SAN­DRA L BLOOD

When Japan launched its first na­tion­al steel or­ches­tra in 1995, it was a cul­tur­al ex­per­i­ment that would grow in­to a last­ing love af­fair with the steel­pan. The Sukiya­ki Steel Or­ches­tra (SSO), based in Fukuno, Toya­ma, was born from a part­ner­ship be­tween T&T’s Rene­gades Steel Or­ches­tra and Japan’s Con­ver­sa­tion Com­pa­ny, in­spired by Rene­gades’ elec­tri­fy­ing con­certs in Toya­ma in 1992 and 1993.

At the helm was Trinida­di­an tenor pan vir­tu­oso Bri­an Bru­mant, of Rene­gades, who al­so served as the fledg­ling band’s drum­mer. He was joined by two oth­er stal­warts of the T&T pan move­ment: mas­ter tuner Bertram “Butch” Kel­man and cel­e­brat­ed arranger Dr Jit Sama­roo. Their guid­ance shaped SSO’s de­but per­for­mance that same year at the Sukiya­ki Meets the World Fes­ti­val, staged at the He­lios Cul­tur­al Cen­tre.

For Yoko Fuku­na­ga, then a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Con­ver­sa­tion Com­pa­ny and li­ai­son for Rene­gades in Japan, the project was a dream re­alised.

“The com­pa­ny was very ex­cit­ed about the for­ma­tion of this maid­en steel­band,” she re­called.

Rene­gades, one of T&T’s most suc­cess­ful Panora­ma cham­pi­ons, had long em­braced in­ter­na­tion­al play­ers, in­clud­ing Japan­ese pan play­ers, in its com­pe­ti­tion line-up. Over the years, Bri­an Bru­mant re­turned fre­quent­ly to Japan to coach, build­ing a bridge be­tween Port-of-Spain and Toya­ma that has last­ed three decades.

That con­nec­tion be­came a fam­i­ly af­fair. Bri­an’s broth­er, An­drew “So­ca” Bru­mant, cap­tained Rene­gades for many years while lead­ing the rhythm sec­tion as drum­mer. In 2011, An­drew’s wife, Can­dice An­drews-Bru­mant, broke bar­ri­ers as the first fe­male cap­tain of Rene­gades—a role she still holds. Her own ca­reer has been deeply in­ter­twined with Japan­ese pan­nists, whom she has coached for Panora­ma and while tour­ing abroad.

“Over time a spe­cial love grew be­tween the two bands,” An­drews-Bru­mant said, re­flect­ing on the en­dur­ing ex­change. “There was al­so a re­spect for the fes­ti­val and what it rep­re­sent­ed.”

That bond was cel­e­brat­ed again re­cent­ly, when SSO marked its 30th an­niver­sary at the Sukiya­ki Fes­ti­val held from Au­gust 23–25. Un­der the lead­er­ship of Ei­ji Ku­ra­ta, the band in­vit­ed An­drews-Bru­mant back to Japan to coach and per­form, joined by her daugh­ter McKen­zie, fel­low pan­man Mikhail Neils, and Japan­ese mu­sic ed­u­ca­tor Yu­ki Nakano, who once played with Rene­gades in Panora­ma.

The an­niver­sary con­cert was met with joy and grat­i­tude. In a re­lease, SSO said, “We had a won­der­ful ex­pe­ri­ence. Thank you so much!! The Sukiya­ki Steel Or­ches­tra cel­e­brates its 30th year in 2025. We were ec­sta­t­ic to per­form with Rene­gades mem­bers Can­dice and Mikhail for such a mem­o­rable an­niver­sary. It was lux­u­ri­ous. To the artists, every­one in­volved, and the au­di­ences who came to lis­ten—well done, and thank you!!”

The set list—a mix of clas­sics and Car­ni­val favourites in­clud­ing Lib­er­tan­go, Air on the G String, Hey How It Go­ing, Bet Meh, Let’s Try It, and Look de Band Com­ing—re­flect­ed both the tech­ni­cal mas­tery and joy­ous spir­it that has de­fined the col­lab­o­ra­tion since its be­gin­ning.

As the fi­nal notes fad­ed and pan play­ers em­braced, it was clear that this wasn’t just a per­for­mance—it was the con­tin­u­a­tion of a 30-year di­a­logue be­tween cul­tures, forged in steel and sus­tained by pas­sion.