By M Margaret Burke

Moving young steelpan players beyond limits

FITZROY E. Younge, fondly called ‘Rollo’, has been leading one of Guyana’s most prominent steelpan groups since 2010. Officially known as the GBTI-Buxton Steel Orchestra, they have been growing from strength to strength over the years under sole sponsorship of the GBTI since 2013.

Younge was born and bred in Buxton/Friendship, achieved some of his education in the USA, gaining a BSc in Business Management in 2007 from the Quiznos University, Colorado. He also received the franchise owner Store Management Training in December 2006; Heald’s Engineering College training in San Francisco, USA and a Diploma in Electrical Engineering Technology in June 1979. He also lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for 32 years, after which he permanently returned to Buxton in May 2010.

STEEL ORCHESTRA
“Back in 2010, it started with eight players but has grown to a current number of 36 players, with an average age of 15 years’ experience,” Coordinator of the orchestra, Younge, stated. He added that the orchestra which has continued to enjoy a trainer, tuner and arranger in the person of Frank Lynch for the past nine years, draws most of its players from schools in and around the village of Buxton.

Additionally, Sergeant Ray Sparman of the Guyana Police Force Band has been lending his expertise to the band in arranging and conducting. In this regard, some seven graduates from the Buxton Steel Orchestra formed part of this year’s winning Police Force Steel Orchestra in the Large Band Category. The event, held on February 17, was sponsored by Republic Bank Ltd. He said that at present the orchestra practices at Tipperary Hall in Buxton. This is done every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday after school.

RECOGNITION AND ACHIEVEMENTS
“In June of 2016, Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary Celebration Committee [New York], in collaboration with the Consul-General of Guyana invited our steel band to travel up to New York to participate in the Jubilee Week festivities. So on June 1, a total of 19 players and chaperones travelled up to New York for three weeks to perform,” Young told the Pepperpot Magazine.

The Buxton Steel Orchestra recently won the 2019 Mashramani Pan-o-Rama Steel Band Competition for Large School Bands. This is the fourth time that the young group outplayed its competitors to capture first place, having won in 2014, 2015 and 2017 as well. The orchestra also placed second in 2016, then in 2018, the band took a break from the competition.

Two senior members of the GBTI-Buxton Steel Orchestra also scored huge wins in the 2019 Mashramani competitions. Twenty-year-old Jamal Stuart was crowned Guyana’s Junior Calypso Monarch, while Daniel Daly won the Junior Soloist Pan-o-Rama Competition, playing Single Tenor.

Now policemen, they were also part of the victorious Police Steel Orchestra, which copped first place in the large-band category. In recognition of their
stellar performances, the two were honoured by the Guyana Police Force’s Music Department and were promoted to the rank of lance corporal.

DIFFERENT CAPACITIES
Younge has also been very active in different capacities here in Guyana. He is currently the Chief Facilitator for First Lady Sandra Granger’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) initiative.

He explained that there are six-week workshops, with the main objective to provide adolescent and out-of-school youths with the opportunity to access training in ICT. This, he said, will enable these young people to effectively perform in various sectors of Guyana, while simultaneously strengthening the community with knowledgeable persons.

These workshops are done in all 10 regions of Guyana, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Protection and the Board of Industrial Training. So far, four were done in Buxton, one each in Regions Two, Three and Nine and two in Region 10.

VOLUNTEERING

Younge has also been working as a volunteer for the Buxton/Friendship Heritage Fund, which is run by Lorna Campbell. He has been the project’s coordinator since 2010, where they seek to ensure that about 50 students from primary schools in Buxton receive backpacks, calculators, geometry sets, books, pencils, pens and erasers to help them make the transition to secondary school.

He also volunteers as local coordinator for CSEC students to receive ‘Bursaries’ from organisations overseas. Last year, six students received bursaries of $200,000 each to attend the University of Guyana and University of the West Indies. These monies came from the Buxton Heritage Fund (New York) and COTAB, Toronto, Canada.

In addition to the Medal of Service, a national award which was bestowed on him on February 23, 2019, he also received the Buxton/Friendship Heritage Award for Youth Engagement and Skills Development in New York in May 2015; the Buxton/ Friendship Restoration Committee Award in June 2016 and many more overseas and in Guyana.

The GBTI-Buxton Steel Orchestra’s vision statement is ‘To be the best Steel Pan music provider in Guyana.’