Charwin Burnham has held positions of great responsibility in Guyana. He was a high school teacher, civil servant, Deputy Director General of the Guyana National Service, a permanent secretary, and an international civil servant. His nation has given him high awards, but he has remained a humble man living to the creed that we must treat each person as a human being.
Burnham attributes his commitment to this creed from being a member of the Texacan All Steel Percussion Orchestra during the early 1950s. His memories of the early days of steel band in Guyana are still vivid.
He recalls fondly the band's re-hearsal yard - 125 Albert Street, Albouystown. According to Burn-ham, the yard was opposite the "big tank where water was sold at a penny a bucket during the dry season." The origins of the Texacans All Steel Percussion Orchestra can be traced to Tripoli Steel band, which was founded by Bertram DeVarell in the late 1940s. According to my current research, Tripoli was one of the first steel bands, if not the first, in British Guiana. Tripoli's pan yard was near to the Olympic Cinema, and Burnham's brother Igris was a member of this band.
Many of the early steel bands in British Guiana were named after some thing or event in the public consciousness. Tripoli was named after the World War II movie, To the Shores of Tripoli. Texacans was named after a Texaco Oil Company Almanac.
Unlike Tripoli, Texacans was not a tramping band. Its repertoire emphasized the classics. Burnham remembers crowds gathering outside the Albouystown pan yard during rehearsals, and he recalled Lynette Dolphin attending some of them. This repertoire was destined to bring the band fame in Trinidad and Tobago as the first band to perform classical music during a concert at the Roxy Cinema.
Burnham has maintained a lasting interest in the history and development of steel band in Guyana and around the world. He positions the 'boom boom'/'cuff bass' band as the precursors to the steel bands in Guyana. King Cobra (Solomon) and Alan 'Pot-o-Rice' Bradshaw were influential leaders. This band comprised a trumpet, which played a fixed kind of melody punctuated by the biscuit drum, which produced the 'boom boom/bum bum' motif. After the third boom boom, the trumpet would introduce a variation to the melody. The biscuit tin drum was not tuned, it had no notes.
Burnham considers the Guyana 'boom boom' tradition as significant as the bamboo tamboo of Trinidad and Tobago.
Burnham's close ties with persons associated with the early days of steel band in Guyana have also provided him a vantage point for commenting on important moments and personalities in the development of steel band in Guyana. He is aware of the close connection between Guyana and Trinidad in the early development of steel band.
He considers the 1947 tour of British Guiana by the Trinidad steel band, Red Army, an important moment. One outcome was the creation of Casablanca, another early steel band in Guyana that was named after the movie Casablanca. It was located on D'Urban Street, and was tuned by Ulric, a Trinidadian. His last name needs to be recovered. Bertram DeVarell remembers Ulric as being very protective of and secretive about tuning techniques.
Among the persons Burnham identified as making indelible contributions to steel band in Guyana were 'Saltam,' 'Brick,' Bertram DeVarell, Dan Sandiford, George 'Goadies' Green, Desmond 'Straw' Lynch, Steven 'Grumble' Moore and Reggie Simpson. DeVarrell, Sandiford, and Green hold a special place for their roles as innovators. Lynch and Moore were virtuosos, according to Burnham.
In his opinion, Reggie Simpson was one of the best Guyanese arrangers. Simpson, who was trained in the Salvation Army, was the original arranger for the Texacan All Steel Percussion Orchestra. After leaving Texacan, he joined Kaietukians.
Burnham, who was an accomplished ping-pong soloist, spoke about the high quality of playing during the mid-and late 1950s. He recalls that Reggie Simpson once created a 20 to 24-piece band known as The Talismen. The band lasted for about six weeks. According to Burnham, those who heard this band, which rehearsed in Wellington Street, declared it "fantastic."
Burnham also spoke about the wonderful camaraderie that existed in steel band. He also spoke about police harassment, recalling an incident when he was charged for "leading an illegal procession." The case was dismissed because he had been playing in the band, not leading it. His lawyer was Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham.
Dan Sandiford also confirmed that steel band players were harassed by the police. One form of harassment was seizing the band's instruments, and Burnham and Sandiford remember incidents when 'trampers' would enter shops to steal the 'sweetie' bottles or swipe fruit from vendors. DeVarell and Sandiford reported that both Tripoli and Invaders introduced 'ushers' to control that type of behaviour.
Burnham has paid attention to the international growth and development of the steel band. He recalls with pride the "high note pan" his father brought him from Antigua. The lack of standardization of pan notes in the 1950s was not only a function of the individual tuner's preferences, it was also a tactic used by bands to make it difficult for their players to go to other bands. Whenever a player left a band, he would have to learn an entirely new setting.
Burnham has kept up-to-date with developments in steel band around the world, and is aware of the proficiency of pannists in Finland, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Although he is proud of the global diffusion of the steel band, he is concerned that the Caribbean nations may be losing their place as pan innovators. He feels that Caribbean societies have not invested in the research and development needed to take steel band to the next level.
Burnham considers steel band music to be one of the sweetest sounds. He used the term "celestial." His dexterity as a pannist and the sound of the Texacan All Steel Percussion Orchestra were recorded by Emory Cook/Cook Records for posterity. Check out their late 1950s recording of Breakthrough and Lebensraum. I have, and the sound is sweet.
Thanks to John Piggott for his ongoing support for my research on steel band music in Guyana.
Sources
Telephone Interviews
Vibert Cambridge (Athens, OH) and Charwin Burnham (Georgetown, Guyana), September 19, 2005
Vibert Cambridge (Athens, OH) and Dan Sandiford (London, England), October 9, 2005.
Vibert Cambridge (Athens, OH) and Bertram DeVarell (Brooklyn, New York), October 9, 2005
E-mails: John Piggott to Vibert Cambridge, September 22, 2005