Is it too early to ring the bell signaling the end of the pan tune's dominance in panorama? I have been looking at the selections of bands so far, and I am seeing some very interesting trends building from the last 2 years. Some of the songs that bands have selected so far include: Play More Local (Mr. Famous), Happiest Man Alive (Machel), Free Up (Tambu), Live Yuh Life (Rudder/Kes), Family (Nelson), EPIC (Machel), Drop it Down (Machel), and Carnival Tabanca (Bunji). I see it as a trend, maybe some may disagree, but I am looking forward to a panorama where the audience is not alientated from the stage because they are not familiar with the melodies being played by the bands. Where is Mr. Bradley when you need him?? RIP Brados
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The following is the exact word for word comment I made about another post on WST on Golden Hands' choice of panorama tune; Nappy's 'Old Time Days'.
"I often wonder why more pan bands don't play more of Nappy's music. Could it be because the arrangers are too young to remember them? Apart from Exodus who have about 3 in their current repertoire (maybe Pelham's payback for Nappy's contribution in the early years) and a few other bands that play 'I Wanna Make Love to you' you never hear the music Nappy made especially with pan in mind such as 'Island Sunshine' which is a real pity considering Nappy's love for the pan (especially Phase II)."
I guess that a so called 'Pan tune' could be classified as any tune made with pan in mind; i.e. any tune with lyrics relating to pan as well as any tune where the musical content is more dominant than the lyrical content (except for those with pan related lyrics). so '2 or 3 chord' songs with mainly a lyric driven appeal would seem boring and less challenging to a pan arranger than a tune with more musical 'substance'.
Of course any arranger could take a '2 or 3 chord' song and reinterpret it into any level of complexity but then would it be classified as a pan tune to begin with.
Unfortunately the more sophisticated arrangement of an original 'pan tune' seems to be more than the casual listener is prepared to accept at carnival time when a simple one liner or hook type composition is all that an alcohol induced state of mind is prepared to handle
I think the fact that most of these songs were produced without any actual instruments has to factor in.
This is what high tech does, it takes away something that was real and replace it with something that's lacking and they tell us this is modern.
These songs would create a party atmosphere and bring the crowd back to panorama,
some ppl may not want to hear this but this year is the worst year for pan songs .... by the way .. wat is a pan song ? isnt panorama about creativity ? the reality is that most players now are youths and in order to get in to the music you to give and take ..so i dnt see y the soca songs should be a problem ...
When I first saw the first list these are the songs I liked,
Pan Hurricane, Tony Barclay
Take me with you, Joanne Foster
Nothing sweeter than Pan, Skippy
A very interesting question, DJ, indeed.
As fans, there are moans, groans, rolling of eyes, blank stares, shouts of joy, “Yippee’s” and thumbs up, and thumbs down - as the selections by the bands are confirmed among the WST folks. But to answer your question directly, the answer “depends” -- on if any of the bands you mentioned get past the preliminaries.
There are different vantage points one can view this from. Like Mr. Marcano said: the genre is evolving in front of our eyes. This year WST has had more request for access to the writers of songs, from broadcast organizations not normally interested in this collection of tunes. There have even been complaints from the very people who shunned these songs not too long ago, as to why are they only on WST. So maybe the issue has gone full circle.
A few years back when WST started hosting “Pan Tunes” it was in response to a crisis. The songs being played by the bands for panorama were being cut off and shut out on every level. It was so bad, that upon entering Phase II’s yard one year, Boogsie told us that he had to HIRE a DJ to play his tune in the yard - so that the band members could hear it and become familiar with the tune!!
For WST, it was simply a matter of taking advantage of new developments in technology, and changes in music listener habits. We changed the access and delivery points for this music [“Pan Tunes”] from a select few, whenever, and if ever - to everyone, anytime, all the time. While this was a solution to a specific problem, it has had little or no impact on what, or why, certain bands choose the songs they do -- in our opinion -- in Trinidad and Tobago. Since the era of Bradley, however, New York Panorama, and some of the other Caribbean islands - have long moved to choosing the current popular songs as their tunes of choice. The result has been a much more engaged audience.
The definition of what is a “Pan Tune” or what a band will play for Panorama is constantly changing, and that’s a good thing. However, prior audience access to and familiarity with - the tunes the bands are playing for Panorama, remains paramount for a better experience and product.
The elimination of the “blockers” and “haters” of all things Pan from this equation has not necessarily made the tunes more popular within the community at first glance, but outside the local community - Twitter and Facebook are indeed having an impact.. Simply being chosen or not chosen by a band, is not the defining parameter for these songs and writers. For example, a couple of years ago Dunstan Lawrence a posted song that no band played - but all the WST site analytics went through the roof for this song globally... Now what exactly does this mean, or what Dunstan should have done to take advantage of this - is not clear.
Two years ago the La Brea band played "ACTION" a current Carnival song at the Panorama finals and the effect on these young ppl was amazing!!!!! they actually sat up, bounced to the beat and sang along!!!!...I had brought 5 young people that night with me and for the first time I actually saw EHTHUSIASM on their faces.
People of WST... If we want to bring the younger generation back to Panorama and Pan as a whole...we have to move back to popular current songs that everyone hears on the radio and stop this ego boosting reign of pan songs that can be used at other times during the year but not at Carnival.
I disagree with the statement, saying only current tunes would entice the younger generation. You were young once and back then presumably, the music was from the Kitchener era. I am an eighty’s generation and I remembered when The Original Defosto came on the seen everyone said he was watering down the music and changing it to Soca. His music was considered current and a change from the old establishment…fast-forward two decades and we have the same old topic once more
When I was, thirteen I was in ore of bands like Starlift; All Stars; Desperados and Renegades and most played the established pan tunes. That never stopped me from wanting to play pan or join any pan-side. Ray Holman changed that with his compositions. Then came Boogsie and others followed.
I believe music is music and when it comes to it these are small variations of the original pan tunes, however in reality no much will change.
At this point, many of the bands have to refuse entry once they meet the 120 players and are not short of volunteers to fill any vacant spots. The problem is lac of sponsorship for the small bands if anything this would be the problem in forming or sustaining a Pan-Side but that is a very different topic.
By the way… for those who do not follow pan regally there are many performances outside of Carnival and Panorama where pan is the spotlight. The Pan on the Avenue; Borough Day; Pan festival; and even the Tobago Jazz festival.
Martin: Come and put up some topics sometimes, nah. We need posters with conviction and points of view like you.
Char, yuh win with this line: "Stop this ego boosting reign of pan songs" -- GREAT RESPONSE and ON TOPIC!!!
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