Shivana —— champion pannist

Among the many talented and beautiful girls in TT, Shivana Ragoonanan stands out as one of the youngest female pannists to accomplish so much in so little time. Her attachment to the tenor pan has brought her both fame and fortune. Shivana who is just 17 years old was the youngest performer to take the top prize of a Peugeot 206 car on TTT’s Mastana Bahar in 2001. Too young to have a licence at the time, the energetic teenager gave the keys to her father, Dinesh Ragoonanan. Today Shivana is one of the most sought after musicians in the country.

This young lady lifted the name of her village having taken the top prize in the television programme. Promoters from many parts of the world have been knocking on her door for contracts with this Trinidadian pannist. Dressed in an old jeans and eating an apple she cuts a lovely picture even in casual clothes. One had to be reminded that this is not a beauty queen but an accomplished musician. She smiles warmly as she sat down at her home in St Helena Village, Piarco to talk about her life. “As far as I could remember I knew about the tenor-pan. My father was a pannist and he owned an instrument. Therefore I heard the sound of the steelpan as one of the first instruments ever,” she said. Shivana explained, “Even as a child I grew to love the East Indian songs my father would play on the pan. To me it was sweet, melodious and rich. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the sticks to play my own tune.” At the age of five she remembers having to use a chair to reach the pan and playing her nursery rhymes. She later would try to emulate her father and play the tunes he would play. As she grew older, she became attached to the pan. With help from her father she learnt the notes and that set the pace for the start of a lifetime journey as a musician .

 She remembered her days as a primary school student at St Helena Hindu School, when she asked to enter the instrumental category of the Baal Vikaas competition and was turned down because the pan was not accepted as an East Indian instrument. She decided to take up the keyboard and prove that she could play an instrument. She was able to reach the grand finals of the Baal Vikaas playing the keyboard. She pointed out that her  father Dinesh was a member of the Tunapuna All Stars Steel Orchestra and he later joined with music director Indranath Harrilal to form the Nada Sangam Steel Orchestra of the Datta Treya Yoga Centre of Freeport. Automatically Dinesh roped in his two daughters, Shivana and Sharana into this steel orchestra. Sharana who is 16, is following in her sister’s footsteps and learning the notes of the pan to play the many new tunes that are now coming out off Bollywood and the local artistes in the country. Going back to Shivana, this passionate musician said that she believes that the general public of Trinidad and Tobago doesn’t look at the pan as a great instrument. “I believe that people generally think that the other instruments such as the keyboard and the guitar or the synthesiser are somehow more important than the pan. Somehow they don’t see the pan as an instrument that can add to the general beat of an orchestra. And this is sad. The steelpan has a distinct sound that is different from any other instrument I ever heard and it certainly can add to the sounds vibrations of any orchestra,” she said.     
  
Shivana said that she has a strong attachment to the pan, so much so that many times when she is down for some reason she tries learning a new song on the pan and this exercise really helps her deal with disappointments in life. As an upper six level student of St Augustine Girl High School, Shivana studies science subjects. Her room is filled with many books for her studies. But in the corner of her room stands the tenor pan. The instrument that really gives her fulfillment in life. Shivana wants to record her tunes on CD. She would like to do some original tunes  incorporating the other musical instruments but with the pan in the lead. “It would be something that is uniquely Shivana,” she said. Sounds like the name for her dream recording. She laughs heartily on hearing herself. “  ‘Uniquely Shivana’ Oh my God it does sounds good!” she exclaims. She noted that she has not chosen a career as yet and she isn’t thinking about any particular job at this time. “I don’t want to think about being a doctor or lawyer. After exams I would decide what exactly I would do in life,” she said.