Carnival Madness

From one of the regular contenders in the Panorama Festival in Trinidad, this sophomore CD effort from Pamberi on Rituals provides the listener with something that's relatively difficult to come by: a high-quality recording of a steel band in performance. Studios are too reverberant, and fields too soft. This one turns out nicely, however. The majority of the pieces were composed and/or performed with the expressed purpose of being Panorama entries, with a few others dealing with the attempted coup of 1991. The music is intricate and executed with precision by the group. While one of the true joys (and more traditional formats) of steel band listening can come from a compilation of performers from a single year of Panorama, the single-performer concept also works well, given a worthy band. That's what Pamberi proves itself to be on Carnival Madness, with composition after composition of delicate but thumping work. Those looking for a good album can stop their search here (although in reality they should seek out other bands as well).