Many of the steel band songs listed here are songs originally arranged for Panorama competition. That means they are long and can get quite involved. Even if you get "lost" listening to them, hang in there so you can get an idea of the different sections that are common as variations in a more ambitious arrangement than we have been playing. Just get the sound in your ears. Listen to the engine rooms, and the strumming especially. USE HEADPHONES or EARBUDS for best sound!
​
Renegades Steel Orchestra. This is a great video of the last practice run-through on the "drag" of their arrangement of "Like Ah Boss" at a special off-season international version of Panorama. This is a smaller group than the large category for regular Panorama, which makes this a tighter performance, and you can hear all the parts better. Check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9czsuzbEWg
PREVIOUS LISTINGS:
​
This is the original vocal version of the 2020 Panorama winner called "More Sokah."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYgkqQ4enIc
​
And here is the winning Panorama steel band playing their version of it. The Despers talk vocalist Nailah Blackman to be their flagwoman for their performance!:
​
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJyF2yVgDoM
​
Here is another band playing their own arrangement of it at the same competition. They didn't win, but the camera angels and sound are a little better in this video, which gives you a better feel for the event:
​
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL8ICpzslkA
Pan Woman, Exodus Steel Orchestra (arr. Ray Holman)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlI7FTjMduw
Listen to the strumming on this, and how tight it is with the engine room! We'll get into engine room stuff soon. There's a lot of use of very advanced strumming patterns here, which have almost no downbeat in them (playing constantly "in the cracks").
Ah Goin' An' Party Tonight, Calypsociation (arr. Clive Bradley)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeVXTJnBa7c
This is a really nice, tight engine room, with a relaxed feel, but very accurate playing. Originally arranged for Panorama, but later recorded in a studio. A live performance of this at a club is in the next clip below.
Calypsociation documentary/live performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29T0jAkI-u0
Skip the talking at the front and just watch the performances at 4:50, 12:46, 20:08, 24:56 (Bach), 40:40 (Ah Goin' An' Party Tonight again).
Pan in A Minor is a steel band classic. Here is the original version, sung by composer Lord Kitchener, and then the winning Panorama arrangement of it by Hit Samaroo, performed by the Renegades Steel Orchestra.
Pan in A Minor, Lord Kitchener (original soca)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGPwBXUKK7I
Pan in A Minor, Renegades Steel Orchestra (arr. Hit Samaroo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbMiFc1DQmI
And here is Iron Man, which we will dig back into when we are able!
Iron Man, Lord Kitchener (original soca)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpaCHmJ2ITM
War 2004, Exodus Steel Orchestra (this is the year Mr. G was in the group)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW5uIKybQS4
Massive orchestra here (120 players, 35 tenor players). This is from semi-finals of the Panorama competition. Listen to how the long rolls are contoured. Personal memories of this piece are that the tenor lick in the intro at :42 and the quiet stuff at 6:08 were almost impossible to play, but 35 of us nailed it. That only comes from two months of nightly 5-hour rehearsals!