Simply one of the greatest musical pieces ever written. Pan in A Minor by the late Grand Master - Lord Kitchener - has become a global test piece for the steel orchestra and panist.
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I have 2 observations
1st
The one thing that seems to be evident throughout these performances, is that the foreign (to T & T) bands appear to have shown a preference for Dr Jit's arrangement. Is it possible that along with being well known it's probably the only arrangement that was scored (written orchestration)?
The Foreign bands don't appear to have the ability to listen to the original vocals and arrange their renditions in a unique way.
This could be the two edge sword, without written music score it's very slow to catch on globally and being able to play by ear allows for originality.
2nd
For those born outside of T & T, the true calypso rhythm is quite difficult to master (A generalization I know but..). It either sounds regimented or wanders off into a Latin Cuban beat.
But I must also say that I agree with the sentiments of the topic Pan in a minor is definitely a Global musical test piece.
I only ever grew up playing double guitar pan. The first tune I learnt when I bought my tenor pan and took it back to England was Pan in A minor.
It was the only tune that gave you the arpeggios to practise and closely resembled Moonlight Sonata, a piano classic.
Global Test Piece Fardah!
Randi Curvan
randi,
you make some good points, especially about the two-edged sword...
when i was in nigeria once someone told me you can always tell the literate boy from the illiterate... the literate boy would forget what you tell him to get at the market, while the illiterate one would accurately bring back even a long list.... the point being that the downside of music literacy is that you stop using the brain that the creator gave you so that without the crutch of that score you're lost... in contrast, the musically illiterate have no other choice but to use their brain, with the result that they learn and play music like a virtuoso, i.e. without score sheet...
the arrangers likewise have no inhibitions ... they do not feel bound to follow any score... it's different for the foreign bands ... they feel a need to copy exactly some score that someone has laid down... because that is how it is taught in the *conservatories* ...
a panyard is a very different thing ... that is why whatever arranger arranges for despers, it always comes out sounding like despers ... because at some level the band is integral to the arrangement... same with renegades... and others ...
but i'm already seeing with many of the foreign bands some shift to the panyard esthetic of rote learning and interactive creation... calypsociation is notable in that respect.... i had to laugh when the trini guy told them the motto is to "relax ... if you play shit... enjoy your shit...". the panyard esthetic in a nutshell...
all that to agree with what u say about why pan in a minor would have been so attractive to a foreign panside ... especially if there was a written score, which i believe there was ...
- big sid
Big Sid, you are one of those refreshing, reassuring voices on WST. As a jazz student, my instructors always stressed the importance of rote learning. In fact, that was one of the things they LOVED about their "Trini" students who played pan; that we would just jump in and "ramajay" even if we didn't know the changes. A Berkley jazz instructor posted on the internet that Stan Getz was not much of a reader, but knew how to quickly turn "mistakes" into ideas. Many other jazz musicians are awed at pan players ability to play long, intricate pieces from memory. On another point; I once asked Monty Alexander what he thought about the use of computers and MIDI "instruments", and he did not have nice things to say. While, certain (what I term) traitors say pan is dead and the "era of the electronic pan" is here, we observe people from other countries being interested in ONLY the steel drum/pan, and not some electronic version. We see that the true artists are not interested in these plastic replicas, because they ALL honor and embrace the original, organically-created instrument, and where it came from, and the fact that it is timeless in its beauty, like the Mona Lisa. Ghost.
thanks for those observations ghost...
i think they are important for young musicians to understand... i am not against music literacy by any means ... but to everything its place and everything in proper order .... music literacy should not be used as crutch to the detriment of artistic creativity ... that i would very much agree...
i think one of the things that blows away a western trained musician is the sort of performance you see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSFKy9osHYM where everyone in the orchestra is acting like they are a virtuoso... that's what the pan esthetic produces...
on your other point it's better to let sleeping sidd lie lol!
-big sid
Good point Randi... Jit's arrangement being scored is indeed a significant factor.
pan times,
thanks for reminding us of this treasure. u r right that pan in a minor has become *the* global test piece for pan. jit's arrangement had a lot to do with it, i think. it had a certain classical purity to it that would resonate with trained musicians anywhere. they could listen to it and would have to concede that, yes, this is "real" music, not just some variety of "ethno-music" to be enjoyed, yes, but at the same time condescended to.
the composition itself too was compelling. although in the calypso tempo, you can hear in it some non-calypso influences, like irving berlin's "putting on the ritz", i think; see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjpPesy7kIA. so to an international (read western) musical ear, there would have been something there musically familiar, as well as intriguing, to explore.
in any case, with his classical training, jit produced arrangements that would most easily go global, because the musical architecture of his arrangements had a classical feel to them albeit in calypso tempo.
that does not mean that jit should automatically win in a t&t panorama competition. t&t has developed musical idioms of its own that do not necessarily travel well, but that resonate, perhaps uniquely, with us here and within the broader caribbean.
as to the 1987 panorama, i won't second-guess the judges' decision which placed jit's pan in a minor tied for second with the despers version. boogsie was first with "dis feelin nice" i think. and crowd favorite, "curry tabanca" came only fourth. time's judgment would seem to favor jit, but only by virtue of his arrangement having gone global.
but for quintessentially trini pieces of pan music, the arranger of choice would have to be "smooth" edwards and the band must be all-stars. it would be a huge challenge for the average foreign panside to play, and get right, something like "woman on the bass" in the way all stars plays it. i notice the european bands are getting better at it, but they haven't yet quite got it, imo. forget "curry tabanca"! even their best percussionists won't even try...
here is another beautiful piece of music that is something of an international test piece. i saw this version of "famn matinik dous" (sweet martiniquan woman) and fell in love with it: see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UH0lJDcNpM. later on i came across a steelband version by calypsociation and was impressed: see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXwguSa1-Q4 starting around 6:40. then i discovered all kinds of other versions of this song, including this one by a Japanese torch singer that is quite good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YJZPMcb5L4. So this beautiful caribbean melody has gone global. but to my knowledge this is not a tune that one of our local steelbands has attempted. i'd like to see smooth or boogsie or whoever, produce the definitive trini version of this song.
btw another of kitch's pieces, "toco band", is also, but more quietly becoming another international test piece. there are plenty examples on youtube.
- big sid
Interesting point about Puttin' On The Ritz. I knew there was something subconscious that resonated in my brain when I first heard Pan In A Minor.
If we are discussing Jit's arrangement of the song, speaking from my perspective - this was the first panorama arrangement I'd ever heard - I will suggest a few reasons why it appealed to me, some of which I recognized at the time and some of which I only now realize many years later.
1. Short-form repeats. Most of the sections of this arrangement repeat - verse variations repeat, chorus variations repeat, etc. So one's brain gets a chance to soak in the music twice, without forgetting it (contrast to some other arrangers' practices of playing a minute's worth of music twice in a row). Obviously Jit wasn't the only one to use the repeat device, it was very popular then - but it's one element of many here...
2. Rhythm changes - to those less familiar with calypso rhythm, they may find appeal in how the drummer deviates and goes into a funk groove which, while retaining the calypso kick, adds a strong backbeat that more resembles international pop music rhythm.
3. Drum solo! Everybody loves a drum solo.
4. The "beat pan" motif is strongly adhered to throughout, keeping the listener in familiar territory. In fact Jit was highly adept at keeping a song's melody and structure running throughout the entire arrangement.
5. Excellent pans and playing. You don't have to strain to hear the music or mentally "fill in the gaps"; everything is clear and balanced. Credit to Simeon Sandiford whose clean recording technique helps here.
..all of this is not to suggest that other arrangers are lacking in these areas but to illustrate how this particular arrangement is kind of a "perfect storm" of musical ideas that give it a wide appeal.
noah,
that insight re "putting on the ritz" is due to rudy "twoleff" smith. he is a walking musical encyclopedia as well as a great jazz panist, based in copenhagen. he showed me how easy it is to take a piece of calypso music and render it in the accents of jazz, and vice versa. he would take bach also, and play it in a bebop style. see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDEXGxJ9N80. he has not been a successful panorama arranger, possibly because his style is too laid back in its jazzy way. but see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zszh-7u2OVU where he did a fine job of arranging "band from space" for glissando at the london panorama. anyway i had long chats with him and anise hadeed one time i visited copenhagen. very smart guy. as i remember he was also working on a research project with ulf kronman showing him some of the secrets of pan tuning, from which came the first handbook of steelpan making and tuning; see http://hotpans.se/pan/tuning/ . anyway, i remember him not just telling but showing me some of the rhythmic structures of putting on the ritz in kitch's pan in a minor. so i'm happy to give him the credit for that insight. far be it from me to claim that kind of musical insight. my musical tastes are wide and varied, but i'm no musician, neither a musicologist.
anyway, i agree with you about the points you mention, although for obvious reasons some of them would never occur to a trini...
but i say all of what i say about twoleff to make another point. if one can take bach and render it in bebop style, or calypso and render it in a jazz style, why should one appear sophisticated and another as merely "ethnic"? and why should we have to suffer fools like jacob edgar passing musical judgement on the merely musically unfamiliar? it's a wonderful thing when some of our musical output export well e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8DRhPDjTVg. but we should never take such success as validation. music is a gift of the creator and no further validation is ever necessary, if it works for those to whom it is given.
- big sid
Wicked Big Sid... Nuf said... Where did you find this?
pan times,
i have to confess i went looking for the nat king cole version on youtube and this came up...
i was trying to make the point that calypso music went global in the 50s... as you probably know the biggest hit of all was probably "rum and coca-cola" e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGxL2uNr7bk ...
but to what end? ... such notoriety is fleeting...
i was fortunate to travel the world as a world bank functionary ... including to japan, south korea, philippines and etc. ... and there would always be somebody i would meet who would remind me of these calypsoes from the 50s...
once in seoul y'boy had to actually get up and sing something at a gae-song party ... i couldn't let down the side after all... and the only one i actually knew the lyrics to was "jamaica farewell" ... otherwise it would have to be some sparrow calypso like de lizard that would have been too rude... but guess what, it was the right choice because it was familiar to all and they could sing along ... and i'm a west indian too not just a trini...
- big sid
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