‘Inspired, empowered and encouraged’: Women are keeping Toronto’s steelpan tradition alive

Ahead of Friday’s Pan Alive competition, women are paving their own paths in Toronto’s steelpan community: performing on stage, leading bands and putting in year-round work to keep the Trinidad and Tobago-born tradition alive.

The Ontario Steelpan Association’s annual competition, officially called Toronto Panorama – Keepin’ Pan Alive, takes over Lamport Stadium on Friday from 7 p.m. to midnight, bringing seven of the city’s steel orchestras together for one of Toronto Caribbean Carnival’s biggest musical showcases.

Among the competitors is Impulse Steel Orchestra, a new band preparing to make its Pan Alive debut after being established in 2025.

For co-founder and marketing director Aldene Herman, reaching the competition marks the culmination of years of work and planning.

“Pan Alive means a constant force and a constant place where steelpan is represented in Toronto,” Herman told Now Toronto. “It’s an event that we know always brings a wide demographic and has very loyal supporters, so we’re excited to be competing.”

Impulse will perform Yung Bredda’s “Inch by Inch,” a song Herman believes fittingly captures how the young organization has developed.

“The title in itself is very representative of our growth and our progress,” she said. “Inch by inch, we’re moving closer and closer to stepping into the full organization that we envision and that we are becoming.”

The work women do beyond the Pan Alive stage

Although audiences will see the finished performance on Friday, Herman says much of the work women contribute happens away from the spotlight. Along with performing, women frequently take on administrative, financial and organizational responsibilities, from coordinating band members to securing food and refreshments and deciding how the group is decorated.

“Panorama is only one day, and there’s a lot of preparation that goes into it,” she said. “The overall operation and some of the backend things to sustain the band year-round, I don’t think that gets enough recognition, and typically a lot of that is done by women.”

Herman believes recognition has traditionally centred on arrangers, whose work shapes what audiences hear on competition night. However, she says people are increasingly recognizing that steelpan is a team effort.

She has also noticed more women stepping forward as band leaders, captains and musicians in rhythm sections — spaces that have often been dominated by men.

Herman hopes that visibility will show young girls, particularly those from the Caribbean diaspora, that there is space for them behind the pan.

“I hope they feel inspired, empowered and encouraged,” she said. “To see people who look like them performing and in that space, I think is really motivational.”

Herman was inspired by her own mother, who was a panist. Now, she sees the effect women performers can have on the next generation when people tell her how meaningful it is to see women playing.

Passing steelpan to the next generation

That generational connection is also visible at Pan Fantasy, where Liane Charles has played for around 32 years.

Charles, whose grandparents are Trinidadian, was introduced to steelpan through a class at West Humber Collegiate Institute taught by Patrick “Panman Pat” McNeilly, a pioneering educator who helped introduce steelpan as a formal high-school music credit.

She now plays the double seconds, a type of pan she compares to the alto section of an orchestra.

“I love the versatility of the double seconds,” Charles told Now Toronto. “You play lead, melody and background chords — the best of both worlds.”

Preparing for Pan Alive, however, takes far more than simply learning a song.

“It takes many nights of practice and dedication to the instrument,” she explained. “You have to learn your pan, its notes, and practice ways to play different types of rhythmic lines, often called runs. Drilling parts section by section until you have them all down and can increase your speeds.”

Pan Fantasy enters Friday’s competition seeking its 12th consecutive Pan Alive championship and its 14th title overall. The band will perform Voice’s “Cyah Behave.”

Charles says she is proud to be part of the group’s transformation from a band that spent years losing the competition to one that has become its reigning champion.

Still, whether she is playing in front of one person or a packed stadium, the heart of the experience remains the same.

“Big stage, small stage or one person; the joy is in playing the pan and keeping the art form alive,” she said.

Pan Fantasy is led by Wendy Jones, one of its founding members and a longtime force creating and trailblazing for women in steel pan in Toronto’s steelpan community. 

Jones was introduced to the instrument in 1976 through an accredited program at Westview Centennial Secondary School, offering another example of how access to pan in Toronto schools has helped build generations of musicians.

Known as the “Queen of the Bass,” Jones has used steelpan to mentor more than 1,000 children across the GTA. She also co-founded the Pan Arts Network in 1998 to create opportunities for steel bands outside the Carnival season.

For Charles, seeing women test the boundaries of where they belong has encouraged her to do the same. Along with steelpan, she plays the drums, an instrument she says remains largely dominated by men in the pan community.

“I hope experiences like mine shape other young ladies to push their limits musically,” she said.

Her advice to girls curious about steelpan is simple: start.

“Come down to any of the steel bands’ practices and start learning,” Charles said. “There are classes that will help you learn at all levels. You can start with no musical experience and grow with the pan!”