The sound of steelpan rocked the Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village on Saturday at the Queen’s Park Savannah as five youth steelbands added to the weekend-long Emancipation celebrations. Arima Golden Symphony, Invaders Youth Steel Orchestra, Old Tech Steel Orchestra, St Margaret’s Boys Youth Steel Orchestra and Success Stars Pan Sounds delighted the small but eager audience.
The show, initially scheduled to begin at 2 pm, started at 3 pm . This, however, did not affect the show. Arima Golden Symphony’s 20-minute session led things off to a dynamic start. The band began with a rockers version of Young Love followed by Black Stalin’s (Leroy Calliste) Blackman Feeling to Party and ended with Benjai’s (Rodney Le Blanc) Come Out to Play. Each band was required to pay tribute to Calliste.
Arima Golden Symphony was followed by Invaders Youth Steel Orchestra. The youth arm of larger Caribbean Airlines (CAL) Invaders had members of the captive audience dancing as it played Calliste’s Caribbean Man, followed by John Legend’s All of Me. Multiple Junior Panorama champion St Margaret’s Boys’ Youth Steel Orchestra captivated the audience with its version of Legend’s All of Me, Romain Virgo’s cover of Soul Provider and Pharrell Williams’ Happy.
Success Stars Pan Sounds closed off the first hour of the show. The band, considered to be one of the oldest youth steel orchestras, began its 20-minute session with Jai Ho, followed by Bruno Mars’ Grenade and Shirley Bassey’s I Who Have Nothing.