Den­nis Clement is no or­di­nary pan play­er. He is tru­ly ex­tra­or­di­nary. He plays the 12-bass for So­lo Har­monites, and cel­e­brates 40 years as a folk hero in the pan world. It's an achieve­ment he's proud of, and in­tends to build up­on. Peo­ple come from around the world to watch him play and he en­ter­tains them with fan­cy foot­work and deft pan skills. He is a joy to watch. Once he en­ters the cav­ern of the 12-bass he's on stage "ex­e­cut­ing the moves of Ray Charles, Ste­vie won­der and James Brown," yes, James Brown. Clement main­tains an equi­lib­ri­um and a joie de vivre no one can take away...and don't try. He cred­its Knol­ly Bobb for the 12-bass idea which to­day has brought him fame and im­mense joy. "The pan has served me," he says, unashamed­ly. "when things were hap­pen­ing, I was in the pa­n­yard." He refers to events in the Nev­er Dirty area that led to the demise of friends. It's his home­town where he strides the street proud­ly like a colos­sus. A car­pen­ter with the Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion, Clement said he loved his job but his true love, apart from his wife and chil­dren, was the 12-bass. "It's where I feel at home," he said. The pan has tak­en him to sev­er­al Eu­ro­pean, Caribbean and North Amer­i­can coun­tries.

Clement prides him­self on be­ing "a men­tor and mo­ti­va­tor" to ju­nior mem­bers of the So­lo Har­monites.

"I'm all about be­ing pos­i­tive," he said, with that cheer­ful trade­mark. Like his pan play­ing, chat­ting with Clement is al­so a joy. He is tru­ly ex­tra­or­di­nary. A re­turn to the pre­lim­i­nar­ies in the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah in Port-of-Spain will please this folk hero, and "giv­ing back from those who have ben­e­fit­ed from pan." His great­est mo­ment? Hear Den­nis tells it him­self: "It was at a Panora­ma. I ran out the 12-bass, and while run­ning I dropped a stick. It hit the floor on the rub­ber and bounced up. On my way back I grabbed it and start­ed play­ing." Tru­ly amaz­ing! But a sto­ry like that could on­ly come from an amaz­ing man like Den­nis Clement. Con­grat­u­la­tions on your 40 years of pan tricks.