Andy Narell & Sakésho: Miami University Hamilton Artist Series
Andy Narell began his love affair with the steel pans at an early age.
His father was a social worker in New York and as part of his program created steel drum bands with gang members.
“It was cool,” he said. “I was captured by the whole feeling and sound of it. Everybody who saw it wanted to do it.
“Steel band music is something you can just jump in and do. That’s part of the reason why it’s spreading all over the world. You don’t have to take lessons. Somebody can show you a few things and at the end of an hour, you’re playing music.
“Of course, you can spend the rest of your life trying to improve — like me. But it crosses all kinds of barriers that way.”
The turning point to create a career out of the pans came in college, he said, when he had the choice of getting a real job or staying in music.
“I wanted to be a composer and create original music for the pans,” he said.
His latest project is the band Sakésho, which means, he said, “It’s gonna be hot” in Creole.
The band includes pianist Mario Canonge, a native of Martinique and a key figure in French Caribbean music; bassist Michel Alibo, also from Martinique; and drummer Jean Philippe Fanfant of Guadeloupe. The band is currently based in Paris.
“If you went to Paris in the ‘70s, the scene was dominated by expatriate Americans and the scene was about trying to play at their level,” he said. “Now, there are very few Americans in the Paris jazz scene. The heavy-hitters are the West African musicians, but it’s so diverse that it’s now a really cool environment.”
how to go
WHO: Sakésho.
WHERE: Parrish Auditorium, Miami University Hamilton Campus.
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday.
COST: $18 adults; $16 seniors; $10 students.
MORE INFO: (513) 529-3200; tickets.muohio.edu.
A version of this story originally ran in the Go! section of the JournalNews, Hamilton, Ohio.
