On August 9th, 2015, the very first ever International Conference of Steelpan will end with an International Panorama competition featuring 38 bands, each representing a single country. The event will begin at 3pm Eastern Standard Time and be streamed live for a price of $9.99. Tickets for the pay-per-view event can be purchased at www.wackradio901fm.com/worldcast-live-stream.html.
Steel bands featured in the competition will include England, Japan, USA, France, Canada, St Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Marten and Jamaica, and the best bands from Trinidad and Tobago, among others. The winning band will be crowned ICP Champions 2015.
The conference, taking place August 4-9, is the first of its kind, bringing together people from all walks of life to discuss the topics of history, playing technique, creation, education, and future of the steelpan. Speakers during the conference will include Melville Bryan of Pan Trinbago, Professor Brian Copeland, Ray Funk and Yuko Asada, to name a few. In addition the lectures, the Pastiche Steel Ensemble will be performing and debuting the new Virtual Steelband, an historic project involving many pannists from all over the world performing together virtually on a piece written by Liam Teague.
