Pan in a major way
My name is Liam Teague and the steelpan made me whatever I am today.
I’m originally from San Fernando. I grew up in an extremely humble background in a very problematic area, Navet Road, near Pleasantville.
Only as a teenager did I realise my family was “different’ from many others.
Though we didn’t have very much, financially, we were very close-knit. My late parents, Russell and Pearl, did their very best to make sure my sister, Audra-Marie, and I were happy.
I have an older sister, Angela, but we have different mothers.
I met my wife, Lorena, in Panama, when I was a guest steelpan soloist and she was the principal violist with the Panama National Symphony years ago.
No doubt, I was enamoured with the beautiful flow of her… viola technique! Honestly, after one concert, female orchestra members gave me “well done” kisses on my cheek. But Lorena had this not-so-subtle look in her eyes: her congratulatory kiss was not obligatory.
I tell people she was unable to resist the Liam Teague effect. And she tells me, “Callate la boca!” Our Panama-born son, Jaden, is 12 and our USA-born daughter, Jeida, is seven. We’ve been together for 15 years.
I live in DeKalb, Illinois, about 60 miles west of Chicago.
I went to Northern Illinois University at age 19 to pursue a degree in music, with emphasis on the steelpan.
My masters is also from NIU, where I am a professor of music and head of steelpan studies.
My father had a Cub Scout troop. At one meeting, another scout, Darren Sheppard (now arranger for Fonclaire), played a pan and I was transfixed! I told my father immediately I wanted to learn.
by B C Pires
Trinidad and Tobago Newsday
