Endless stories have been told about the struggles of the steel band, the panmen, and their rise from the ashes of hooliganism and banishment. These battle weary soldiers, forged from the love of steel, in the fires of the backyard, dry river, and panyard, are very versed and rehearsed in accepting and overcoming challenges. Since those hard felt days of the pan struggle, pan has attained some measures of acclamation such as, acceptance into the archives of global music, as the sole percussive instrument invented in the 20th Century, and locally, the proverbial discarded oil drum, has achieved the status of, the National Instrument of Trinidad and Tobago
Additionally, the studies of the University of the West Indies, [St Augustine campus], professors, researchers and technocrats, have just a few years ago produced, the G and PHI pans, taking the steel pan instrument to the heights previous innovators attempted to reach, because clearly, these new and improved steel pan concepts are hinged to backyard experiments, attempted by many of our pioneers for example Anthony Williams, Bertie Marshall and Rudolph Charles, and conducted minus government or corporate funding, and, cutting edge technology
Today, against the backdrop of a State of Emergency, and its impending laws and restrictions, the panmen have accepted yet another challenge, which is that of support for, and participation in, the 2011 edition of the 10th annual, Trinidad and Tobago Steel Pan & Jazz Festival, an event which is a homegrown fundraising product of the Queen’s Royal College [QRC] Foundation. This festival, apart from the”pan jazz” element, carries two underlying objectives which are: the showcasing of an undying commitment to place the national instrument at the pinnacle of the musical realm, and offering the youth of the nation the opportunity to enhance their music literacy skills, through workshops facilitated by local and foreign, tertiary level musicians, steel pan, and jazz greats.
The beginnings of this festival stem from a simplistic fund raising activity, highlighting the steel pan, with a mixture of local and foreign artistes. These one nighters such as, Simply Music and Here Comes the King, generated some distinctive energy and creativity, and in 2001, the first edition of Pan Royale signaled the growth of the event, from a one night stand, to multiple shows over extended periods. This unique product is pregnant with potential, especially since some international music journalists and performers, have rated this festival very highly, in terms of its components, musical content, and event management, as a cut above some of the big name jazz festivals regionally and internationally
This year the QRC foundation, with the usual consistency and innovativeness, has decided to push the envelope even further. Based on sound organization and management skills, and the qualities of creativity, entrepreneurship and calculated risk taking, the festival has assumed a competitive format titled, the “International Steel Pan Jazz Challenge”, which is definitely an out of the box competition for steel bands. There is some attractive prize money to be had, totaling $150,000, but there is also a twist to this competition, to take us away from the Panorama big band syndrome.
Firstly, regardless of the size or status of the band; they must select or pull together an 8 to 12 piece ensemble, under the respective band’s name. However, this group must comprise, inclusive of a drummer, a mixture of no less than 50% of steel pan instruments, and any set of conventional instruments. Further to this, competing bands must choose and play from a slate of scored calypso classics, with a jazz idiom. The qualifying round is carded for Sunday October 16th in the big yard, Queen’s Park Savannah, featuring 13 bands, from which the top 6 bands will progress to the final
With Pan Down Memory Lane, Pan in the 21st Century, and Pan is Beautiful canceled indefinitely, the stage is surely set for an interesting showdown, where there are no small, medium and large band categories. It should also be noted that ranked outsiders, the smaller bands and their arrangers, are busy planning to beat the daylights out of the top seeded bands, especially since their size does not afford them this opportunity otherwise. They can now go toe to toe with the heavy weights; there is no class or handicaps, no 100 players or bigger sound, the big yard is now level
Comments
Thanks, but its a bit too late now, tonight is Pure Magic, and tomorrow is the Panjazz Challenge maybe you can send it to your local circles, and we could hook up about social media help whenever our next event comes up
You need help, to showcase your show on social media....
Thank you for this information, Tony Blackman. There is some real exciting news and ideas here.
Its a great to see the QRC Foundation taking the lead in developing programs for the steelband apart from the Carnival programs.