Documentary of defunct Trinidad steelpan ensemble Panazz Players to premiere in Toronto
July 29, 2024
Finbar ‘Barry’ Bartholomew was unprepared for his nephew’s surprise phone call in March 2023.
In a dual degree program at Harvard-Berklee, Adam Bartholomew is studying Molecular & Cellular Biology at Harvard University and Film Scoring at Berklee College of Music.
“He told me about his Professor asking the class to select a band that pushed boundaries and changed perspectives after the Second World War and he chose to explore Panazz Players,” the group’s Dublin-born co-founder and co-arranger recounted.
Formed in 1992, the small steelpan ensemble -- whose name is derived from pan and jazz -- won four consecutive Pan Ramajay titles and performed at several high-profile events.
They included the Boston Celebrity Series at the Symphony Hall, the World Travel Exposition at Earl’s Court in London, the Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival in Memphis, Tennessee, the St. Lucia Jazz Festival, the inaugural Midem Latin America & Caribbean Music Market in Miami Beach in 1997 and for the United Nations in Japan during its 10-year existence.
“Adam was not around because he wasn’t born, but he watched a lot of videos and has so much that he is fascinated by the whole thing,” said his uncle. “When he called me, I was not having a good day and was in no mood to absorb what he was telling me.”
Four days later, the student travelled to Trinidad during Spring Break to start the project.
“He came with a laptop computer and I asked him what was happening,” said the older Bartholomew. “He was very excited, but I was not in the best frame of mind at the time to represent Panazz.”
Before giving his nephew his full attention, the classically trained Chef took a shot of vodka.
“That calmed me a bit and Adam started to ask questions about the band,” the Institute of Culinary Education graduate said. “As what he was telling me started to make sense, my interest peaked and I thought I could bring a few people who were with the band for him to interact with and see where that goes.”
In addition to his uncle, the younger Bartholomew interviewed some band members, including tenor player Dane Gultson and pannists Natasha Joseph and Donnell Thomas (he was a seven-year-old playing bass) before returning to Harvard.
In the next four weeks, his uncle dug up every clipping and video he could get his hands on to enhance the documentary content.
“About a month after I sent the material to him, he called me while I was driving, saying, ‘Uncle Barry, I want you to watch the movie and tell me what you think’,” he recalled. “I asked him what movie he was referring to and his response was ‘I just finished it’. I figured he wanted to surprise me which he did because I didn’t think he could put all this stuff together so quickly. I was an emotional wreck after watching the first minute. I remember telling him this was too much and I would watch the rest when I get home.”
‘Panazz: The Story’ premieres in Toronto on August 6 to kick off events to commemorate World Steelpan Day activities in the city five days later.
Acknowledging that the steelpan promotes inclusive societies, sustainable communities and the creative economy and can have a positive impact on mental health and well-being, gender equality and youth empowerment, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed August 11 World Steelpan Day.
“The declaration of World Steelpan Day last year gave us something to rally around on an annual basis in August and, lately, we have seen the official declaration of the steelpan as the National Musical Instrument of Trinidad & Tobago,” said Tracey Ramsubagh-Mannette, T & T’s Acting Consul General in Toronto. “Pioneering groups like Panazz were and still are the true ambassadors for steelpan. This film allows the legacy to live on and I hope that our community will come out in full force to see it.”
The documentary is a captivating tale of the defunct Trinidad & Tobago pan ensemble that produced genre-blending albums and performed in renowned concert halls around the world.
The Panazz Players hit songs include ‘Pull the Bull’, ‘Portrait of Trinidad & Tobago’ and ‘Misty’ which earned them their first Ramajay crown in 1992.
“I grew up listening to the music,” said the younger Bartholomew who plays the cello, pan and piano. “I heard all the stories of the band from Uncle Barry and other family members. When the assignment was given for the class I was taking to choose a musical artist or ensemble that has pushed boundaries in society, my mind went to Panazz because I knew of their impact in taking pan music across the globe and helping to elevate the status of our national instrument. With my uncle having all the rights to the music made it easy for me to do this documentary.”
Panazz Players (Photo contributed)
A few weeks before getting the class project, he attended a concert at Boston Symphony Hall featuring British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and shared some of the photos in his family’s group chat.
“When Uncle Barry told me for the first time that Panazz played in that hall, I was blown away,” pointed out the former Fatima College student who participated in the annual Ceol Na Mara Summer School for Strings program at Kylemore Abbey in Ireland in 2018 and 2019. “Being in that prestigious hall and knowing Panazz performed there made me realize the ensemble was different. To make a documentary about them was not only necessary, but really special for me.”
Adam Bartholomew (Photo contributed)
The recipient of the 2022 College of Our Lady of Fatima Cup awarded to the student that best exemplifies the school’s ideals received an ‘A’ for the class project.
Anne Shreffler, a Professor of Music at Harvard, met the young man when he took her Music History Class – Music Since 1945: Contested Boundaries, Alternate Visions -- in last year’s spring semester.
“In the course, we examine music that pushes boundaries and innovates, whether breaking the mould or building on tradition,” she said. “Adam was only a freshman and the class was geared to upper-level and music majors. He, however, has such extraordinary musical skills that he did great in the course.”
Shreffler encourages students to choose original topics for their final project which can be in multi-media formats as well as prose.
“For his final project, Adam chose to do a video documentary of Panazz which he has expanded to create the final version that we now know,” she pointed out. “But the version he prepared for my course was already quite polished. It was one of the most impressive undergraduate projects I have seen in 21 years teaching at Harvard.”
The former American Musicological Society Vice-President saw the screening of the final version of ‘Panazz: The Story’ at Harvard’s Adams House last November.
“I love how Adam’s documentary highlights the achievements of the amazing steel pan band and weaves it into his family story,” added Shreffler.
The older Bartholomew is still in awe.
“I did not expect that level of professionalism from Adam,” the documentary’s Producer/Co-Director noted. “The editing was amazing and the chronological order was almost perfect.”
Making its premiere at the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival last September, the documentary won the People’s Choice Award.
It was refined and remastered with a release that started the Diaspora Carnival screenings in Boston last June. It will be screened in London next month.
Toronto-based Actor/Director Rhoma Spencer saw the documentary in Trinidad last year.
“I have known of Panazz as the only steelband ensemble in Trinidad & Tobago that was doing jazz and putting their improvisational spin on this music while touring internationally,” she said. “Through the documentary, I have learnt so much more about the group. I feel they are responsible for steelpan music becoming popular in Japan because they also taught it in schools there. This was a very professional outfit that demanded the best in return for stellar performances. Seeing the documentary was a learning experience. This is a feel-good story about a steelpan ensemble coming out of T & T that the Caribbean diaspora in Canada needs to see.”
Spencer founded the Canadian-Caribbean Arts Network (C-CAN) that, with Borden Place and iFEED, are presenting the Toronto premiere at the Royal Cinema, 608 College St. starting at 7 p.m.
The price of admission is $25.
This is the first time the documentary will be presented in surround sound.
The older Bartholomew will be in Toronto for the screening while his nephew will attend virtually.
It will be his first time back in Canada after spending a year in Montreal in the late 1960s with family members, including his late father, Dr. Courtenay Bartholomew, who did a Gastroenterology fellowship at Royal Victoria Hospital at McGill University where he was an External Examiner.
The eminent scientist/physician, who died three years ago at age 89, diagnosed the first case of AIDS in the English-speaking Caribbean in 1983.
“Dad was an inspiration for the formation of Panazz,” he said. “He had a huge jazz collection and he hosted jazz get-togethers in the family’s living room with the late Sir Ellis Clarke (T & T’s first President) and other friends. Our panyard was at the back of his office.”
Dr. Courtenay Bartholomew was the nephew of Dr. Ethelbert Bartholomew who was one of 15 Black medical students – the majority from the Caribbean -- expelled from Queen’s University Faculty of Medicine in 1918.
In 2019, the university formally apologized to the students and Bartholomew – who completed the first three years and was succeeding in his fourth which was the last of the academic years – was awarded a posthumous degree 101 years after he was expelled.
