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History of the Orchestra
Fatima College's Steelband was formed in 1974. It's first Captain was a gentleman by the name of Michael Wyke, and it's first members included: Wayne Jagdeo (a teacher at the school), Yabbie Alexander, Ricardo Sanchez, Ian Clarke and Keithley Greene. The Steelband had also in their first year, combined with a trumpet player by the name of Anthony Woodruffe and a choir from St. Joseph's Convent Port-of-Spain lead by Juliet Petit.
The first complement of pans numbered ten (10) which included three (3) tenors, one (1) double tenor, two (2) double seconds, two (2) chello and two (2) six bass pans.
In 1976, the Orchestra was invited by the mayor of San Cristobal, Venezuela, to tour the town. The Steelband was accompanied by the then mayor of Port-of-Spain Mr. Lakshmi Persad. The band performed at many concerts and also at a bullfight which had an audience of 30 000 people. On this very same tour, the steelband visited Cucitha in Colombia as well.
However, as usual bit unfortunately, all good things must come to an end; as the original members graduated out of the school, the band suffered a regress and slowly died as many lost interest in the venture. The band was revived in the early eighties and survived long enough to participate in the Schools' Steelband Festivals but the bands died again in the late 1980's.
The Next Generation
The present generation of the Fatima College Steel Orchestra was formed in 1996 and was comprised entirely of Scouts from Fatima College's resident Troop. Eventually, membership was opened up to the regular school population. This generation's founding members included current band captain Duvano Garnes, Dwayne Johnson, Keol Newton, Aaron O' Neal, Jason Rampersad, Kerwin & Kenwin Gardener, Joel Edwards, Adam Redhead, Ati Garnes. The role of co-ordinator/motivator/organizer was played by Mrs. Rosalind Garnes, mother of the band captain and music teacher of the St. Xavier's Private School Steel Orchestra. By the second year after its inception, this new generation of players had already played at Long Circular Mall, various Fatima College Old Boys' functions and on TTT's "Dateline". The band also performs regularly at the annual Fatima College Sea Scouts Christmas Brunch, Fatima's annual PrizeGiving Ceremony and there has also been an annual appearance at the Chinese Association's Annual Children's Christmas Party. The band Captain plays the National Anthem every Monday morning at the school's weekly assembly. Last Christmas was a fairly busy period for the band as it performed at quite a few venues. During, Christmas 1998 performances were staged at:
- Port Authority of Trinidad & Tobago (PATT) Administration building
- Chinese Association's (Cascade) Annual Christmas Children's Party
- Fernandes Industrial Estate (Laventille)
- Christmas Party at City Hall (Frederic Street POS)
- Christmas Flee Market (Fatima College)
Upcoming Events
During Easter 2000 (April 13th to April 27th) the Fatima College Steel Orchestra is due to tour Atlanta Georgia in the United States of America. Airfare and transport costs alone comes up to approximately $3000 per person which is why this upcoming Christmas season has already been carded for several performances which will aid in the raising of funds to help lower individual traveling costs and transport of pans. Other fund raising events have included cake sales and a car wash.
Orchestra Composition
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