From Calypso to Grime, Metronomes set the tempo

Metronomes set the Tempo

Newbury Spring Festival: Metronomes
at the Corn Exchange
on Tuesday, May 20

Review by AMANDA HOLLIDAY

The Metronomes Steel Orchestra has two main principles: to promote the steel pan art form and carnival culture in the UK; and to play a positive role within the community. They achieved that and more on Tuesday.

Having run a workshop for 300 children during the day, which Festival Administrator Jane Pickering described as amazing, they then went on to perform at Newbury Corn Exchange. The band’s joy of playing was apparent for all to see and the sun was shining inside the building as well as out. Their boundless enthusiasm very quickly spread to the audience who were uplifted and rapt.

Based in Ladbroke Grove, Metronomes was formed in 1973 and recruits members from family and the local community. Its repertoire ranges from Calypso to Grime. It has won the prestigious Panorama Steel Band Competition four times, performed on Songs of Praise and has been the BAS Pan Explosion winners three times. In 2019 the group established Inclusive Pan – a project aimed at engaging with disenfranchised young people.

There were 10 musicians on stage on Tuesday night, some of whom where swapping roles, moving from pans to congas to tambourines and back again. The evening opened with a dynamic version of Mas Que Nada by Sergio Mendes which got everyone sambaing in their seats. Energy levels were high and rhythm was king.

A popular choice was the Luther Van Dross R and B classic Never Too Much and it didn’t take long for the audience to get into the groove. This received the loudest applause of the night.

After a well-deserved break, the players returned to the stage. The beautiful light and shade of the orchestra’s arrangement of the soulful Days like This by Shaun Escoffery was a definite stand-out performance. One minute the pans resembled strings and the next synthesisers, producing a punctuated wall of silvery sound.

After an evening of the purest melodies, rhythm and syncopation, I left the auditorium delighted to have been part of Newbury’s carnival for a couple of hours and a little piece of Metronomes’ magic went with me. Follow them at @metronomes_mso