Sunday Express Q MIX Q May 24th 2009
Music
WILSON TOOK PAN TO
THE PEOPLE, PLAYING
ON THE STREETS
Ray Funk
A
tragic fire took the home of Salah
Wilson on May 4, in which he lost
a lifetime of possessions and
memories. But that hasn’t
stopped, or even seemed to slow
down, Montreal’s leading disciple
of pan.
As local journalist Egbert Gaye notes,
“The day after the fire, while other families were in the grip of despair and un-
certainty, Salah and his family were playing at a previously scheduled event.” The
fire took out not just the Wilson home,
but also destroyed a whole row of townhouses. Arson is suspected as there had
been a suspicious fire in one of the other
townhouses a week earlier. A benefit concert was planned for May 23 at
Marianopolis College in Montreal.
Salah lost many priceless possessions,
including early photos of his years with
Flamingoes and other steelbands, origi-
PASSIONATE: A young Salah Wilson does his thing on the streets of Montreal.
—Photos courtesy: RAY FUNK
PROUD MOMENT: Salah Wilson and members of the Pan Academy jubilant at Caribana.
nal recordings of his pan sides in
Canada, and countless other personal belongings that simply can’t be replaced.
Wilson was devastated when it happened, but since then has realised he
must look forward and not back. He has
to move on and his life in pan keeps him
very busy.
Wilson plays pan, teaches pan, tunes a
bit of pan, has a family pan side, leads
and arranges for a community pan group,
writes books to teach pan, and just about
lives and breathes pan.
He is such an intense advocate of pan
that he’s gotten his whole family involved. Indeed, the family band consists
of him, his wife, six children and two
grandkids. His Montreal band has won
Caribana’s Pan Alive four times, including the last two years with Defosto numbers, and he’s working to make it a hat
trick this summer.
His private pan academy in the neighbourhood of Cote Des Neiges has classes
every day. In addition, Salah and his family provide pan programmes in seven
English schools and one French school.
Summer is a break from the work his
family does in schools, yet there is still a
full summer of pan activities in which
they’re involved.
In addition to the upcoming May 23
benefit concert, there is also the Montreal
Steelband Festival that’s held in the last
weekend of June and then Caribana occurs in the first week of August. Salah
runs both the summer pan festival in
Montreal and a winter concert in
December called “From Classics to
Calypso”.
The summer festival often features
bands from Toronto, Boston and Maine
and soloists like Kenrick Headley from
Vancouver, as well as all the local
Montreal school bands and community
groups.
Plans are also in the works to bring up
the winner of the 2009 small band
Panorama competition in Trinidad this
year, Arima Golden Symphony. Salah’s
band will be working up his arrangement
of the Edwin Pouchet/Alvin Daniell composition that took Silver Stars to the victory circle for this year’s Panorama, First
in De Line.
Salah Wilson grew up in and around
the Flamingoes Panyard in Trinidad. But
he and his wife moved to Montreal in 1973
at age 21 in order to stay with her family.
From the beginning he desired to support
himself with pan and has struggled with
that goal almost continuously.
He took whatever performance opportunities presented themselves, working
with various combos and steelbands in
Montreal. But he wasn’t satisfied with
just performing. Education and music literacy has always been a central theme for
Salah Wilson. He started the first pan in
the schools programme in Montreal in
1991 and has not looked back, championing school programmes as well as offering private classes in an academy setting since 1997.
Salah has never forgotten his Trini
roots, coming home yearly to see family
and friends and to play pan, generally
with Exodus, even though he was a proud
member of Desperadoes in 1983 and 1984.
He was down for Carnival this year and
while here became involved in meetings
with the Government and the Music
Literacy Trust on education and outreach
matters.
The need to have pan players advance
themselves through music literacy has
been a central goal and a key platform of
his educational outreach. It led to his
first book, Steelpan Playing With Theory,
which was later accepted as a textbook
for pan in Trinidad.
He has gone on to write other educational books and teacher’s guides for pan
focused on music literacy.
To expand their reach in Quebec,
Salah’s first book has recently been translated into French. The community band
has two CDs, the family band has one,
and Salah himself has done a holiday
album. More recordings are planned.
“
Salah has become
the adopted father
of the art form and
made it a part of the
cultural landscape
of the city
In
2006 he opened his store Steelpan Plus,
which also serves as the centre for the
private classes. With Hameed Shaqq, he
has a branch in Toronto.
“Salah has become the adopted father
of the art form and made it a part of the
cultural landscape of the city,” notes
Egbert Gaye. “For 20-something years he
took it directly to the people playing on
the streets and in the metro. Then with
his family band, playing at events around
Montreal. He formed the first association. He introduced in schools. He was
the driving force behind most of the
major steelband events in the city and literally wrote the book on pan!”
His books are available all over
Trinidad, at Simon’s Music on St Vincent
Street, Port of Spain, at Music and
Equipment on Duke Street, and at other
bookstores or by calling 645-3597.
When asked what they could do, by
those who want to help him recover from
the fire, he suggests that people buy one
of his books and give it to a young pan
player who is learning to read music.
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