Cardinal Calypso (2007 - present)

Since coming to Stanford, I have been a member of its steelpan band, Cardinal Calypso. The band has around fifteen members and plays a combination of traditional soca/calypso music as well as covers of any other random song that we're interested in. Recent additions to our set include music by Michael Jackson, David Rudder, and Radiohead.

I served as president and musical director of the band for two years before passing the torch in 2010. During this time I arranged all the music for the band, with a couple exceptions. It's been exciting to watch the (relatively young) band emerge from obscurity and become surprisingly in-demand as a performance group on campus.

In general, Cardinal Calypso is definitely the coolest musical ensemble I've ever been a part of. Playing weekly shows with a group of talented musicians is awesome. Sometimes we also get the feeling we are trying things nobody has done before, which is also exciting. Our choice of repertoire is sometimes influenced by the excellent Seattle-based steel drum band, the Toucans.