Pan in the 21st Century – A Steelband Competition Like No Other

[Pan Times]

Trinidad & Tobago - bmobile Pan in the 21st Century is another exciting pan event on the local calendar that justly rewards steelbands for the effort and creativity in preparing for such a competition.

Competitors are required to play tunes from the 21st Century world beat repertoire from 2000 and beyond.

Preliminaries will be held from May 12 to May 16 inclusive at the participating bands’ panyards and are free to the public.

Twelve (12) finalists will perform before a qualified panel of adjudicators on Saturday 29 May 2010 at the Jean Pierre Complex, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain. Showtime is 8:00 pm

Some of the popular selections chosen by the bands include Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of
Mind”, John Legend “Everybody Knows”, Beyonce “Halo”, Luther Vandross “Dance With My Father”, Neyo “Because of You” and Tarrus Riley “She’s
Royal”.

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[roy crosse]

I would like to see the pan community stop screwing around with these point less competitions and start working on a platform that will foster and encourage innovation, incubate new composers and seed an environment that promotes new music created for the Pan. What is the point of producing one competition after another that essentially does the same thing? Panorama has its place but produces the same kind of music year after year...that's cool, and we already have a full menu of every thing else from Classic to Pop.

It might be instructive and even exciting to see some of the energy currently vested in competitions, give way to a musical platform that is centered on a new approach to Pan Music.