North Tyneside Steelband 30th Anniversary

Jan 2

Jan 2 North Tyneside Steelband 30th Anniversary 

Thirty years on, humbled, grateful, and ready for the next thirty years!

In our 30 years we have had the pleasure of introducing hundreds of people to pan and have also been fortunate enough to watch many of our pannists go on to become young leaders, pan tutors, teachers, study music degrees and most importantly stay true to themselves along the way. In the last 30 years we have had players go on to play and win the Junior Panorama, UK Panorama and in Trinidad. As well as working with many great pannists such as Earl Rodney, Scott Sincler, Brent Holder, Delphina James, Chris Storey and Marlon Hibbert, to name a few, we have had the privilege of performing at the Royal Albert Hall twice as part of the Music For Youth Proms, three times at the Cudrefin Festival, Switzeland, The Millenium Dome , the BBC Young Folk Awards, and a UK busking tour. We have come a long way from our humble beginnings and still have plenty more to learn, but can look back on our 30 years with fond memories and feel proud of our journey so far.

We wanted to pull out all the stops for our 30th year with a fun-filled and ambitious year of activities for all members of the band to enjoy.

We started off with a visit to the Tabernacle for the Biennial International Steelpan Conference and really enjoyed playing alongside Mangrove Steel Band, Cusps and Leon Foster as well as attending various lectures before whizzing back to Newcastle.

In February, musical director Jenny Gilberg and senior player Alice Adams squeezed in another trip to Trinidad and Tobago to play with BP Renegades, who won their second consecutive panorama competition.

Jenny Gilberg and Alice Adams with Renegades 2019 Panorama trophy.

In the spring we entered our youth bands into the local Wansbeck Music Festival and were very proud to win in all of our categories, with player Matthew Wade winning the U16 solo trophy. Following on from our successful competition season, we enjoyed a residential weekend in Durham with guest tutor Chris Storey. This was Chris’s second visit 'up North' and players really enjoyed their time with him and adding a bit of Gloria Estefan to the repertoire.

In April we delivered workshops and headlined at the Harambee Pasadia, Afro Fusion Arts Festival. Once all our festival fun was out of the way it was time to get down to business and record our latest CD. We spent a few evenings in June recording our latest arrangements from guest tutors and MDs Michael Darling and Jenny Gilberg as well as Matthew Wade’s debut Avici medley arrangement that won the Wansbeck Music Festival. We also threw in a few old classics like Pan in A minor. It’s a firm favourite, how could we not?

In the blink or an eye it was time for our Dutch tour and Rotterdam Carnival performance. We set sail with a 22-piece band and some parent supporters and performed in what turned out to be the hottest recorded temperatures the country had ever experienced! Fresh from the ferry,our first performance was at Efteling Theme Park, the perfect opening activity, and of course we crammed in many rides in-between sets. We enjoyed a day busking in historic Delft and finished off our tour playing a set as part of the opening ceremony to Rotterdam Carnival. Our only regret was having to leave the next day to catch our ferry home.

For some, their summer performances were just beginning. Some NTSB players are also members of the regional ensemble Northern Steel Orchestra who put on a dazzling performance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in early August. Late August some payers joined forces with Pan Nation to take part in their first UK Panorama.

30th Anniversary Concert – Saville Exchange
For our 20th anniversary we sold out a 600-seat capacity theatre and showcased all our latest arrangements but this year we wanted to host a smaller, more intimate affair and offer our audience a real insight into the band’s 30-year history and identity including a multimedia visual experience.

In the months leading up to the concert a dedicated team of players and committee members spent hours going through old archives, photos and documents as well as interviewing present and past members of the band and managed to gather sound bites and videos which we were able to make into a 20-minute documentary. The documentary itself is an important record of our history and we are very proud of what we have achieved. You can check it out on our youtube channel and Facebook@NTSteelband.

The night was a huge success and we were delighted to be able to share it with past members, supporters and a few special guests from Pan Nation, Steel Pan Trust, Grenada and Pepe Francis, Chairman of BAS.

Being in a band is about more than just making music; it’s about making memories with your best friends, your musical family. NTSB has been on an amazing journey and the future of band looks good with talented new players coming through the ranks and a large, thriving Training Band.

We finished off our year with a trip to the BAS awards and a big blow-out Christmas party. Roll on the next thirty years!

By Jenny Gilberg.