Steel band in Hackney

Pantonic Steel Orchestra was founded in 1988 by the late Biggs Yearwood and Raymond Joseph. The pair came up with the idea of forming a community band to develop the artistic and educational needs for the local community youths and encourage them to keep focused and express themselves through music, and to also aspire to go on to make careers from the art of Steel Band as they both did.

Their main aim and intention was to keep the young people focusing on doing something positive, productive and off the streets. Pantonic Steel Orchestra began with their family members and quickly grew, expanding, with many youths within the community joining. Pantonic became such a talking point in the community that ex-Mayor of Hackney, Mr Sam Springer became interested in managing the band and took them under his wing, getting them bookings in the U.K, France and other parts of Europe.

Currently, the band has recently reformed as Pantonic Steel Orchestra-The Next Generation, many of the new players are offspring of the original band. Pantonic now consists of 25-30 players with a mixture of adults and youths. The band is growing rapidly and is very active with bookings from private events to local community events such as Black History, Christmas events and other festivals.