Sheldon Thwaites – Music in My Blood!
Society has always been delayed in it’s understanding of the revolution that is Pan.
Music runs through my family and connects me to my ancestors. My grandmother Mavis Thwaites was the rock of my family, as she was a god-fearing woman that played the organ at St’ Mary’s Sunday Service in Port of Spain, Trinidad. She raised four kids, including her son Robert, who at 13 years old won Trinidad & Tobago’s first two Panorama competitions with Pan Am North Stars in 1963 & 1964. Because of the negative image of steelband at that time, this was an extraordinary accomplishment for a teenager, as echoed in the song “Outcast” by The Mighty Sparrow.
In 2002, I began attending the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, an institution responsible for nurturing talents like Dave Chapelle and Meshell Ndegeocello. Duke was the first place I received official instruction since my paradiddle lesson at age 5. Although I was receiving top training at Duke Ellington, Washington D.C., it was a hostile environment for a young impressionable kid.
Moods Pan Groove in NYC. I took part in my first Panorama as a drummer at age 14.
This song is the epitome of my father’s experience in pan and in life. Robert’s girlfriend, Nola, who would later become my mother, had a brother Lynn Barton and cousin Mervyn “Cashew” Thorpe who were also members of North Stars. Mervyn “Cashew” Thorpe was the first drummer ever to win Trinidad & Tobago’s Panorama. PanAm North Stars toured the world spreading the Trinidadian culture through pan. One of their most influential stops was the U.S.A which later became Robert and Nola’s home.
Check his website: www.Th8aites.com
In 2004, I moved to Boston for a fresh start to join my two siblings Sherwin & Shawn Thwaites , who were both studying at Berklee. This new journey began with the Boston Arts Academy and concluded with Berklee College of Music. This time was a transitional period where I would learn how to effectively manipulate and organize my music into an arrangement on a double second. Since graduating in 2010, I have toured and recorded with Lauryn Hill, Amel Larrieux, Somi, Walter Beasley, Kareem Thompson, Culture Efx, Cobi & Daughtry. A huge accomplishment for me was recording and producing “PanLara”, an album that features the steelband and vocal and has a replay value and shares the sonic quality of any mainstream song.
Pan Masters Steel Orchestra in Washington, D.C. was where I fell in love with the distinct “boom bap” sound of the drum-set at the age of five while at my father’s band rehearsal. The musicians in the band noticed that I possessed a unique sense of rhythm and an ear for music as I often corrected their six-bass player. I distinctly remember the band playing, “Teaser” by Becket, an arrangement I know to this day. These experiences led me to realize my love and passion for music. The band’s drummer, Kenneth Joseph, showed me a “paradiddle” and from that moment my destiny was set. This experience bridged the gap between natural ability and technique. In 1997, I began to play drums with Pan Masters for Washington’s annual DC Carnival & New York City’s Labor Day festival. Eventually getting the attention of world renowned pannist, Robert Greenidge, who arranged “Ben Lion” for
