Life On The Rode: steel pans, paddle boarding, windscoops .......

This year based on recommendations from friends who went last year we went on an evening trip to the Commencheros steel pan practice. It was the kids practicing for the upcoming Carnival. It was totaling overwhelming. They do not have sheet music. The band leader sings what he wants them to play both in the melody and the rhythm, counts one two, one two three four and they start all over again. If he is not satisfied, he will tap on one of the drums, everyone goes quiet and the process repeats itself. Needless to say I was amazed as I am pretty sure everyone else on the trip with us was. I could not find anything on the internet that did justice to what we heard.

We learned about the different sections of the band.

This is the base section

These guys cracked me up, but were making music. Kirk is in the back left hand side with a pink/red shirt on talking to our new friend Joanne.

Looking past the base section to the chord section; some are referred to as guitar and cello. Look at how young these musicians are!!

This is the harmony section, I did not get a picture of the melody section. They are right behind the harmony section and the rhythm section (drums) is behind the harmony section. Each section played their part of a piece and then they all played together. Was a great experience.

Food was served for $15.00 EC. Chicken, slaw and salad. In US that is $5.61. The following Tuesday Kirk went with his cruising friend Peter and local friend Martin to see a man who makes, tunes and sells the drums.

Dinghy Concert

A local resort & marina, Le Phare Bleu and Island Waterworld occasionally host a dinghy concert out in one of the anchorages. We hopped in the dinghy with drinks and headed to the show. This is the tug boat that hold the band with a barge tied to it. The barge has bench seats for those who cannot get there by dinghy.

A taste of what it was like. We are in the middle left. I have on a white shirt with a purple bandana around my neck. We were surrounded by people we knew and if we did not know them when we got there, we knew them in a short while. It is a free concert. They sell beer on the barge or you can bring your own.