Name: 04 Africa by St. Luke's Steel Band
Duration: 5 min 22 s
Description: New Haven CT's own St Luke's Steel Band performing standards and popular songs live at Miller Library

New Haven CT's own St Luke's Steel Band performing standards and popular songs live at Miller Library

04 Africa

St. Luke's Steel Band was started in the fall of 1999 when Father Victor Rogers and a group of supporters from New Haven's historic St. Luke's Episcopal Church purchased a set of used steel pans from a band in Brooklyn. Since then, the group has attracted a dedicated membership of players of all ages. Many of the members or their families come from the West Indies: the islands of Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago are all represented in the ensemble.
The band regularly performs during services at St. Luke's Episcopal Church and also plays for concerts, festivals, benefits and private functions throughout the region. Their repertoire includes soca, calypso, reggae, classical, sacred, jazz, popular and island folk music.
Under the direction of founding director Debby Teason and assistant director Donna Johnson, St. Luke's Steel Band has gained a reputation as one of the area's most exciting performing ensembles; and, current director Kenneth Joseph is continuing the St. Luke's tradition of compelling performances. The band's achievements were recognized in 2003 by an Artist's Award from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, and they have won two gold medals at the PANorama Caribbean Music Fests in Virginia Beach. In 2008 they performed with tenor pan virtuoso Liam Teague for a standing-room-only crowd in New Haven, and April 2009 featured a joint concert with the renowned Positive Vibrations Youth Steel Orchestra from Washington DC. Following a highly successful performance on the Yale School of Music's Duke Ellington Concert Series with composer/performer Andy Akiho in April 2010, St. Luke's Steel Band was invited back to perform again with Mr. Akiho in November 2010. St Luke’s Steel Band has also had the pleasure of performing with Haven String Quartet, resident quartet of Music Haven.