Desperadoes Steel Orchestra

Origins and evolution

A number of youths in the Laventille Road area began calling their group Morocco/Dead End Kids, before some of them saw a movie entitled "The Desperadoes" at Royal Cinema on Charlotte in Port of Spain, Trinidad in 1943. The name Desperadoes as in Steelband first came out at carnival in 1947. name="Dudley">Dudley, Shannon (2007) Music From Behind the Bridge: Steelband Aesthetics and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780199724376, p. 73</ref> In the early 1950s, Wilfred "Speaker" Harrison and Donald "Jit" Steadman began bringing Mas and later a professional focus that saw the band sign a sponsorship deal with Coca Cola in 1962 with the band name changing to the Coca Cola Gay Desperadoes at the same time, "From Desperadoes to Despers to Witco", Trinidad Express, 2 February 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2016</ref>

In the 1950's another group of youths from an area called Ovid Alley, formed calling themselves Spike Jones. Ovid Alley will be changed to Desperslie Crescent in the late 1970's. However, the founders of Desperadoes said, there can be only one steelband here, so the young Spike Jones group had no choice but to merge into Desperadoes. Rudolph "Charlo" Charles, who came from Spike Jones was given the captaincy in 1961, which lasted until his death in 1985. Charles presided over a successful period for the group, and they placed third in the first Panorama comepetition in 1963. In 1965 the band's sponsor changed to the West Indian Tobacco Company, and they became the WITCO Gay Desperadoes. They won Panorama for the first time the following year, with a rendition of Mighty Sparrow's "Obeah Wedding". Charles recruited a few members away from other steelbands along with arranger Beverly Griffith and transformed Desperadoes from a steelband into a steel orchestra. In later years he invited several pantuners such as Bertie Marshall to join. They dropped 'Gay' from the name in the 1970s. They went on to win Panorama on a total of eleven occasions.

The orchestra has worldwide appearances and has performed at the Royal Albert Hall in 1972, Carnegie Hall in 1987, and performed with the Opera singer Luciano Pavarotti in Barbados in 1997.

The late Raymond "Artie" Shaw was the first musician to conduct Desperadoes Steel Orchestra at their performance for Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and the late, Insp. Anthony Prospect conducted their English tour in 1981. The late Dr. Pat Bishop conducted their performance at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Desperadoes have also toured some of Trinidad & Tobago's motherlands; such as Africa, India, China, England and Grenada. The band has qualified for the most Panorama finals, 50 of 54, was a finalist for 36 consecutive years 1976 through 2011, has the highest winning percentage (1) victory every 4.9 years, has won every entered competition, and has a total of 25 combined victories out of 70 various competitions, from 1965 to 2017.

As of May 2015 the band had 120 members.

Education

Despers also make an effort to educate their community in Laventille, and has hosted Pan Camps with up to 200 children participating. Besides playing steelpan, the program includes foreign language training, life skills and field trips.

Panorama

Despers have won the National Steelband Panorama competition of Trinidad and Tobago a total of eleven times in their history. Their most recent win took place in 2016, where they won with a total of 285 points, placing First Citizens Supernovas in second place, who accumulated 284 points.

The orchestra always takes part in the 'Large Band' category, with a minimum of one hundred musicians.

Maximum players allowed in the 'Large Band' category.

Music Festival

Desperadoes have won the (Pan Is Beautiful) Steel Orchestra Music Festival of Trinidad and Tobago three times. They played the "Polovetsian Dances" by Borodin in 1986, the "Marche Slave" from Tchaikovsky in 1988 and the "Bartered Bride" by Smetana in 1992. Their classical renditions were all arranged and conducted by the late, Dr. Pat Bishop. Desperadoes have also won The Best Village Classical Competition for pan in 1965. They performed "The Marriage of Figaro", which was arranged By Mr. Beverly Griffith. In 1967 they won The Champ of Champs Classical Competition. Their rendition of "Palaestra" and "The Merry Wives of Windsor" were arranged and conducted by the late Raymond "Artie" Shaw. Desperadoes Steel Orchestra has never lost a classical competition as a finalist.

Discography