St Michael and All Angels Steelband narrowly miss winning the ‘best conventional band on the road’ category
A Brent steelband proved themselves to be among the best in the business as they were voted the second best at the Notting Hill Carnival.
St Michael and All Angels Steelband, of St Michael and All Angels Church in Hillside, Stonebridge, narrowly missed out on the top prize in the ‘best conventional band on the road’ category.
The band, which is the only steel pan group in Brent, is the brainchild of legendary pan musician Alfred Totefaut, 60, of Brentfield Road, Stonebridge, and is made up of young people from across the borough.
Mr Totefaut said: “It was a tough competition with all the big bands appearing and this little band came along and knocked them out.
“We stood up there and gave it to them big and brash. A lot of the top steel pan musicians were coming up to me after telling me it was the best set they had seen.”
It is the fourth year that the band has entered the competition – coming out with two third places and two seconds.
This year the band came second to Ebony Steelband Trust, but Alfred pledged to return next year and do his best to win the crown for the borough.
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