TASPO (Steelband)

The Trinidad All-Steel Pan Percussion Orchestra (TASPO) was formed to participate in the Festival of Britain in 1951. The group was the first steelband to travel abroad from Trinidad and Tobago, presenting the newly invented steelpan to an international audience.[1]

Members

Lieutenant Joseph Nathaniel Griffith was the conductor of the band. Griffith was originally part of the Trinidad Police Band.[2]

PlayerBand DOB DOD
Orman "Patsy" HaynesCasablanca 1930/02/22 1985/10/29
Elliot "Ellie" MannetteInvaders 1927/11/05
Belgrave BonaparteSouthern Symphony 1932
Anthony "Tony" WilliamsNorth Stars 1931/06/24
Carlton "Sonny" RoachSun Valley 1924/08/06 1986
Philmore "Boots" DavidsonCity Syncopators 1928 1993
Sterling BetancourtCrossfire 1924/03/01
Andrew "Pan" de la BastideChicago 1927/12/01 2002/11/17
Dudley SmithRising Sun
Winston "Spree" SimonFascinators (Tokyo) 1930 1976/11/18
Theophilus "Black James" StephensFree French 1933/11/04 2001/11/06

On 6 July 1951, TASPO left Trinidad for England on the SS San Mateo. Carlton "Sonny" Roach fell ill and was left behind in Martinique. The steelband performed at the South Bank, London, on 26 July 1951, as well as elsewhere in Britain and in Paris. TASPO returned to Trinidad on 12 December 1951, the only exception being Sterling Betancourt, who stayed in London. Betancourt has been vitally involved in building up Notting Hill Carnival.

Readings
  • Felix I. R. Blake, The Trinidad and Tobago Steel Pan. History and Evolution. ISBN 0-9525528-0-9
  • Stephen Stuempfle, The Steelband Movement: The Forging of a National Art in Trinidad and Tobago (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995).

Notes
  1. Daina Lorraine Nathanie, "Finding an 'Equal' Place: How the Designation of the Steelpan as the National Instrument Heightened Identity Relations in Trinidad and Tobago", The Florida State University, 20 July 2006, p. 85.
  2. Taspo Archived 2009-05-05 at the Wayback Machine

References
  • George Goddard, Forty Years in the Steelbands: 1939 - 1979.
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