Stanley & The Ten Sleepless Knights

Bio:

Stanley and The Ten Sleepless Knights keep Islanders UP and Jammin'!

A Quelbe music event would not be complete without Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights.

Attend almost any quadrille drance, senior citizen function or cultural presentation in the Virgin Islands and you will find this group of musicians, who got their start making music on St. Croix in the late 1960's.

Band members Greenbug and Te were accomplished drummers, playing congas, bongos, and timbales. Pierpont was first-class guitarist, while Rampul was the best squash scraper. Edgie jammed on the ukulele, while PeeWee added vocals. And, Stanley, the group's namesake, answered the fife's call.

Today, the group uses string bass, steel, squash, piano/keyboard, banjo-uke, drumset, congas, sax and flute.

Although Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights has dedicated itself to the preservation of Quelbe music, the group's repertoire is quite diverse. The band plays music of almost every Caribbean Flavor, along with some American music, and expertise that has kept the group high in demand for island functions.

Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights have taken the art form of Quelbe music throughout the United States, including the Smithsonian Institute Folklife Festival in Washington, DC, and a Spurs-Knicks game, where they rooted for NBA star and St. Croix native, Tim Duncan.

The group is tireless in its efforts to expose youth throughout the Virgin Islands to Quelbe music through appearances at public and private schools, in addition to teaching year 'round at it's Quelbe Education Program at the St. Croix Educational Complex.

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Member Since:

March 31, 2007

Members:

Stanley Jacobs: Flute and Band Leader

Eldred "Edgie" Christian: Vocalist and Banjo-Uke

Tino Francis: Keyboards

Gilbert Hendricks: Bass

Dr. Olaf "Bronco" Hendricks: Saxophone

Kendall "KC" Henry: Steel and Squash

Christian "Te" Thompson: Congas

Dr. Lauren "Larry" Larsen: Presently sound engineer for TSK, and, when necessary, plays drums, bass, steel, keyboards or squash.

Influences:

Jamaica defines itself with Reggae. Bachata fires the Santo-Domingan's soul, and Calypso is synonymous with Trinidad & Tobago. World, take notice of this musical expression: Quelbe of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Quelbe is a synthesis of Africa and Europe in the Virgin Islands expressed through music and shaped by the social conditions in the 18th and 19th centuries. Enslaved Black people were denied their own music and dance so they adopted the styles of their masters and added their own elements. This fushion led to the creation of a sound known today as Quelbe.

Quelbe, pronounced kwail-bay, comes from bamboula rhythms and chants, cariso songs and melodies, mixed with old European military fife and drum bands. Quelbe instruments were homemade flutes, bass drums and European made snare drums, somtimes with percussion. Eventually guitars, triangles, tambourines, and a squash - a dried gourd with serrated sides that is scraped with a wire pong, were added. Dancers, adapted the structure of European quadrilles and Quelbe was born.

Today, more instruments have been added, like the "pipe," a cylindrical metal tube, --sometimes the exhaust pipe from a car, that is bent at both ends and blown. A small banjo and European-made pomp-flute can be part of the ensemble. The alto saxophone was introduced in the late sixties and has practically replaced the flute as lead instrument. In the seventies, the electric bass guitar added a modern and sophiticated sound, and drums made a re-entry as modern conga drums.

In 2003, the 25th Legislature of the Virgin Islands passed Bill No. 25-0056 to designate Quelbe as the official music of the Virgin Islands. It was signed into law by Governor Charles W. Turnbull at an elaborate ceremony at Government House on St. Croix. The law requires that Quelbe be taught in the public schools. (Adapted from a story by Dimiti Copemann and Senator Shawn Michael Malone that appeared in Destination/USVI 2005)

Record Label:

unsigned