Island Magic
A Welcome
Cruise
Addition
By Norman Hill
M
y wife Maralyn and I have
always loved cruising.
During our most recent
Caribbean trip on Holland
America’s ms Eurodam, in
March, 2015, we were delighted to
watch the steel drum quartet from
Trinidad known as “Island Magic.”
On a week’s cruise, during evenings
after dinner, we usually plan to see
two sessions of the ship’s singers and
dancers. This time, we decided to take
a fling and also see an unknown band,
the Island Magic. We weren’t sure
whether this was reggae or calypso.
Either would be okay, though reggae
wasn’t our first love, as Broadwaystyle singing and dancing were.
Out came the band quartet, in formal
attire, three men and one woman.
As we came to know later, the four
were: Julian Gibbs, the leader, playing
Instrument ”Bass – four drums”;
Kerlanda Matthias, playing Instrument
104
“Double Seconds – two drums”;
Dereck Ayum, playing Instrument
“Tenor – two drums”; and Michael
Pamphille, playing Instrument
“Drums – standard drums.”
Lo and behold, they did not play reggae
or calypso at all. Instead, they covered
a fascinating variety of popular and
classical tunes. These included
“Phantom of the Opera” and “Orpheus
in the Underworld.” For their finale,
they brought the house down with
“William Tell Overture.” The Lone
Ranger never sounded so good.
The next morning, we interviewed
Julian Gibbs and listened to his
interesting story. In Trinidad, most
steel bands have more than a
hundred members, but the demands
of ship travel call for them to be as
small as a limit of four. Most such
Trinidadian musicians begin at an
early age, as young as four or five.
Gibbs, on the other hand, didn’t get
involved with steel bands until age
seventeen or so. He was trained as
an accountant and employed for
six years in the field, so he had to
convince his skeptical parents when
he wanted to pursue this music full
time. Their support came reluctantly.
Over the next twenty-five years, he
has perfected his craft to the level
it’s at today. You can enjoy a
sampling on this video:
Gibbs described the other three
members of his band. The woman,
Kerlanda Matthias, is the newest
member of Island Magic. She also
started late, after working as an
IT systems programmer for a number
of years. In fact, she designed the
group’s website. She has played her
instrument for 15 years. Just as with
Gibbs, her parents had to be won over
about a fulltime music career.
Dereck Ayum, playing the Tenor, also
didn’t start music fulltime until age
17. For him, as the preceding two,
schoolwork had to come first. He
has been with Island Magic and Gibbs
for 15 years.
Finally, Michael Pamphille, the drummer,
has played drums for over 30 years.
None of the four Band members can
read or write music, and are self
taught. Gibbs said he can listen to
a tune and get the “feel” of all
contributing instruments. They can
master some songs in as little as 10
minutes. Classical pieces are more
demanding and may take several
hours. Now their repertoire includes
over 400 songs. Gibbs claims, and
I have no reason to doubt him, that
once they have mastered a song,
every time they play it, it will be
exactly the same.
Gibbs started the Island Magic
twenty-one years ago, although with
different members than today. On a