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Highlanders History

The original Hylanders (also known as Highlanders) was founded in the 1950s by Kim Loy Wong who was the band’s tuner, arranger, and manager. After Wong left for the the USA in 1959 , the band’s leadership was assumed by Bertie Marshall who became the band’s captain and tuner.

Bertram Lloyd “Bertie” Marshall (1936-2012) belongs in the top tier of any list of pan innovators and pioneers, and is responsible for many of the innovations that created the sounds of the modern steel pan family.

These innovations included the double tenor, the high tenor and his experiments with pan amplification in the 1960s.

Bertie was also a legendary band-leader and arranger.

His band Highlanders Steel Orchestra produced a unique sound that resonates with pan lovers to this day, and no one can forget the impact created with bomb tunes like “Let Every Valley be Exalted”, and “Gypsy Rondo”.(Arrangements by Les Slater).

Hylanders/Highlanders, one of the most unique steelbands ever, was a perennial favorite in the J’Ouvert morning "Bomb" competitions of the 1960s. And they also had some memorable calypso arrangements, as is evident in the Lord Kitchener classic “Mama dis is Mas'”.

Heavy bass and ringing high tenors were their trademarks, and they were one of the first bands to feature an amplified tenor, played by ace tenor pannist Franklyn Olivierra.

And on the subject of steelband “Bomb” tunes... .

In the 1960s and '70s, the "Bomb" tune was a most important part of a steelband’s musical repertoire, and the dropping of the “Bomb” by steelbands was an eagerly anticipated event on J’Ouvert morning at the annual Carnival. Probably the most memorable of them all was Hylander’s performance in 1965 of Georg Frideric Handel’s classical piece, “Every Valley Shall be Exalted“ from his famous "Messiah". The rendition secured the first-place prize in the "Bomb" competition, and when the recording of “Every Valley” was released, itoccupied the number one position on Radio Guardian’s top ten list longer than any other selection had.

The performance featured Franklyn Oliverra on Bertie Marshall's amplified high tenor pan that rang out like a church bell on that J’Ouvert morning. This "Bomb" performance, heard by Anglican Rev. Fr. John Sewell, inspired him to have the steelband perform at his church, the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port of Spain. This made Highlanders the first-ever steelband to perform in a religious building in Trinidad, playing alongside the Cathedral’s choir. The band and choir would also be featured in the second Highlanders album, released by RCA in late 1966.

During this period the band had decent sponsorship arrangements with a garment manufacturer, Forsyth Shirts, followed by REED Trinidad Limited, a multinational manufacturing company. Due to committed corporate sponsorship and community support, the mid ‘60s turned out to be productive, fulfilling years for Highlanders. The 1965 Bomb tune victory was followed by a third-place finish for the band in the 1966 Panorama competition (playing Sparrow’s “Obeah Wedding”) and a second-place finish in the Bomb Competition in 1967 (playing “Italian Girl in Algiers” by Rossini).

Marshall left the band in the early 1970s to pursue other ventures, and the band’s fortunes declined after that. However, Highlanders was revived in the early 2000s by a group of former members and supporters. the band back to its former location at the corner of Erica Street and the Old St. Joseph Road in Success Village Laventille. The return created a spur of activity as community youths came out in numbers to join the band. A notable and historic achievement of the band was the ceremony held in the pan yard in Bertie Marshall’s honour in 2003.

Eventually evicted from that pan yard as the land's owners needed the space to build, the band sought refuge in an abandoned NP gas station located one street away at the corner of the Eastern Main Road and William Street. This space proved adequate and Highlanders was able to regroup, but with no sponsorship, the band relied on personal funds from members and community support to purchase instruments and meet the recurring expenses of running a steel band.

In 2008 a new committee was formed to reorganize Highlanders, and in December, the band became a registered Not for Profit Company. The vision of the committee was to rebuild Highlanders into a viable cultural and community development organization, where the steel band would be the attraction to capture and mold youths of the area into constructive, responsible and productive citizens. The vision also included the rebuilding of Highlanders Steel Orchestra into a first-class steel band, befitting of its former glory days under the leadership of Bertie Marshall.

Eventually, the Highlanders leadership prepared a petition, got widespread community support and petitioned the Government to change the name of the Old St. Joseph Road in Success Village, Laventille to the “Bertie Marshall Boulevard” in honour of Bertie. Cabinet approval for the change of name was granted on the 26th September 2013, and on the 17th October 2013, exactly one year after Bertie’s death, a street sign unveiling ceremony was held at the corner of Erica Street and the newly named Bertie Marshall Boulevard in Success Village, Laventille.

Another milestone of the band came in 2016 when the Music Literacy Trust of Trinidad and Tobago recognized the musical contribution of Highlanders Steel Orchestra by selecting (6) tunes played by the band and arranged by Bertie Marshall for preservation by the trust. These musical scores will be made available to university and other Tertiary level institutions for use by students studying music produced locally.

Band management continued its ongoing dialogue with NP to secure a permanent home for the band, and on 27 July 2018, a ninety-nine (99) year lease agreement was finally signed between Highlanders Steel Orchestra and National Petroleum, granting the Steelband the legal right of tenancy to occupy its Pan yard until July 2117. In 2019, construction work on a modern Pan Theatre and Music Institute for Highlanders Steel Orchestra started. The facility was completed and formally opened in December 2023.

Highlanders partners with East Port of Spain schools, offering assistance in teaching music. They also lending their Steelpan instruments to worthy recipients to assist in establishing steel orchestras in the schools. The Pan Theatre is equipped with three classrooms that accommodate a Homework Centre and an After-School Music Education and Literacy Training Centre.

During the past years, HSO has been actively involved in sponsoring youths from the community who are band members to pursue music literacy programs at the Republic Bank Pan Minors Music program held at the University of the West Indies. The band also sponsored one of its youths who attended the UWI to complete the Grade One music literacy programme, which he successfully passed with distinction.