Pandemonium, Calypso Singers heading to Mardi Gras

Cornell College’s Pandemonium steel drum band and Calypso Singers will tour to New Orleans in 2016 to perform in four parades and a concert for Mardi Gras. Crowds are expected to number more than a million people.

Pandemonium will ride on a float representing Cornell in four parades: Feb. 3, Krewe of Druids; Feb. 4, Knights of Babylon; Feb. 6, Krewe of Iris; and Feb. 7, Krewe of Thoth. The 30 student musicians will also present a concert and tour historic sites throughout New Orleans, which is known as the birthplace of jazz.

Pandemonium and Calypso Singers are directed by professors of music Martin Hearne and Lisa Hearne. Martin Hearne is a Louisiana native with close ties to New Orleans. The Hearnes have spent significant periods of time in New Orleans in the past 10 years since Katrina, and secured the invitations to Mardi Gras through local contacts.

Pandemonium is the only steel drum band appearing at next year’s Mardi Gras celebration, and one of the very few groups from outside the Gulf South. The Mardi Gras trip is possible because of Cornell’s One Course At A Time curriculum. The tour takes place during Block Break between Blocks 5 and 6 of Cornell’s eight-block year.

Pandemonium formed in 1997 and has toured the southern United States and performed at Carnival in Nice, France. At Carnival they were the only group invited to represent the United States, and they played in numerous parades and before crowds as large as 500,000.