Polish teen plays pan! Samuel stars with bp Renegades...

SANDRA L BLOOD

Pics and video credit: Deon Wren and Adam Mold.

Sixteen-year-old Samuel “Sam” Mold and his parents, Adam and Agnieszka Mold, came from their homeland Poland on their maiden visit to T&T also known as the “mecca” of pan and land of carnival and calypso, on January 26 to gain the Panorama experience.

   While Poland’s population is 38-plus million against T&T’s 1.3-plus million, the Molds wanted to experience living ‘big’ in a small country. They departed Poland in a temperature of 1ºC 35ºF and arrived in Trinidad in a sweltering 32ºC 87.8ºF with no sign of rain, compounded by Sahara Dust, which they said, promptly created side effects.

   The trio arrived too close to the National Large Band semi-final competition for Sam to perform with bp Renegades, but despite being a bit despondent unable to perform at that outing, armed with his black personal tenor, for final-night rehearsals, he was said to have fallen right in gear like the regular players.

After the semifinal’s pan-pushing experience which drew a bit of whining and groaning from Sam, and witnessing Renegades perform on stage and emerging winners, the Molds would religiously reach the pan-yard roughly two hours prior to the start of rehearsals where Sam would rehearse on his own, then with the band, and leave upon its completion around 2 to 2:30am. Sam was said to be in his glee practicing in one of the front racks, but also took his energy to the back rack two nights before the final competition, when the band was set up as it would be on stage.

Visitors couldn’t differentiate Sam from a Trini, as he moved in perfect timing; dipping below the pan yet maintaining the right notes and rhythm.

The aspiring professional musician, pannist, arranger, and music teacher, is a straight-A academic student at VI Liceum Ogólnokształcące Im, Wacława Sierpińskiego in Gdynia.

  He first touched pan at age four and now masters the tenor, double seconds, six-bass, quads and double guitar in addition to the piano, guitar, drum kit, marimba and xylophone.

   Sam’s parents said he told them of all the instruments, pan makes him feel totally different; happy. Sam’s love for pan didn’t come by guess. His dad grew up in the UK during the Pan boom in the 1990s, and when he moved to Poland in 2001and met his wife, ironically, they both dreamt of starting a Steel Band and introducing the instrument to Polish people, especially youth, which materialized in 2013. Today, the lone steel-band in Poland remains the Mold’s Ambers Steel Band.

  Sam’s parents revealed, “Sam easily grasped music at six, so at seven, he was enrolled with the oldest group at Ambers Steel Band having outgrown his peers in terms of ability, and while watching T&T’s International Panorama, Duvone Stewart's arrangement of Ah Feeling caught his ear; he started following him on YouTube, which stirred a dream that he would one day play with Renegades.

  “In 2017 during London’s Panorama, Sam’s T&T Panorama dreams seemed closer when he had the opportunity to meet Duvone on the streets of London as he played with Phase One. Within the three years thereafter, Duvone had asserted that Sam should go to Trinidad for Panorama and that he himself would love him to play in Renegades.

  “This year, 2024 Panorama, Sam’s lifelong dream came true much bigger: He took the stage with his dream band – bp Renegades – for their final-night performance; is on record for being the very-first Polish pannist to play in T&T Panorama; contributed towards a winning performance.

  “The experience was a special one for Sam. He now dreams of being able to return and play again next year, and contribute to what could be Renegades’ second hat-trick should they emerge winner. In Poland Sam continues to be an integral part of Ambers Steel Band and he both plays and teaches Polish and Ukrainian youth. He is truly gifted!

Sam is the only person in Poland to be admitted into music school based on a Pan recital in which he played Kitchener’s Pan in A Minor for his entry exam, and the only person to enter and place in the top three of a national music competition in Poland, to name a few of his achievements.”