22-year old trumpeter Etienne Charles, photographed at the Phase II Pan Groove panyard, home base of one of Trinidad & Tobago's most celebrated steel orchestras. "This place is my home," says Etienne, "For me this was a place of dreams. This is where I learnt what music was all about."
Etienne is now a fourth year student in Jazz Studies at Florida State University, where he was named this year's Brautlecht Scholar. He has performed in the US, France, Venezuela, the Netherlands, Thailand, Japan, Barbados and his native Trinidad & Tobago. In March 2005 he placed second in the National Trumpet Competition in the College Jazz Division.
I took this photo today after interviewing Etienne for a documentary on Phase II's legendary leader and composer/arranger, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe. For those who may not recognise them, the rusty objects in the background are bass pans (the largest members of the steel drum family) stored away until the next Carnival season, when they'd be trundled out and cleaned and tuned for the Panorama competition.
CARIBBEAN FREE PHOTO
22-year old trumpeter Etienne Charles, photographed at the Phase II Pan Groove panyard, home base of one of Trinidad & Tobago's most celebrated steel orchestras. "This place is my home," says Etienne, "For me this was a place of dreams. This is where I learnt what music was all about."
Etienne is now a fourth year student in Jazz Studies at Florida State University, where he was named this year's Brautlecht Scholar. He has performed in the US, France, Venezuela, the Netherlands, Thailand, Japan, Barbados and his native Trinidad & Tobago. In March 2005 he placed second in the National Trumpet Competition in the College Jazz Division.
I took this photo today after interviewing Etienne for a documentary on Phase II's legendary leader and composer/arranger, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe. For those who may not recognise them, the rusty objects in the background are bass pans (the largest members of the steel drum family) stored away until the next Carnival season, when they'd be trundled out and cleaned and tuned for the Panorama competition.
6 comments in “Steel & Brass (Trinidad & Tobago)”
July 20th, 2005 at 9:30 pm
Love this very lyrical photograph.
July 21st, 2005 at 7:27 pm
Beautiful! You can almost hear him playing!
July 25th, 2005 at 11:50 am
I remember Etienne from high school at Fatima. More often than not he was the one man riddim section at our football games. Great to see that he’s continued to excel at his craft
July 26th, 2005 at 7:05 pm
[...] Trinidad and Tobago Americas, Trinidad & Tobago, Weblog, Photos From the excellent photoblog, Caribbean Free Photo, comes this portrait, entitled “Stee [...]
June 11th, 2006 at 8:12 am
What a game, T&T against Sweden. Leo Beenhakker rules! But you know what the word Beenhakker means in dutch? Leg chopper, really!
January 26th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Thanks for sharing this photo! I paired it with a document on Policy Innovations about strategies for growing the cultural and creative industries of the Caribbean:
http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/policy_library/data/01428
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