The following are excerpts from an extensive blog by Jacob Edgar on Pan in Trinidad & Tobago. Depending on the perspective, even beginning with the very title “Panned in Trinidad” can be cause for pause – after all, ‘panned’ itself is a word which is oftentimes associated with unflattering critique. Jacob Edgar’s blog paints a far less than positive picture of the steelpan instrument, the culture of pan and steelpan musicians of Trinidad & Tobago themselves, from our perspective. While Jacob Edgar is entitled to his opinion, it is troubling that he promotes himself as the eyes and ears for countless others – see his self-description in part: “….I travel the globe in search of the best music the world has to offer...and I suffer through some of the worst - so you don't have to!” Jacob Edgar’s content and opinions are world-read and accessed not only via his blog, but as host of his own music and travel series Music Voyager - http://www.musicvoyager.com/
Maybe Jacob Edgar is not qualified for the task he has undertaken – at the very least when it comes to the steelpan art form. Maybe someone from Trinidad & Tobago who is qualified (other than his ‘old friend’) –- ought to have educated Jacob Edgar on the eclectic capabilities and showcases of steelpan in Trinidad & Tobago year-round – outside of “Panorama” - and while they were at it, have a chat with him of his stereotypical view of a ‘Panyard’ re: “Much beer is imbibed, fights break out….” Sadly, Jacob Edgar reminds us of some of the old National Geographic reporters who made us cringe.
PanTimes
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HearingGlobally.com
Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - Given the choice between Chinese water torture and being forced to listen to a recording of steel drums I might lean towards the former. The steel drum, or steel pan or just “pan” as most Trinidadians call it, is one of the instruments that just doesn’t translate very well to recordings and it is best appreciated it in its natural setting: performed by an orchestra of hundreds on a hot, sweaty night in Trinidad, ideally during the annual Panorama competition and with a belly full of local rum.
....I was a guest at a film shoot for a new movie docu-drama that tells the story of the development of the steel drum, from its humble beginnings in the poor neighborhoods of Port of Spain to the awesome Panorama competitions that attract an audience of thousands from all over the world. The film is to be called Pan! A Modern Odyssey and its producer is Jean Michel Gibert, an old friend who has been at the forefront of the Trinidadian music industry for years.
....I also walked by the steel yard of the Renegades, an orchestra that competes every year in the Panorama competition. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it back to the yard later that night to attend their evening rehearsal, which I’ve heard is more of a social club. Much beer is imbibed, fights break out, and occasionally, the groups strikes up the metallic cacophony that is a true steel drum orchestra. Sounds just like my kind of scene!
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Bugs correctly said and his friends in Trinidad who supposedly love Trinidad culture and people so much said nothing
in defense of this rubbish that was written
They had a 6.4 earth quake in the Mecca and they are still asleep.
Ah cyar leave it like this, I have a Luther Vandross Cd with him trying out cover songs, sorry to step on toes but now I understand why the judges gonged him at the gong show in the Appolo theatere and told him not to give up his day job, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and depending on its view some people might say yuck whilst others say yeah, they not crazy that is what they see, go easy on the man, allyuh wanted to kill Peter Tosh for saying take off that noise, is the promoters fault the steelband should have been on stage like the other artistes later read between these lines
somebody took a picture of my worst side boy I was embarrased,I feel if it did not hurt to chop off mih big belly, I have heard some cheesy pan playing, people might even call mine cheesey too, I have, we are apt to be careless, I was hanging out with a Trini friend at his first panorama and when he heard Despers on the track, he thought they were horrible, they won that year, from where he stood all he could hear was noise, I did not blame him when he went to the grand stand and heard Despers he was on his toes "now that is more like it, not that set a noise that deapers was making",he said not even realising it was the same band, need I say more
From the sounds of it, many "from the surface" assert that steelpan is, No longer getting panned! So a bit frustrating when an "untuned" outsider assumes it still, Getting Panned in Trinidad.
With that intro, out of the way, let me attempt to discuss the dichotomy of the good and the bad as espoused Jacob Edgar's Musical Adventures to unravel the ugly, of his opinion.
I'm not sure if the Reply by Jacob Edgar constitutes the type of apology constitutes the type of needed apology and others are searching for. As far as I'm concerned, his apology leaves much to be desired and he has demosntrated that he lacks the "proper authority", which makes his journalistic endeavours in this regard, defenseless, Opinion Blog nothwithstanding. His stance is patronizing.
Really, serious!!! When it come to Renegades, their record of achievement is hard to beat. Panorama Champions 1982, 84, 85, 89, 90, 93, 95. 96 and 97 (with mo... The debate about the need to play "ketchy touristy" music has echoed many times over the relatively short history of the steelpan, but "refinement" does not always lend itself to "earning a living" for many of the performers, outside of Panorama. That extends to the debate where steelbands struggle with competing interest of seeing it as art, culture or business.
Some may try to characterize the sounds of the steelpan in certain elements as noise, but I remember hearing it said by a musician that generally, percussion instruments are inherently noisy by nature. For me and many inside/outside of T&T, the sound of steelpan is one of the most beautiful cacophonies we continue to enjoy. That's my choice and I continue to love it so. Now personally, Hard Rock Music does not entertain me. It hurts my ears and sensibibilites and I have never ever really learnt to appreciate and understands it. Thus I prefer to avoid it, but that's me, to each his own.
Obviously, he has not been privy to recordings such as this, ent.
Now to the pretext he uses about the recording of steelpan music, You Be The Judge. When it comes to amplification to capture the real ring-and-ping timbre of the steeldrum, for live or recorded performances, that has not always been the easiest task to surmount. While Again, it's difficult to reproduce the real "live and unplugged" sweet sound of pan, it's not impossible.
From since Bertie tinkered to do his ting, others have tried to do their own ting with various mikes/pickups. STEELPAN RECORDING GOES HIGH-TECH / Microphones for Steelpan Whether using Piezo-Electric Pickups or Variable Reluctance Pickups (etc.) staged from every imaginable angle to best capture the effect. DPA Microphones
None other than departed Terry Joseph wrote on Miking solo instruments. Without annoying or provoking others (as Noah has alluded), the electro-pans of new (e-Pan, ESD, and PHI-pan) are also trying something to address the issue in terms of exploring steelpan sounds, with the digitilization offered in tandem with the sampled recordings of Indigisounds.
But the steel-pan as it has evolved could and should exisit alongside the elecro-pans because the latter was NOT created to replace the former. It is an e-volution and NOT a be-all to end-all panacea as some have tried to allude as the solution.
Now alongside that "Old Is New Vision", let's hope and pray the "Blueprint For Steelpan Success" as updated by George D. Goddard will soon bear fruition, because it's time has come to progress both the instrument and the movement. If "business" was being conducted the way it should be, these types of disctractons would be few and far between, and moot save for drawing reference to the PanTrinbago Museum.
F.Y.I. When I mentioned...
I was refering to Hard Rock Metal Music, cool...
There is A SAYING 'TIS FOLLY TO BE WISE WHERE IGNORANCE IS BLISS'' Jacob Edgar does not worth the attention He is receiving.He has clearly shown and acknowledge that a supposedly *SMALL* country as TRINIDAD&TOBAGO.can be ''THE LEADER OF THIS UNIQUE INSTRUMENT WHOM EVERY RACE,COLOR,CREED,RELIGION,ARE ATTEMPTING TO EMULATE.JUST REMEMBER ''EMPTY VESSELS MAKE THE MOST NOISE'' JACOB EDGAR HAS ''PUT HIS BOTH FEET IN HIS MOUTH''.LONG LIVE OUR STEELPANS''
I have no time for this jumped up critic of Pan. I expect that he would rate the band in the USA who make noise with dustbin lids as better than our musical instrument. He is now important we are all wasting time with him on WST. It is not the first time that such an article has been written
Thank you Mrs Burges-Macey for your input is this discussion. It is natural for many of us Trinidadians to speak out against such an outrageous posting whether it comes from anyone black or white or of a different nationality.. Obviously it becomes more sensitive when it is the 'black & white ' issue. but derogotory statements which you highlighted points to an enhanced bias by the author Jacob Edgar. It is equally important that a 'white woman' like yourself also address and condemn this type of behaviour from someone like Jacob Edgar. I echo what my collegues have previously stated in thanking you for your insightful post.
Salah
Jacob Edgars piece saddened and angered me. He is just the latest in a long line of white commentators, journalists and others whose sense of historical and cultural entitlement and superiority give them the right to summarise the cultural achievements of entire nations in language that betrays their own patronising attitudes more than it informs the audience. Adopting a pseudo amusing 'lets talk about the funny things that foreigners do' tone he uses language like 'getting panned' (a derogatory term) and 'metallic cacophony' (which in my English dictionary is defined as a harsh discordant sound) and even descriptors like 'hot sweaty nights' and 'belly full of rum' and 'much beer is imbibed and occasional fights break out'-terms which he knows will conjure up certain negative images in the minds of his white readers.He is the worst kind of tourist who zooms around the world issuing soundbites on the basis of incomplete knowledge and a complete disregard for the true history,complex cultural development and modern sensitivities of the people who live and breathe and feel in the country.That is how racist stereotypes continue to be perpetuated by well meaning people every day.
As a white English woman who has spent many years visiting Trinidad with my husband, whose family from 'behind the bridge' were involved in the early development of pan, I have one piece of advice for Mr Edgar. Listen. Listen. Listen. Then stop talking and listen some more. And when you have something to say check it out with people (not just with one friend) so that you do not misrepresent the remarkable instrument and the even more remarkable history of the people who have struggled for years and continue to struggle to get pan music recognised and celebrated.
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