Sterling Betancourt MBE - Reflection on TASPO - Seventy Years ago - Festival of Britain 1951.

Jun 1

Jun 1 Sterling Betancourt MBE - Reflection on TASPO - Seventy Years ago - Festival of Britain 1951.

The official steelpan journey to the UK started with TASPO’s visit to the Festival of Britain on the 26thJuly 1951 but Trinidadian born Arthur Aldwyn Holder (Boscoe Holder), dancer, choreographer and artiste credited for introducing this 20th century acoustic instrument and limbo dancing to the UK in the 1950s and 60s. His dance company made many appearances in cabarets, theatre clubs, television shows and films.

Panpodium caught up with Sterling Betancourt MBE who was one of the steelpan musicians in TASPO who came to the UK to perform at the Festival of Britain. The following is his account of his journey 70 years ago.

‘Looking back on the past 70 years when I first came to England in 1951, a year that was for me as a 21 year old, a turning point for my musical career in steel band music and life in general.  On the 6th July 1951, with 12 other steel band musicians I left my home and the islands of Trinidad & Tobago for the first time and embarked on a Banana boat, St Mateo, to play at the Festival of Britain.

We were the first Steel Band to land in UK, the ‘Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra, known under the abbreviation, T.A.S.P.O, led by the band master from Barbados, Lieutenant Griffith.  We sailed to Bordeaux in France, and then continued by train and boat to the UK, to arrive on a grim and overcast morning at London Victoria Station on the 21st July 1951.   On stepping off the train at Victoria station, I was overwhelmed by a buzzing sensation of people going in all directions all dressed in darkish tones, no colourful clothing like in Trinidad and Tobago, there, we were greeted by Trinidadian, Edric Connor, a baritone singer and actor who took us to his flat in Bayswater.  

On emerging out of the station and during our drive to Edric's flat we realised what a post war city looked like and how London had been badly hit, there were bomb sites everywhere and children using it as playgrounds, the city appeared quite dismal to us coming from our sunny and bright islands, the buildings were grey and black, looking very austere in the overcast weather. Back home there was no television and if as a British colony, we knew of the participation of Britain in the war that was ravaging the souls and lives of thousands, we were so distant from it all.

On our way to Edric’s flat passing Marble Arch, a huge crowd stood at the park entrance and when asked what this gathering was about, we were told of the role ‘Speakers Corner’ played for activists vindicating people’s rights or other driven speakers.  There were so many white faces everywhere and I was quite astonished at seeing white people sweeping the streets, as never in Trinidad you would have seen such a thing!  On the 26th July 1951, we played at the Festival of Britain and if at first, people who gathered around us out of curiosity looked doubtful or puzzled at what we were about to do with our 50 gallons rusty oil drums and shorter cut ones, by the end of the first tune, they clapped and cheered. As we proceeded with more tunes, we received a warm welcome with people moving to the rhythm, it was the first time they saw and heard a Steel Band Orchestra. Amongst them were our fellow Trinidadians, Edric Connor, the 100 metres Olympic silver medalist, McDonald Bailey, the famous pilot, Ulric Cross and many others.  Following the Festival of Britain, we played at the Savoy Hotel, the Lyceum Ballroom, for a BBC Television program at Alexandra Palace with Lord Kitchener and Boscoe Holder dance troupe. We toured England and Wales in a coach with TASPO painted all over it, wherever we went, we were always received with equal enthusiasm.  In 1950, Boscoe Holder, a dancer and pianist from Trinidad and Tobago had a dance troupe with his wife, Sheila Clarke, and had brought 2 Tenor steel pans from Trinidad, which he incorporated in his performing act.  

After performing in the UK, we went on to Paris for a couple of weeks to play at the Medrano Circus, made a recording with the Vogue label and when it was time to go back to Trinidad & Tobago, I returned to London alone with my tenor pan saying a sad goodbye to my fellow pan men, quite doubtful of what was awaiting me but I felt I had no choice, and if I longed for home going back meant that the same opportunity may never occur again. I had to give my music a chance away from all the riots and violence that steel bands were involved in back home, and since England had not heard our traditional music it was the place for me.

After doing odd jobs in London to keep me afloat, I met a pianist from Trinidad, Russ Henderson, and with him and fellow Trinidadian, Mervin Constantine, formed the first Steel Band trio, the Russ Henderson Trio, when Mervin left, another very talented musician joined us, Ralph Cherrie.  At first, we only played in Cabaret such as The Sunset Club in Soho, La Ronde and in UK Music Halls, eventually we went on to play at Oxford and Cambridge Universities for the debutante balls and for the Royal family etc.

Our Trio started the steel band craze; others followed and contributed to its development. Russ Henderson, Gerald Forsyth and myself introduced the steel pan to English schools and its music curriculum. We taught the students and I also made the steel pan instruments for the schools.  In 1964, we played for a little children festival in Portobello Road, Ladbroke Grove, London. Little did we realised that we had given birth to the iconic, London Notting Hill Carnival.  

Over time, many players, tuners and teachers arrived in UK.  In the early seventies, I travelled to the Middle and Far East, always in search of a new audience and carried the steel pan art form as far as opportunities allowed me too. I spent many years in Zurich, Switzerland, gigging, teaching and making steel pans. I assisted the Swiss children and adults to form their own steelbands. There is where I composed, arranged and recorded, ‘More Steelband than Snow’.

In 1985, I formed a Pan Around the Neck Steel Band in London called Nostalgia. The band played on the road for Notting Hill Carnival and I took them to perform in Germany and Switzerland until 2005 when I left the band.  

Sterling playing in Nostalgia Steelband.

I have received many awards for my contribution as a pioneer of steel band music.  My Calypso on TASPO came out in 2013 and my biography, London is the place for me in 2014, I still continue play the steelpan and write Calypsos at the age of 91.’

Panpodium salutes this steelpan pioneer for his iconic contribution to the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago and the steelpan art form on a whole.