'Paganini of the Pan' heads to Jamaica

Garfene Grandison, Gleaner Writer

A lover of pan since he was 12 years old, Liam Teague has been playing for more than 24 years. A graduate of Northern Illinois University (NIU) and a skilled pan player who has been hailed as the 'Paganini of the Steel Pan', Teague currently serves as assistant professor of steel pan and co-director of the steel band at NIU.

A champion in Trinidad and Tobago because of his effortless skill with the steel pan, recorder and violin, Teague has distinguished himself as one of the most skilled musical artistes of this generation. Next weekend, July 2-4, at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Performing Arts, Teague will be the featured guest at the University of the West Indies' Panoridim Steel Orchestra 2010 Panfest season dubbed 'The Magic Drum'.

Teague is no stranger to awards and accomplishments, as he has performed at a number of festivals across the world where he has gained much fame. Apart from being the co-winner of the National Steel band Festival Solo Championship of Trinidad and Tobago, Teague won the St Louis Symphony Volunteers' Association Young Artistes Competition in 1998.

World premiere

Under the guidance of Dr Paul Freeman, Teague, with the Chicago Sinfonietta, gave the world premier of Illinois composer Jan Bach's Concerto for Steel pan and Orchestra in 1995 at Orchestra Hall, Chicago.

He has also performed with many ensembles, including the Czech National Symphony, the Panama National Symphony, St Louis Symphony, the Buffalo Symphony, the Sinfonia Da Camera, Rockford Symphony, Dartmouth Wind Ensemble, North Shore Concert Band and University of Wisconsin-Madison Marching Band.

No stranger to the Jamaica pan scene either, Teague has played for The Little People Club directed by Cathy Levy, former Miss Jamaica, as a soloist and with the group at the Little Theatre.

"The experience was wonderful and I have always had very fond memories of Jamaica since," said Teague. Listening to the soothing melodies of the pan, one might think, how easy it is to play such an instrument! The soft beats of such a rare instrument are immensely hard to grasp.

"Being a steel pan player is extremely challenging. It demands a great deal of discipline, motivation and self-belief to become a good musician and to have a career in the industry," said Teague.

According to Teague, one of his goals is to consistently promote the instrument because the music form is still very young.

There are a number of musicians that have had an impact on Teague's life.

"I started off as a classically trained musician playing the violin for a number of years and my initial influences were virtuoso musicians like Heifetz, Perlman, etc. Once I started studying at NIU in the 1990s, I fell in love with jazz and music of all kinds.

"As I said, I have a lot of influences, but if I had to pick just a few in the steel band world, I'd say people like Len 'Boogsie' Sharpe, Robert Greenidge, Jit Samaroo and Cliff Alexis. I have studied their musical languages and have adapted some of their vocabulary into my concept of playing and arranging," Teague explained.

Teague is also heavily influenced by American panist, Andy Narell, who, the panist says, has "always taken the pan into areas - musical and geographically - that were largely untapped".

Going global

According to Teague, in five years, pan should be truly global."I'd like panists the world over to be able to have decent careers performing, arranging, composing, teaching, etc. I'd love for steel pan orchestras to flourish all over the world, just like symphony orchestras currently do. I'd like every child in the world to wake up yearning to play a steel pan, and I'd like more original music to be written for the instrument," he said.

Teague's commitment to demonstrating the great musical possibilities of the steel pan have taken him to Europe, Asia, North and Central America and the Caribbean. Some of these performances include opening for the MC Hammer tour of Trinidad, stints at the St Lucia Jazz Festival, Grenada Spice Jazz Festival, and the Trinidad and Tobago Pan Jazz Festival.

To date, Teague has recorded six compact discs: Hands like Lightning (1993), Emotions of Steel (1996), Impressions (1998), T'nT (2000) with Barbadian saxophonist Arturo Tappin, For Lack of Better Words (2002) with Robert Chappell, and A Christmas Gift (2002).

For more information on Panfest you can visit www.facebook.com/UWIPanoridim.