Liam Teague looks at
‘The Big Picture’

June 5, 2001

VIRTUOSO pannist Liam Teague is anxious to do more work in movies, after his first experience with celluloid, playing on the soundtrack of The Mystic Masseur.

Shot in Trinidad, the Merchant/Ivory production last week completed its soundtrack in Berkeley, California, with some of the biggest names in the movie music business and Teague was selected to play pan at the recording.

From the book written by another Trinidadian, VS Naipaul, The Mystic Masseur (the movie) is scheduled to debut at the prestigious Venice film festival in October.

Speaking to The Daily Express, Teague said: "It really was a wonderful experience, as I had the opportunity to work with some really great musicians, including Zakir Hussian, one of the greatest tabla players in the world.

"Also in the line up was Karl Perazzo, percussionist for Carlos Santana, Aashish Khan, master of the Sarod, saxophonist extraordinaire George Brooks and a number of other globally famous names."

Teague, who also got a minor speaking part in the movie, said it looked good. "It really captured some very beautiful images of Trinidad," he said.

As the pannist on the soundtrack, Teague said he felt honoured to perform the work of Richard Robbins, a movie-music composer based in New York. "The rest of the background music was composed by Zakir Hussain, the tabla player and it was an entirely different experience," he said.

Teague said he was anxious to do more movie work, because he felt pan would be appreciated in a different light from the cliched island music model. "If people hear pan in this kind of setting, more listeners may be prepared to consider the music seriously," he said.

The Mystic Masseur was shot here earlier this year and will be released locally in November.

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