By Rae Wiltshire
Devonte Renaldo finds that making music takes him to a good place inside himself. As a conga player and budding pannist in the Ansa McAL Parkside Steel Orchestra, he gets to go there often, though initially, he found playing music challenging. He revealed that when he doesn’t excel at something, he tends to lose motivation. In this case, however, his fellow band members believed in him, which encouraged him to persevere.
Renaldo shared that he discovered his passion for playing music during his time at the Bishops’ High School. He was watching a group of steel pan players and they invited him to try his hand at an instrument. He opted for a pair of maracas and quickly felt a deep connection to them, describing it as “relaxing and his thing.”