Late pan pioneer Anthony “Muffman" Williams lived, breathed, ate, and slept pan. He brought young people into steelpan and his legacy should be continued.
Speaking at his funeral on Thursday, family friend Kenneth Clarke said Williams, who was born on June 24, 1931, at the Port of Spain General Hospital to parents Carmen Roberts and Oscar Williams, was a humble, mysterious, and helpful youth.
Clarke said Williams was self-taught as a welder, mason, and carpenter, who worked as a carpenter with the Ministry of Works in Laventille. He said Williams redesigned his house in Nepal Street in 1958 by creating his own mould to make blocks, and part of the reason for the redesign was that he wanted his grandmother Hilda to live a happy life.
“Tony was introduced to pan in 1944 at the age of 13. He became an ace “ping-pong” or tenor pan player and made his first tenor pan with a biscuit tin of approximately eight inches with eight notes, and played the first part of Mary Had A Little Lamb.”
Clarke said Williams became a member of the Nob Hill Steel Band in 1946, moving to Sun Valley Steel Band in the same year. In 1950, he became a member of Northern Stars after Sun Valley leader Felix Roach decided to leave Sun Valley. Northern Stars moved to Kandahar/Bombay Street, eventually changing its name to North Stars after the 1951 Carnival as the name was too big to fit on the jerseys.
He said in 1951, Williams was chosen as one of the two members of his band to form the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra (TASPO).
“The Steelband Association, in order to curb the riots of the steelbands fighting each other, decided to send a steelband to the Festival of England, and asked each steelband to send two representatives. Of that list, only one remains alive right now. Tony played a tenor boom, the equivalent of a triple guitar pan, made from a biscuit drum. He changed it to an oil drum, producing a different tonal improvisation. During that tour, Lieutenant Griffith introduced them to 12 notes. Since they were all tuners and players, the transition to a full chromatic scale was not a challenge.”
[caption id="attachment_932276" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Relatives of the late Dr. Anthony Williams, Yoland Thomas and Shermika Thomas, among the smal group of mourners allowed to attend his funeral - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
Clarke said the experience was productive, as they created an evolution in the steelpan. On returning from the tour, North Stars moved to 59 Bombay Street.
“He continued his innovations in developing the instrument, creating a massive movement in Kandahar and nearby areas in St James. The majority of people got involved and changed the concept of the long-time bad-john-ism integrated into pan-men, bringing discipline and respect, excellent players of all ages. People became tuners because of him. Everyone respected him.”
Williams developed the spiderweb steelpan in 1953, which is used currently, where the notes are placed in fourths and
