Cohesion Ministry donates steel pans to UG

The Ministry of Social Cohesion, yesterday, donated a ten-piece steel pan ensemble comprising of the bases, guitar pans and frontliner pans, to the University of Guyana (UG).

The small presentation ceremony was done at the minister’s office on Main Street and was attended by faculty members of the university, the Department of Public Information (DPI) reported.

Delivering brief remarks, Professor Emeritus, Dr. Joycelynne Loncke said that this donation is “a fulfilment of a dream that goes back some thirty years.” She explained that when the university’s music program was launched in 1994, it was the department’s desire “to train pan-men so that they can become qualified musicians, music teachers and so on.”

Dr. Loncke thanked the Ministry of Social Cohesion and National School of Music Director, Andrew Tyndall, for the donation.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Ivelaw Griffith noted that this donation sets the stage “with the advent of this addition to the university with the rejuvenation of music as a point of pride and as a point of cultural enhancement.”

Professor Griffith disclosed that with the university placing an emphasis on the Arts and this donation, the university made the decision to have Como Williams, a renowned panist, to be their next Artist in Residence.

Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr. George Norton noted that “it was indeed a pleasure to be a contributor to this day of success in music particularly that of the pan.”

The instruments donated were a part of the National Steel Orchestra ensemble which performed at the 2008 Carifesta celebrations but has since downsized.