This week, Ruth Parsons shares how playing on J'Ouvert Morning was a great experience.
Having participated in J’Ouvert many times during our
extended stay in Trinidad, it has become my favorite part of Carnival. J'Ouvert
is the true free up. Unencumbered by playing pretty, it is early while there is
a lot of energy, J’Ouvert is for everyone and it is the opening up of the
Carnival and is received with great anticipation. It is a good street party. My
husband and I, aboard Makaru, have done J’Ouvert with Annette and Arnold of
Trump Tours at their house and had a wonderful time; we have gone with Jesse to
Trevor Wallace’s party. We have played in other J’Ouvert bands such a Red Ants
and Blue Devils, but in 07 we saw J’Ouvert in its best light (and dark)- from a
pan band truck while beating pan with a local band – the best!
My husband, George, and I were busily practicing for
panorama competition with Ice Water’s Single Pan Band, and thinking that with
the late start in learning the tune, we weren’t going to be able to learn it in
time for panorama, when a friend of ours said to us, “You should play with
Harvard Harps. They are a small band, and not participate in Panorama. They play for fun
and they go out J’Ouvert morning and Tuesday night on a truck”. That sounded
very interesting to us – especially the fun part, after our struggle with a
late start in learning a panorama tune. So, we timidly visited the Harvard
Harps Pan yard, located at the Harvard Sports Club in St. James, to meet them
and to ask politely if we might join their band for J’Ouvert. Well, here they
are – a very interesting group of 12 or so people – many of them as old as we
are- and that’s old- all colors, very friendly, very Trini. The first person we
met in the yard was Ian. He looked us over and said to my husband “You’ll fit
right in this band. You are old and you are bald”. We sat around and had drinks
and got to know some of the band members, and said we’d be back the next day
for practice. We learned the first night that these folks like to do two
things: play good music and drink rum. Ah, we do fit in.
Read more at http://steelpancollective.org/bandtalespt2
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