Life and times of Andre Tanker

ANDRE Michael Tanker was born on September 25, 1941.

At an early age he was introduced to music by his mother, who was a dancer. He had been on the Trinidad and Tobago music and cultural scene since the 1960s, producing music for films, theatre, concerts and recordings. He even arranged music for the steelband. His music was referred to as “world music” since he had an uncanny ability to blend Caribbean/ Afro/East Indian sounds, to complement his distinctive voice. An accomplished musician, Andre played the guitar, flute, vibraphone and blues harp. As a recording artiste, his unique brand of Caribbean world music has left us with classics such as Forward Home, Sayamanda, Hosanna and Basement Party. Andre also wrote several original music scores for films and plays, which included Ti-Jean and his Brothers, a 1970 play by Derek Walcott which toured the West Indies, USA and the UK; Earl Lovelace’s The Dragon Can’t Dance in 1986; Turn of the Tide, a 1986 Caribbean soap opera written and directed by Horace Wilson. There was also the Monster March, a 1987 play by Errol Sitahal and Dennis Hall; Ti-Jean and Mariquite, a 1988 play written by Pearl Eintou Springer; The Nativity — Birth in a Panyard, produced by the Trinidad Theatre Studio in 1989; Trinidad and Tobago in the 80s, a documentary film directed by Sydney Hill and produced by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Unit; and Bim, a 1973 feature film written by Raoul Pantin and produced by Sharc Studios. Andre also composed and directed the musical score for Director Frances Ann Solomon’s made for television movie What my Mother Told Me, which was aired on London’s Channel 4 television.

In 1990 and 1995 he was awarded the Cacique Award for best composer and musical director of the year. In 1992 he was the recipient of the New York Sunshine Award for outstanding contributions to Caribbean music. In 1993 Andre composed and directed the musical scores for the New York Lincoln Centre Theatre Department’s production of Playboy of the West Indies and New York Shakespeare Festival production of Measure for Measure, which was presented in a Caribbean setting. A few years ago, Andre gathered a band of crackshot musicians and formed “One World Contraband”, an aggregation that made tours of  the Caribbean, New York, London, Italy and other countries of the world. The group appeared at the prestigious Panjazz Festival held here in Trinidad in 1991, along with internationally acclaimed artistes Tania Maria, Andy Narell, Frank Morgan and Dave Valentine. In 1995 the band performed at the St Lucia Jazz Festival’s opening night ceremony and at the Great House Hotel. Andre’s first CD recording, Children of the Big Band, turned out to be an exciting and unique musical journey in which he featured some of his better known compositions alongside new pieces. Trinidad and Tobago’s 1986 triple-calypso crown winner David Rudder, top American pannist Andy Narell and international drummer Richard Bailey joined him to make the album into a classic Caribbean experience.