Sterling Betancourt

Early years

Betancourt (Trinidad pronunciation: Betancou) was born and raised in Laventille near Port of Spain, Trinidad. His father, Edwin, was a musician and a man of all trades to make ends meet, his mother Stella Bowen, a seamstress and a cleaner. At a very early age Betancourt was involved with music with the Tambo Bambo family band and grew up experiencing with the Steel pan, becoming a member of the Tripoli Steel band. He began his career in the 1930s and became a steelpan tuner and eventually leader of Crossfire, a steelband from the St James area. He also played a large part in the development of steelpan in Trinidad,

Move to Europe

Selected as a member of TASPO (Trinidad All-Steel Percussion Orchestra) to go to the Festival of Britain in 1951, Betancourt toured England and Europe with the band that year. He was the only musician of TASPO to remain on in England when the others returned to Trinidad on 12 December 1951. Betancourt's calypso "Taspo's Story" features on the RASPO Rhythms CD by the Reading All Steel Percussion Orchestra (RASPO). It relates the tribulations encountered by the arrival of the first Steel Band in London: The Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra.

Betancourt together with Russell Henderson and Mervyn Constantine, who later on was replaced by Max Cherrie, followed by his brother Ralph Cherrie, formed the first steelband in the UK and performed all over London as well as in radio shows, jazz clubs and the BBC. In 1953 Betancourt was taught by Tony Kinsey to play the traps drums to form The Henderson combo.

Notting Hill Carnival

Henderson, Betancourt and their group participated in the multicultural Notting Hill street festival organised in 1966 by Rhaune Laslett and, as noted in Ishmahil Blagrove Jr's Introduction to Carnival : A Photographic and Testimonial History of the Notting Hill Carnival:

"In line with the Trinidad carnival tradition of 'making a rounds' (where steel-pan players march in the streets)... led a procession that wove up the Portobello Road towards Notting Hill Gate and back again, like the Pied Piper gathering new revellers and participants along the way. ... Henderson and his group had inadvertently put an indelible Caribbean hallmark on the festival and word quickly spread to the other West Indianb communities in England about what had taken place. News even reached as far as Trinidad, where relatives and friends were regaled with stories of the miniature Trinidadian-style carnival held on the streets of London.
The carnival became an annual event that grew with each year."

Other activities

Betancourt has also taken steelpan to many other countries throughout Europe and Asia, including Switzerland, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Morocco, Indonesia, Germany, Spain, France, Oman, Italy, Sicily, Sweden and Norway.

A 1976 performance he gave in a hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, inspired some locals to form their own Swiss group, which they called Tropefieber ("Tropical Fever"), the first steel band in Zurich, followed then by many others.

Nostalgia steel band

In 1985 Betancourt's steel band, "Nostalgia", was born and continued with him as the leader, player and arranger until 2005.

Awards

Honours and awards that Betancourt has received include: in 1993 Trinidad and Tobago’s Scarlet Ibis award. A University of East London Honorary Fellowship in 1996, a membership of the FRSA for his commitment in promoting steelpan culture throughout the United Kingdom, and pioneering steelpan projects in English schools and in the same year, the New York Sunshine Award.

He was appointed as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours 2002 "for services to the steel band movement". In 2004 he received a Fellowship of the Royal Society, in 2006 a Pantrinbago Pioneer award, in 2010 Pan Jazz Life Time Achievement, 2011 Pan Trinbago Commemorative Plaque for Life Time Achievement.

In 2012, on the occasion of the Trinidad and Tobago Independence Jubilee celebrations, he was a recipient of one of the Arts awards recognising citizens who made a positive contribution to the promotion and development of Trinidad and Tobago in the United Kingdom during the past 50 years, given at a gala dinner in London hosted by High Commissioner Garvin Nicholas.