Bertie Marshall Speaks on the Steelpan
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Mischief is ah hell of ah t'ing
Staff Article
Interview Recorded: March 13, 2005
Posted: March 18, 2005
"Boogsie" used to come and beat that pan like nothing. The only funny part was that he use to play it too hard. I had to remind him every time. The pan on amplifier, so when it on amplifier, you don't have to beat it so hard. He use to come by me often in this same yard. He is a fantastic player, I never see a man so gifted. That pan was never widely used because it was expensive, and it must be amplified for it to give you the tricks. I call it tricks, because once that note elongated, then you could put a tremble note or a Vibrato on it, once it going through that echo chamber. When you have a pan like that, you have to have it amplified. You have to amplify it so that you could full the band with music. If you have a fellah playing an individual instrument, it suppose to be loud enough, so if you sitting down listening to the band, you can't complain and say, "Bertie that pan coming in nice you know, but it could be louder." That ain't the question then, all you have to do is to turn a knob, and it louder. That is the important thing.
Right now if you watch at it good, they amplified voice and all, even the preachers make noise like they want god to pay attention. People making joke, they don't recognize, but I am the observer. You could hear them preachers quite down the road. They come here too, and if they preaching in here, everybody in every apartment could hear, and them with the sh*t they talking. But what he talking about Jesus Christ, unless you are an atheist you ain't believing in that. He is preaching about how god will save you. Well, we had a little violence, so when a fellah come to me, he preaching about those things. What he is telling people technically is that they ungodly, but he don't know that we realize that when this thing happening, is when a bunch of young men get together and don't have nothing else to do, mischief will go on. I was young too, I don't forget those days.
Mischief is a hell of a thing. When you are idle, mischief could step in easy, and you also listen to anybody saying anything. You easy to influence because you are young and you don't have nothing else to do. You know you in a small mob with other fellahs, and a next one not even saying let us forget that, a next fellah saying yes, "leh we go", and everybody gone, and when you do hear the shout, we gone and kill a man. You didn't go there with that intention, but one man hit de man, and a next one come and hit him with the same force, you know what happen, you end up damaging the man, then the man died through the 'licking', and big trouble. They accuse you all of being murderers yes, and you can't blame them because it is true, you all killed a man.
I was involved with the sixth pan also. I up there for years. Remember I have more experience than Rudolph, so any thing he doing, he know I like that too. He know I am not lazy. As a matter of fact pan could kill you, because I forget to eat and sleep, and you are vexed when is bed time. When they come and tell you a neighbour sick, you vex she get sick now. Why? She don't go to the hospital? It taking you away from the pan, because you focusing on it and you want success too. Pan is time, but you don't realize because you young, that anybody could get sick once you alive, you don't choose to get sick. Back then the musicians who you playing with, would encourage you. They gave me my catechism and I learned a thing or two. Hear what I end up asking one of them, "Yuh feel if I learn to read music, it go help meh improve de tuning." Hear him, "it is possible." My partner Nestor Sullivan, the captain from Pamberi, tell me that he get a computer. He say, "Bertie, you not interested in a computer?" I said, "Not really. Yuh feel dat go help me improve my pan if ah learn computer?" He say he don't know, it all depends on what you want to do. He say you could send away mails fast. I said, "if it can't help me tune pan, I ain't think I am interested in it."
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