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PanJam: The SteelBand Jamboree slated for today
Kaieteur News – The creators of PanJazz Concerts have announced the 2022 edition of the annual event dubbed “PanJam: The SteelBand Jamboree”, slated for today, July 24, 2022, at the Georgetown Club.
Saxophonist Roy Stewart performing with the steel band at the last year’s concert
Founder of PanJazz Concerts, Reon Miller
This edition is said to have an exciting twist to the already enthralling concept, and will include a fusion of Caribbean genres of music – Soca, Reggae and Chutney, featuring local artists.
Founder of PanJazz, Reon Miller said that patrons can look forward to 10 times the excitement this year, as the team would have built on the success of the previous years, to enhance the experience for 2022.
PanJazz was created in 2018, while Miller was a law student at the University of Guyana, as a fundraising idea to attend the Hugh Wooding Law School. Being one of Guyana’s prominent pannists, he decided to host a concert that headlined steelpan music, mixed with jazz instruments. The success of that concert saw the birth of the unorthodox brand ‘PanJazz Concerts‘ created by Miller, under which he has been hosting the event annually.
“When I started in 2018, I was pretty young, but from feedback I received, I was doing pretty well, so I continued and the support kept growing over the years. I believe that is credited to the fact that there is no yearly steelpan event in Guyana that focuses on the steelpan experience like PanJazz would. The ones we have are mainly focused on involvement with bands and soloists competing, but PanJazz focuses on an experience for the audience. And that is the selling point, since there is a huge fanbase for steelpan music in Guyana,” Miller said.
The concerts are usually a fusion of steelpan and jazz, however, this year will be more inclusive, and will also include a clash with the two top Guyanese steelbands – the Guyana Police Force Steel Orchestra and the Caribbean Airlines Parkside Steel Orchestra. This, he said, is the main highlight this year. “For the first half, we’re going to have a string band with local artists singing soca, reggae and chutney hits. And for the second half, two large steel bands will be set up side by side on two different stages, performing local hits and they’re going to be going tune for tune backing local artistes who will be performing with them. This I believe will be the most exciting part this year,” he disclosed.
Since this concept was created to pay school fees, Miller said that after the completion of this year’s event, he hopes to launch the PanJazz Scholarship where other pan players will be assisted with their education from part of the proceeds from the concerts. “Now that I have completed my studies, it’s only fair that part of the proceeds go to someone else who plays steelpan, to pay their school fees too. That’s what I wanna do. Other than that, the goal of PanJazz is to bring an exquisite steelpan experience to the Guyanese public that they can appreciate and enjoy, and always look forward to on a yearly basis,” he said.
The event this year is sponsored by Kabisa, Gupta Distributors, Career.gy, Roje’s, Au Moyeu M&M Snackette, Virtual Solutions Guyana, Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport and Potsalt Media & Communications.
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