North Tyneside Steelband 35th Anniversary - A Memorable Musical Journey,

Nov 2

Nov 2 North Tyneside Steelband 35th Anniversary - A Memorable Musical Journey,

It is safe to say we’ve come a long way from our humble beginnings learning basic Island Tunes on a small set of pans. Dave Edwards, tutored by the late, great Gerald Forsyth, set up North Tyneside Steelband in 1989. The band now owns in excess of 40 instruments and currently has 65 members across all 4 of its bands: Training Band, Junior Performance, Performance Band and Precious Metal Adult band. We are fortunate to have been blessed with a breadth of talented musicians over the years who have each brought their own expertise and influences from different musical backgrounds including classical, rock, jazz and folk. We are very proud to have a vast repertoire including Jazz, Latin, Pop, Rock, Soca, Calypso, Classical and Folk.

We have had players to go on to play in and win the UK Junior Panorama, UK Panorama and Trinidad Panorama. As well as working with many great pannists such as Earl Rodney, Scott Sinclair, Brent Holder, Delphina James, Chris Storey, Dan Sadler 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, and also at Rotterdam Carnival, the Cudrefin Festival in Switzerland (three times), The Millennium Dome and the BBC Young Folk Awards, and in UK and Dutch busking tours. We still have plenty more to learn, but can look back on our 35 years with fond memories and feel proud of our journey so far.

As a charity, we have always prioritised succession, longevity and protecting the legacy of the band. We strongly believe that part of our success is down to having strong foundations. We are very fortunate to have retained so many players and trustees, some for many decades now! I write this in my 25th year in NTSB, but we have several players who have been part of the band for 20+ years and some who have been involved since the beginning 35 years ago. Dave Edwards was always passionate about providing progression routes and opportunities. We have always ensured that we maintain a steady recruitment and we are very focused on developing our young players.

We continue to champion our players and the future of the band looks good, with talented new players coming through the ranks and a large, thriving Training Band. Our adult band has also gone from strength to strength under tutor Karina Atkinson. The band is made up of players, some who have been with NTSB for 20+ years, and an influx of new players who have made excellent progress. The band is now at full capacity with 65 players in weekly attendance and waiting lists for all 4 of our bands.

We recently welcomed Matthew Wade to the Musical Direction Team to join Michael Darling, Jenny Gilberg and Karina Atkinson. Matthew is a talented musician playing drums and brass instruments, is an all-round steel pan player and is heading out to Trinidad for panorama 2025.

35th Anniversary Concert – Salt Market Social:

We have enjoyed several milestone celebrations with this year being no exception. For our 20th anniversary, we sold out a 600-seat capacity theatre and showcased all of our latest arrangements. For our 30th anniversary, we went for a more intimate affair altogether, offering our audience a real insight into the band’s 30-year history which included a multimedia visual experience broadcasting a documentary-style history of the band and punctuated with music in a small modern theatre. For our 35th anniversary, we just wanted to have a big blow-out party and jam the night away with all of our family, friends and supporters. We are lucky to have an events specialist amongst our players. Project coordinator Alice Adams took the lead in organising our 35th Anniversary concert at the trendy Salt Market Social down by the mouth of the River Tyne. All 4 of our bands performed a mixture of new music as well as some classic repertoire including Kitchner’s Toco Band, Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline and modern crowd pleasers such as Dua Lipa’s Dance The Night.

Music For Youth 2024:

Our small but perfectly formed under-21 squad, led by Matthew Wade, enjoyed success at regional and national rounds of the Music For Youth Festival. The band travelled down to Doncaster in early March and wowed the judges with the Destra Garcia classic Vibes arranged by Matthew; and a 90s Medley arranged by Matthew and Grace Henderson. We were delighted to be invited down to the National Festival in Birmingham in July. Once again, the band dazzled the audience and judges with a trio of contrasting music: Buena Vista Social Club’s famous ‘El Quarto de Tula’ arranged by Michael Darling, Jenny Gilberg and Matthew Wade, the Jackson 5 Classic ‘Want You Back’ arranged by Michael Darling, and our favourite Soca arrangement ‘Vibes’ from the previous round. The band received some excellent feedback from the judges who were particularly impressed with our talented young drummer, Edson Angus, who has just started a Jazz degree at the Leeds Conservatoire. It was an incredible experience for our young players and we are super proud of them all.

Panorama and Carnival 2024:

Players from NTSB and other local bands across Newcastle have been participating in panoramas for approximately 20 years. Players from North Tyneside Steelband have played with bands including: Ebony Steel Band, Pan Nation Steel Orchestra, Caribbean Steel International, Stardust. This year a small group of players travelled south to support Marlon Hibbert and Croydon Steel Orchestra as well as Ebony Steel Band. I’m sure you would all agree that being in a band is about more than just making music; it’s about making memories with your best friends, sharing experiences with your musical family and watching people grow. NTSB has had a rich 35 years and we have lots of exciting plans and goals for the future.