Barry Mannette - Trinidad and Tobago
Barry Mannette is the son of the
late steelpan tuner and leader, Vernon
'Birdie' Mannette. He started his steelpan career at the age of 11 years and
has performed with many of the top steelbands in Trinidad and Tobago, such as
Invaders, Hummingbirds Pan Groove, Phase 11 Pan Groove, Renegades, Valley
Harps, Desperadoes, UWI Festival Steel Ensemble and Starlift Steel Orchestra.
He started to develop his love for arranging at the age of 19 years when he
started to arrange for Starlift. Since then he has consistently been arranging
for Starlift and in 2005 he formed the Starlift Junior Steel Orchestra of which
he is the Music Director. He has been on several tours to promote steelpan and
perform at an international level. In June 2010 he led the Starlift Junior
Steel Orchestra to victory with his arrangements at the Montreal International
Steelpan Festival. The band won the Junior Panorama Competition and placed 2nd
in the Adult Panorama Competition. In 2007 he arranged 2 pieces for Starlift's
CD, Dance again Mr Bojangles and went on to take Starlift Junior Steel
Orchestra to 4th place at the junior panorama competition in 2008 and 2009. His
arrangements have been scored and placed on the latest Pan in Education CD. He
attained his Certificate in Music from the University of the West Indies in
2007 and his B.A. Musical Arts from the same university in 2010 and is
currently pursuing a Masters in Music Performance at Northern Illinois
University. He is also
one of the Music Instructors with the Northern Region of the National Youth
Steel Orchestra since 2008. Additionally he has been working closely with the
Music Literacy Trust of Trinidad and Tobago
for the past 2 years as a music teacher/steelpan instructor. This former radio
show host of the Pan Program, Original Magic of Pan, also placed 2nd in the
Steelpan Soloist Open Category of the Trinidad and Tobago Music Festival
in 2008 and 3rd in the Soloist Category of the National Steelband Music
Festival in the same year. Additionally Barry has been a successful steelpan
administrator; besides being the manager and captain of Starlift Steel
Orchestra, he has also successfully managed the St Joseph's Convent Steel Orchestra. Barry
continues to arrange with Starlift Junior Steel Orchestra.