My name is Tony Williams, but I'm better known as, "Pan Jumbie" and I am a dinner pannist.
I live Hope Village, Tobago.Boy days in Hope was pretty nice. I didn't go to primary school in Hope Village, though. I used to live in Trinidad, too, so I went, like, Nelson Street Boys'. But I'm from Tobago. As a small boy, I went to Trinidad and spend a while there. Come back home now.
My mom down there in Trinidad. I went to secondary school in Trinidad, too; but I'm really from Tobago. Here is my roots right now. I can't change that.
I came back to Tobago when I was about 15. I didn't finish school. I always try to my best in everything I could do in life, but my brain couldn't take as much in the school category. Is more when I came out of school I start learning things.
I once work doing little cleaning up on the road for the Government but it wasn't my thing. I quit that and live all my life playing pan, never do nothing else. That is why, as soon as I open my mouth, I have to talk about pan.
My whole head was to be the best pannist in the world.
I get the name, "Pan Jumbie" in Tobago. Crazy the calypsonian tell me never change that name. People will go home and forget Tony Williams but they will never forget the man name a jumbie.
I tour the whole world: Japan, England, Germany, Swiss, France, name it! All over the US. With pan. Only pan.
I tune my own pan.
Trinidad and Tobago love to judge you. From the time you perform, they want to know who better than who.
I pass through nearly all the religion. Catholic, Anglican, my grandmother was a Baptist, I was in the Muslim for a couple of years. All them religions have they little bickerings. If you believe in God, you have to let go religion.
I have two boys and three girls. The last three coming up in a line, 13, 14 and 15. The two elder ones, one is 20 and one is 19. They actually give me two grands.
I'm a young grandfather but I have to go with the flow. It feel nice seeing your seed before you leave the Earth. But I coulda take a little more waiting.
I win Scouting for Talent back-to-back. I teach a guy a song and he win a brand-new Lancer. I went the following year and win the next one. That must be six years ago. Was pretty nice.
I love kids so I keep classes in schools. Try to keep them out of trouble by keeping them in the pan world.
Playing pan for dinner in a restaurant is totally different from playing in any other environment. In other environment, is more a listening crowd. When people eating, sometime them ent even listening to you. You have to keep little music tickling, keep a romantic nice feeling going with the atmosphere what going on.
Firstly, when I started, I used to get vexed that people didn't listen to me. That is the downfall of the job. I start playing loud to take out their attention from what they doing and make them listen, get them into me instead of into what they eating and drinking. But, after the number of years, I get to realise it don't make sense. You have to play soft, to set the mood, not loud, to get the attention.
The smaller the restaurant, the softer you have to play. A man can't be reading book over there and you pounding pan over here. Or he talking to he wife easy and sweet and now he have to shout at she. It kinda tough, it ent romantic.
Some open-air restaurants, everybody come out to listen you play. You could raise the music, sweaty yourself, do what you could do.
The best part of the job is I start off soft and nice in the earlies, but when the food done and they start to have little two drinks, I up the music.
Is one person that always amaze me is Len Boogsie Sharpe. It have a lot of great pannists in this world but Boogsie always out of this world.
I don't do nothing for relaxation because my whole life is a relaxation. My job is only in the night or evening time. So, to me, every day is a day off. Whole day I home relaxing.
I do a lot of government trips. I travel a lot, doing workshop, promoting tourism. World Travel Market. I went, like, eight times to England in 2009. I hope the Government see me more in they eyes and say, "Why we not using Pan Jumbie enough?" And put him in the school, let him teach the people' children the pan.
A Tobagonian is somebody with plenty spirit. They have goals and objective and they like to go at it.
A Trinidadian more outspoken and upfront. A Tobagonian like to stay back.
Trinidad and Tobago means a lot to me. I travel the whole world and I can't live nowhere else. Through the lovingness, the lawlessness. You could walk on the street and drink a beer. You can't do that in no other country! But, if I have to choose one, definitely I choose Tobago.