Karen Bernard - Music in my Blood!
Trinidad and Tobago is known as the birthplace of the steel pan—the world’s only acoustic instrument invented in the 20th century.
This is the island of Karen’s birth. Her childhood was wrapped in melody. Six of her uncles were deep in the Carnival world, playing with legendary Belmont steel bands like Belmont Fifth Dimension, Texaco Dixieland, Sunland, and Casablanca. And to make life even sweeter, she lived just five houses away from the late, great Lord Kitchener—the Road March King himself! The man whose music powered almost every pan yard in the country. If a band wanted to win? They needed a “Kitch” tune. Simple as that.
From early on, the steel pan mesmerised her. But back then, pan yards were “no-go zones” for girls. Back then there were “NO women in pan”. It wasn’t just discouraged—it was forbidden. If you even mentioned “pan yard” within earshot of an elder, you’d get the kind of look that could freeze lava.
Karen’s parents and uncles had one rule: “No. No. And absolutely not!” So, she became a devoted grandstand spectator, cheering for her uncles and waiting impatiently for her favourite band—Renegades—to touch the stage.
Her first real chance to touch a pan came with youth group at a band called Valley Harps, but this was short lived. They were preparing for a church concert when the Band Leader placed a guitar pan sticks in her hands and taught her to play a hymn. The very first note lit something inside her—Karen was instantly, hopelessly in love. But this joy was short-lived. After six months, as Panorama season approached, their little group stepped aside… and keeping the peace at home meant she had to step away too. Still, the pan never left her. At 18, Karen finally convinced one of her uncles to sneak her into pan yards during Panorama season—Renegades, Despers, All Stars, Valley Harps… you name it. This became their secret tradition, and to this day her deceased Dad had no idea she was slipping into the very places he had banned her from going.
Karen performing with PNSO at their Winter 2025 Concert.
Along the way, she also got to meet giants of the art form—Clive Bradley, Jit Samaroo, and Professor Ken Philmore—names that shaped the sound of the nation. Then life swept her into adulthood. Karen moved to the UK, dove into her studies, advanced her career in health care, and became a proud mother. The dream of playing pan faded into the background, waiting patiently for its moment.
That moment came unexpectedly in Christmas 2019. Karen and her daughter were strolling along Oxford Street when she heard a familiar, sweet, unmistakable sound—steel pan. She walked straight up, introduced herself, and asked the Ebony Steel Band member if there was anywhere in North East London to learn. “Search for Pan Nation,” he said. She did! And soon enough, Chris Storey called her with the warmest welcome. Then—bam!—COVID-19 hit, the world shut down, and her pan dreams were put on pause once again. But this dream refused to die.
So, the second classes reopened in September 2021, Karen arrived—wide-eyed, nervous, excited and ready. She chose the tenor pan—her first love. And when she finally bought her own chrome tenor pan… oh, la, la, what a moment! It was more than an instrument; it was a legacy. A piece of her roots that her family will inherit one day.
Karen handing out Awards at PNSO’s Winter Concert 2025.
Today, Karen is in a job she loves, playing the instrument she’s loved since childhood, and part of a band that feels like home. Her daughter and friends know: pan practice is serious business for her! She adores Pan Nation, she adores her Philmore team, and being voted captain was an honour she’ll never forget. Her parents aren’t here to witness this chapter of her life, but she knows—deep down—they always believed she’d find her way back to her first love of steel pan music. And now here she is: living the dream they once tried to protect her from, standing proudly in an amazing steel band, finally playing the notes that were always written into her story.
Thanks to Pan Nation Steel Orchestra for the historical information on Karen Bernard.
