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April - May 2008
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 The RainmakersNew talent springs to life at UWI concertby Gerard Best It’s not surprising that The UWI Percussion Ensemble and Golden Hands Steel Orchestra have been invited to perform their latest undertaking, The Rainmakers, at the 33rd Annual Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Austin, Texas in November. The popular production has received praise from both audiences and drama critics at home. And so in just a few months the young musicians, who are now actively seeking sponsorship in order to take up this opportunity, will perform alongside competitively selected percussionists from around the world. The Rainmakers, a full length dramatic concert written and directed by Franka Hills Headley and featuring nine original compositions for the steel pan by Dr Jeannine Remy, brought together The University of the West Indies (UWI) Percussion Ensemble and the Golden Hands youth orchestra. Headley is the director of Golden Hands Steel Orchestra, a San Fernando-based 30-member conventional steel band; Remy, who lectures in Music at the UWI Centre for Creative and Festival Arts (CCFA), is the Conductor of the 20-member UWI Percussion Ensemble. The Remy-Headley collaboration in Rainmakers was a resounding success: the audience at the CCFA auditorium remained spellbound for the entire presentation, gave a standing ovation at the close, and milled around afterwards commenting on the excellence of the show. Rainmakers is a 45-minute musical production integrating dance, drama and Trinidadian Carnival characters. All 50 musicians perform in costume while the dancers and characters enact the dramatic storyline. The main characters are the King of Rains, the Rainmaker and the King of Droughts. The storyline is fairly simple: the people of Rainmaker Land have forsaken the true worship of The King of Rains, and drought ensues. The King of Drought has unleashed his fury on the land. Now the land is totally devoid of moisture and the inhabitants groan in their misery producing an insatiable Thirsty Earth. However, The King of Rains has hidden a special Rainmaker, who lays asleep deep in the heart of the earth. And as one would expect the production ends on a high note with a Chip in the Rain. Interestingly, the programme notes speak of the production as bridging a gap in the industry, “[The pieces] have been designed to fill the gap of “classical” music often heard only for music festivals and steelpan examinations. The music moves from a distinct dissonant to a consonant quality as the storyline unfolds and hints at the plethora of ethnographic music genres that are the fruition of the rich creolisation process of the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.” The compositions, which comprise five steel band ensemble pieces, two solos, one quartet, and one piece that combines a large percussion ensemble with the steel band, are intended to elevate the level of performance practice by expanding the musicianship of young pannists. As a unit, the nine pieces explore the practical and theoretical potential of the steelpan that is vital for its continued evolution in the 21st century. For example, both soloists in the session (Richard Bereaux and Vanessa Headley) performed with four sticks and one performed on a new steelpan instrument dubbed the “extended seconds”, which is essentially a version of the traditional double seconds with increased range. The extended seconds, which emerged out of experimentation by Mr. Bertrand “Birch” Kelman, at the request of Dr. Jeannine Remy, is one example of positive developments that can pose greater demands on the music literacy of performers, as well as the creativity of composers. The Rainmakers Showcase Concert, made possible through the assistance of the Music Literacy Trust and the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, will soon be made available on CD through SANCH Electronix. |
