice Cpatin M. Martin, Secretary R. Coutain, Assistant Secretary J. Stephens, Treasurer N. Gabriel-Moses, Assistant Treasurer K. Glassgow, Trustee G. Wallace, Trustee
Past members
Clive Bradley, Arranger Rudolph Charles, Captain Raymond "Artie" Shaw, Conductor Anthony Prospect, Conductor

The Desperadoes Steel Orchestra, also called Despers, is a Steelband from Laventille in Trinidad.

Origins and evolution

The Desperadoes Steel Orchestra emerged from the fusion of three different Steelbands from Laventille. The name of the group was chosen from the movie Desperadoes starring Glenn Ford which was shown in Port of Spain at the time.

Despers were led by Rudolph Charles since 1961 until his death in 1985. Charles invited several pantuners like Bertie Marshall and Lincoln Noel to create the best possible orchestral effects.

The orchestra has worldwide appearances and has performed at The Royal Albert Hall in 1972, Carnegie Hall in 1987, and along with the classical singer Luciano Pavarotti in Barbados in 1996. Mr.Raymond "Artie" Shaw was the first musician to conduct Desperadoes Steel Orchestra at their performance for Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Dr. Pat Bishop conducted their performance at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Desperadoes have also toured some of Trinidad & Tobago's motherlands, such as Africa, India and China. This Steel Orchestra has won every entered competition and has a total of 24 victories from 1965 to 2011.

Education

Despers also make an effort to educate their community in Laventille, and has hosted Pan Camps with up to 200 children participating. Besides playing steelpan, the program includes foreign language training, life skills and field trips.^[1]

Competitions

Panorama

Despers won the national Panorama Championship of Trinidad and Tobago ten times in their history.^[2] The orchestra always takes part in the big band category with a maximum of one hundred musicians.

Year	Song	Arranger
1966	Obeah Wedding	Beverly Griffith
1970	Margie	Clive Bradley
1976	Pan in Harmony	Clive Bradley
1977	Crawford	Clive Bradley
1983	Rebecca	Clive Bradley
1985	Pan Night and Day	Beverly Griffith
1991	Musical Vulcano	Robert Greenidge
1994	Fire Coming Down	Robert Greenidge
1999	In my House	Clive Bradley
2000	Picture on my Wall	Clive Bradley

Music Festival

Desperadoes have won the (Pan Is Beautiful) Steel Orchestra Music Festival of Trinidad and Tobago three times. They played the Polovetsian Dances by Borodin in 1986, the Marche Slave from Tchaikovsky in 1988 and the Bartered Bride by Smetana in 1992. Their classical renditions which were all arranged and conducted by the late, Dr. Pat Bishop. Desperadoes have also won The Best Village Classical Competition for pan in 1965. They performed "The Marriage of Figaro" which was arranged By Mr. Beverly Griffith. In 1967 they won The Champ of Champs Classical Competition. Their redition of Lehar's "Palestra" was arranged and conducted by the late, Mr. Raymond "Artie" Shaw. ^[3]

Sources

• Voices from the hills: Despers & Laventille The steelband and its effects on poverty, stigma & violence in a community, by Ancil Anthony Neil, 1987.

Notes

1. ^ Pancamp
2. ^ Panorama
3. ^ Music Festival

"400 Questions and Answers on Pan from 1960 to Present" by Ian R. Franklin

External links

• Despers on youtube