Blind pannist, ex-national footballer among Point honourees

While Point Fortin may be the small­est Bor­ough in Trinidad, home­town he­roes like vi­su­al­ly im­paired pan­nist Michael Tou­s­saint and for­mer na­tion­al foot­baller Reynold Car­ring­ton have the world tak­ing notes. The two men stood tall among 14 awardees at Tues­day night’s Civic Re­cep­tion and Awards Cer­e­mo­ny host­ed by the Point Fortin Bor­ough Cor­po­ra­tion in com­mem­o­ra­tion of the 39th an­niver­sary of be­com­ing a bor­ough.

At age 64 and with no vi­sion, Tou­s­saint, who was born in Fan­ny Vil­lage, now plays and man­ages the world’s on­ly steel band for the blind and par­tial­ly sight­ed. The Ur­ban Fox Or­ches­tra ((UFO) Pi­lots in Lon­don, Eng­land plays pro­fes­sion­al­ly and is a hit in the an­nu­al Not­tinghill Car­ni­val. And while he has the fame over­seas, he said noth­ing was more hum­bling than to be ho­n­oured by his home­town.

“I feel re­al­ly ho­n­oured, I feel re­al­ly hum­bled. My mom al­ways tell us that good things come to those who wait and I’ve been wait­ing for a while,” Tou­s­saint told Guardian Me­dia at the awards at the Clifton Hill Beach Re­sort in Point Fortin. He was ho­n­oured for his con­tri­bu­tion to Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vice along with Broth­er­hood Unit­ed, Swank D Con­cepts, Leg­ends Sports Club and Grant­ley Wells.

The pan­nist be­gan his ca­reer at Star­land Steel Or­ches­tra is Techi­er Vil­lage at age five and moved on to the big­ger Dun­lop Tor­na­does. Af­ter mov­ing to Lon­don in his adult years and tak­ing pan to the Eng­lish, a med­ical er­ror left him to­tal­ly blind. De­ject­ed, he had to hang up his pan. Thank God for a friend, who knew his prowess, Tou­s­saint over­came the odds and made pan his full-time job.

“When I lost my sight, I stopped play­ing pan for five years, then a good friend of mine said, ‘you know Mike, I think you can do it you know.’ I was sort of scared, think­ing about the oc­tave notes. I’m I go­ing to hit them? Am I go­ing to miss them? As usu­al, prac­tice be­came per­fect...I think it’s a nat­ur­al tal­ent. It’s like Ste­vie Won­der play­ing his key­board, I am play­ing my pan. It’s a nat­ur­al tal­ent.”

He al­ready has the pan mapped in his mind and by just hear­ing a song, he could pick up his sticks and be­gin echo­ing the mu­sic.

Car­ring­ton, who is a sit­ting coun­cil­lor in the Point Fortin Bor­ough Cor­po­ra­tion, was not on­ly ho­n­oured for the many tro­phies and medals to his name but his pas­sion for pro­duc­ing the next crop of Point Fortin leg­ends.

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By - kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt