Trinidad & Tobago Newsday
Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - The Chamber has often called for Carnival to be recognised for the business it is, and for recognition of the exemplary collaboration between artists and the more conventional business sector. It is for this reason that the ‘fracas’ or ‘riot’- depending on which side of the fence you stood - which took place during the Panorama semi-finals, has left a bitter taste even after Carnival, and needs to be aired.
Panorama over the years has been characterised by its magnificent live performances on steelpan. The beautiful show has, however, been marred year after year as the organisers, in spite of all the other significant positives of the day, never seemed to get it quite right in terms of either crowd control or band flow. This year, the disorganisation appeared to reach a new level. Amateur camerawork from February 5 captured what was so far unprecedented - a handful of unshielded police officers trying to restrain an impatient mob which, for whatever reason provided, could not move freely from the stands to the greens. Many factors converged to cause upset to spectators; but, in one area, things came to a head as upset patrons began to shake the barriers.
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Panorama will continue to be a Government sponsored show, until Pan Trinbago get some fresh blood with new ideas. I have been involved with the steelband from the fifties. I migrated to the U.S. in the sixties and owe my success to pan and is willing to giveback something. I have missed only one Panorama from 1963 to 2012. I have attended the two best organized Panorama's Brooklyn Labor Day and London Nottinghill Carnivals on several occasions. For the steelband to move forward it has to be come self sufficent and independant, what we need is to have a five day World Pan Symposium in Trinidad. Inviting Ellie and all the greats both foreing and local, with the purpose of gathering ideas in order to put in things in place. So the Steelband Movement and Pan can move forward to a higher level.
Good point OrlandoSteve. Take a parallel look at the movie MONEYBALL -- all the DINOSAURS have to be removed from the picture to kickstart PROGRESS. And until the biggest dinosaur PANTRINBAGO is replaced by the "fresh blood with new ideas" we could expect more of the same chaos.
It's a known fact that we love sports in Trinidad that is why we have "Bob-Ball' in everything. lol. Why is it for a country with so many smart people we still have these problems?