The reality ON THE GROUND (in Trinidad) is that there are THOUSANDS of TRINIDADIANS (like Bertel Gittens and Gerard Clarke and Alima Garcia -- PAN ON D AVENUE) who never left Trinidad and who have worked (their whole life) CONTINUOUSLY to MOVE PAN FORWARD. Yet, insurmountable problems exist when it comes to PAN PROGRESS.
Those who are PIMPING PAN defend the STAUS QUO and those who live in FOREIGN imagine a NEW DAY. The reality is that CHANGE eh nowhere on the horizon. Just look at the last PAN TRINBAGO elections where established THIEVES and CON MEN won the MAJORITY VOTE by a landslide. Constitution ... what constitution?
If you so love the PAN and you so want to see PAN PROGRESS don't sit down in FOREIGN and try to direct TRAFFIC in T&T. Pack your bags and go home and try to make a practical contribution. Your efforts WILL FAIL but at least you would have tried and gained a clearer picture of REALITY ON THE GROUND.
Lord have mercy!!! Ah in BIG TROUBLE ah leave out MERRYTONES as a great contributor to the national cause of STEELBAND MUSIC. But if he loss this PANORAMA -- ah eh know him, eh.
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So, they still like it so???
Claude. I Personally Laud Bertel Gittens and Others who have Tried Night and Day to See Our Pan Culture Go in a More Positive Direction. But us Expats are Not Silent in Our Attempt to also See Things Get Better also. Most of Our Contributions have Always Been Met with Resistance Because a Lot of Folks Figure that We Dont Know what is Going On in T&T. In These Modern Times We Keep Abreast of the Goings On By Those Who Publish what's is Happening Via Social Media and Other Out Lets. What Can We Do When Nationals Have Let Pantrinbago Fester into an Incurable Cancer. Bert Have Tried also The New Visionaries but they Get No Support from The Steelbands which Appears to Either Like It So or are Gutless. Dont Blame The Expats for the Weakness of the Pan Fraternity. Bless!
I agree with you Val. You see sometimes one could get the impression that the locals on the ground are not making the right efforts or are so dumb, that we just stand or sit and watch the steelbands wither into non existence. And I also understand why this is so, because of a few who are vision-less and dont have a clue of what to do to take the art form forward in a positive way.
I always say, the problem with us here in Trinidad & Tobago is that for the longest while, we never had to fight for what is right, so we forgot how to. I think the last time we had to fight for right (outside of Black Power) was in the early or middle 1800's, when they took from us the right to assemble and beat the Drum. ( I am open to correction)
Having said all this, I see that they ridicule Fay Ann Lyons for telling her audience in a fete (in her own way) to fight for their culture.
We have ALL given up and turn our backs on the steelbands, including the vision-less Pan leaders. No amount of talk, OLE TALK, will bring Pan back on the road for carnival. WE NEED EVERYBODY, Local and foreign, young and old, EVERYBODY, to come and push Pan back on d roads.
Thanks for this posting Claude, dont worry bout dem nah, you more real than dem! Keep it going!
Claude Gonzales. Problems are never "insurmountable". Anywhere, anytime. Some need to be confronted and solved, some will solve themselves and others are best left where they are and just bypassed ( like: here is a concrete barrier across the road- lets walk around it rather than try to move it with our bare hands).
Someone once told me" We concentrate to much on problems- what you pay attention to will grow. Pay attention to positive, useful things, grow them and the problems will wither and die" .
This is not a cure-all attitude, but certainly something to bear in mind.