In 1946, several important developments took place that would influence the political and cultural life of Guyana for the remainder of the 20th century. Among these were the formation of the Political Action Committee (the precursor of the People's Progressive Party), the first visit to British Guiana by Harold Stannard of the British Council, and the launch of the DDT anti-Mosquito campaign by Dr Giglioli. Of equal significance was the creation of the Tripoli Steel Band by Bertram DeVarell.
Both De varell and Tripoli Steel Band were born at 10 Lombard Street, Charlestown, Georgetown. DeVarell was born on February 28, 1931, and the Tripoli began there in 1946.
DeVarell is recognized not only as the founder of the Tripoli Steel Band but as the father of steel band in Guyana. He is also associated with the invention of many pans, including the first two-drum tune bass. The two-drum bass pan was a dramatic improvement on the old "cuff bass." The cuff bass was an un-tuned drum that was played with the fist-thus "cuff."
I recently had the opportunity to meet with DeVarell in Brooklyn, New York, to talk about his place in this important development in Guyana's cultural life. This article focuses on two aspects of that conversation-the early days of steel band in Guyana and tramping in Georgetown during the Christmas season.
DeVarell began his story in 1945 with his sister's Murphy radio and a shortwave programme from Trinidad and Tobago on Mondays through Fridays. He recalled leaving work at Sprostons at 11.45 am daily and hurrying home to keep a date with the programme 'Lunchtime Revelry', which featured steel band music.
His interest in this type of music was further encouraged by the four or five photographs of steel bands that were on the wall of a restaurant in DeRoy Street. The owners of this "upstairs" restaurant travelled regularly to T&T and had brought back the photographs. Those photographs helped DeVarell to visualize what a steel band and its instruments looked like. As DeVarell reflected, "the radio was not a television." He remembers using empty Hubbucks paint drums to make his first pans.
The first dteel bands in British Guiana
It was these rudimentary pans that were used when DeVarrell formed the Tripoli Steel Band. The band was named after the 1942 movie To the Shores of Tripoli. Among the founding members of the band were Leonard Cook and Clifford McDonald. DeVarell was the tuner and manager. The arrangers were Bradshaw and King.
The creation of the Tripoli Steel Band launched the steel band movement in Guyana. Two contributions from Trinidad and Tobago gave the movement additional impetus-a visit by a group of amateur boxers and the Red Army Steel Band in 1947. Those visits led to the creation of the Casablanca Steel Band, the second steel band to be formed in Guyana, at the corner of DeRoy Street near to the Carnegie School of Home Economics. "Big Man" Williams, the operator of a bicycle shop at the same location, was the founder-manager.
Tripoli was known as the "lil boys' band" as its members were teenagers. The Casablanca group had older-members who were in their mid-twenties and early thirties.
The use of Hubbucks paint drums was short-lived. The 45-gallon drum became the preferred raw material. With a smile, DeVarell suggested that Shell and Sprostons should thank the early steel band tuners for "cleaning up the mess" as they removed the piles of dented drums that were stockpiled at Shell's Ramsburg and Sprostons' Lombard Street facilities. In those days a steel drum cost 25 cents.
The tempering and tuning of the drums for the Tripoli Steel band took place at the old incinerator on Lombard Street and in DeVarell's backyard.
Devarell recalls receiving very good support from the neighbours; however, that support was not universal. In those pioneering days, the stereotype of the Trinidadian steel band man was already in British Guianese consciousness. Steel band men were perceived as "Bad Johns" and renegades who did not want to work.
According to DeVarell, this stereotyping led to various forms of police harassment. He reflected on the period when Tripoli had grown to about 15 members and they would venture out for a "little road tramp."
"By the time we could get to about two blocks the police would turn up and seize the drums," said DeVarell. He remembers seeing the seized drums being used as flower pots in the Police Headquarters in Eve Leary.
In the early days, because of the earlier-mentioned public perceptions and patterns of police harassment, such as the refusal to grant performing licences, steel bands had limited public visibility in "polite" Georgetown circles. According to DeVarell, it was the small dance promoters who gave them a break. As a result, the band would play in "small and isolated places-all the way down in Princes Street, over [on the] West Bank on the concrete drying floors of rice mills."
Another location would be the regular Saturday night dances in Alexander Village. Tripoli's repertoire in the early days tended to be simple arrangements of calypsos and slower Latin rhythms. Tripoli's fee for playing out in those days was $10. As DeVarell pointed out, "The money was not what mattered; it was having somewhere to play."
This limited public visibility changed when the great tramping bands of yesteryear-Tripoli, Invaders, and Quo Vadis-took to the road for the Christmas season.
Tripoli and Tramping
For Tripoli, the tramping season would begin on December 15 and continue to Old Year's Night. Tripoli's first tramp with a six-member band was in 1946, and its route was to Alexander Village.
In subsequent years, the band would leave Lombard Street and follow a route through Charlestown to pick up its followers and proceed through James Street into Russell Street and down Camp Street.
The band would stop playing as it approached the Brickdam Cathedral and would start again after passing Lall's Camp Street Bazaar. Tripoli would sometimes go as far as Kitty Village.
DeVarell recalled that on some tramps when the band returned to its headquarters at Lombard and Drysdale streets the crowd would extend as far as the Carnegie School of Home Economics. The tail end of the band would be made up of bicycles. The tramp was fun.
Several of the persons I interviewed for this series reported following steel bands with unhappy results when they returned home. A recent e-mailer wrote that he had "extremely pleasant memories of the 'tired feet' when a band got back to their HQ after a tramp." He also remembered' 'sore bottom' from the floggings on [his] return home from errantly succumbing to the temptation to 'follow the band' despite stern warnings not to do so." In the early days (up to 1948) all the instruments were carried around the neck including the single 45-gallon bass. By 1948, the single bass was replaced by double and triple basses and mounted on wheels. This gave the band increased mobility and better sound. This combination made the band more competitive and so able to "strip" the other bands they might meet along the tramping route. To "strip" a band refers to taking away its crowd of trampers because of better quality music.
Starting on December 15, the band would play two or three nights a week. Tramping bands had a number of traditions. When Tripoli placed a large United States flag in front of its pan yard, it was an indication that the band would be tramping that night. Another tradition that developed in the early 1950s was the Christmas morning church service at St George's Cathedral. Members of all the tramping bands would attend in their uniforms/costumes. At the end of the service they would return to their pan yards and begin the Christmas Day tramp.
DeVarell thinks this tradition was developed by Cecil "Barney" Johnson. Tramping would continue on Boxing Day and on Old Year's Night. One of Tripoli's traditions on Old Year's Night was to stop at Frolic Hall and play there for an hour or so and then continue tramping until about 6 am.
Another tramping tradition associated with Tripoli was paying respect to Invaders and Quo Vadis-the other major tramping bands in the early 1950s. When Tripoli would enter the central city region, the band would stop in front of Invaders and Quo Vadis pan yards in Regent Street and near Bourda Green, respectively. This was not an act of bombast-it was a tribute to fellow pan innovators and to entertain the residents of those areas.
Tripoli's first costumed band was as United States Navy sailors. According to DeVarell, "the band included all the characters-from the three-star [admiral] down to the cook and three Red Cross female nurses." This was the first time that women played in a costumed band and this helped to destroy the perception that women would be abused in bands. DeVarell considered this to be a breakthrough. Among the other themes presented by Tripoli during the tramping era were Ten Commandments and Arabian Nights. There were no formal competitions during the tramping. However, for DeVarell, Tripoli sought authenticity with its costumes and endeavoured to tell a story.
The Tripoli Steel Band was also used as mobile advertisements by some companies, such as Banks Beer, during the tramping season.
Although there was no formal competition during the tramping season, Bill "Bhagee" Rogers organized competitions for the best band in British Guiana. In 1947, Tripoli was defeated by Casablanca. Tripoli won the crown in 1948 and held it until 1952. For many Guyanese, DeVarell is a hero, but DeVarell also has his Guyanese steel band heroes. They include Leonard Cook, Randolph Clark, and "Patsy" Adams.
DeVarell is justly proud of his contributions to Guyana's cultural life. His experiences with the steel band have helped him to develop skills, professionalism, dignity, humility, as well as a sense of community.
DeVarell is the father of seven children.
In 2006, Guyana will celebrate several significant anniversaries, including the 40th anniversary of independence and the 60th anniversary of the steel band in Guyana. De varell, the father of the steel band in Guyana, should be given the national recognition that he deserves.
Sources:
Interviews:
Vibert Cambridge (Athens, OH) and Charwin Burnham (Georgetown, Guyana), telephone interview, September 19, 2005.
Vibert Cambridge (Athens, OH) and Bertram DeVarell (Brooklyn, New York), telephone interview, October 9, 2005
Vibert Cambridge (Athens, OH) and Dan Sandiford (London, England), telephone interview, October 17, 2005
Vibert Cambridge (Brooklyn, New York) and Bertram DeVarell (Brooklyn, New York), interview, November 20, 2005.
E-mails:
Cecil Glasgow to Vibert Cambridge, November 21, 2005.
Melissa Ifill. 'The Political Affairs Committee 1946-1949,' In History This Week (2001/6). Available online at Stabroek News.