It has often been said on this forum by Claude and others that "Young people doh like pan for carnival" for various reasons.
As we all know , steelbands own the Brooklyn Labor Day J'ouvert , and many , including young people seem to enjoy it.
So I pose this question to the forum.
Let us suppose that the Trinidad government declared something like this :

Since the pan is our national instrument and a significant part of our culture , we have decided to promote the steelbands as a major part of our national festival.
Seeing that there is little activity on Carnival Monday , we've decided to devote Carnival Monday celebrations as exclusively a Steelband Carnival.
We feel that such an investment in the Carnival would benefit both the steelbands and the nations coffers , since we anticipate an increase in tourism related activties.
Funds provided will be used to assist the steelbands in preparing for the street parade .

We feel that since this would be a steelbands only carnival parade , it would offer the best opportunity for the steelbands to be seen and appreciated and promoted, locally and internationally.

My question is , would young people stay home on Carnival Monday under such circumstances ?

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  • The pan was created for Carnival. 

    It is the national musical instrument of T&T . 

     Carnival is the national festival of T&T , of which the most visible, exciting  and important part is the street parade.

    I cannot see why suggesting ways in which the steelbands could exploit this period based on lessons learnt is reliving the past as Val says.

    I would again say that if steelbands are not capable of providing party music for the street music festival for which it was created, then what exactly is its purpose?

    Only for an annual savannah music competition?

    I think this does a disservice both to the steelbands and to the carnival.

    • On the contrary. If all the bands that were in Panorama this year played on the streets on Carnival Monday, there will be a pan explosion. Also many more young people will participate. Remember Carnival was always mas, pan and calypso, and the grandmaster said "de road make to walk on Carnival day"
  • We all cannot adopt a defeatist attitude towards the steelband and carnival, to do so would mean that we have failed it, we gave up before it became a success, somewhere along the way we got lost and stop looking after the it and we end up where we are today.

    After 60-70 years we just pack it in, we seem to be forgetting that we invent the pan, we like to boast that we gave pan to the world but in the country of it's birth it's looked at as a bastard child at carnival.

    It took about 2-3 generations to reach here, let's take 2-3 generations to make it successful. We have to realize how big it is to invent a whole family of instruments, when we do we'll understand why we are responsible for it's development.

    • We'v also forgotten WHY we invented the pan , Cecil.

      The roots !

    • Outside looking in: What you wrote is the truth and nothing but the truth! 

  • Just Like in The Past the Young People  now, have the Sway. My Buddy Glen Wants to Relive the Past,. He and others must realize that Times have Changed. Gone are the Days when there were Brass Bands Playing Music on Trucks. -- Steel Bands Playing in Parties and Steel bands Playing Mas on the Streets on Carnival Days- Musical Combos Playing in Fetes  - Even BRASSORAMA. Gone are those Days. This is the Now and We Have to Live in the Now, Like it or Not For Better or Worse. We Cant Force Our Nostalgia on the Young People, Now is their Time. We Had Our Time So Let them Have theirs. From Phone Booths to Cell Phones.  I Hope that You All Had Fun in Your Times because it is Not Coming Back.

  • BTW , people , my comments are not meant to blame the youths , and younger pan players for the state of steel-band participation in carnival today.

    As far as I know , most steel-bands, and the steel-band origination itself are not led by young people, but by veteran (older)panmen and women.

    For the most part , the table has been set by us , the elders.

    The youth just consume the menu that was prepared

    ( I've given up. I've finally decided to hyphenate "steel-band". It seems to agree with my spell checker)

  • I Have Observed through the Years that Our Present Crop of Young People are Only Interested in Pan at Panorama. Its a Given Fact. Young People of Today are so Much Different than those of Long ago.The Players are Programmed to that Ten [10] Minutes of Fame and that's All they Think about. Even If The Government  Allowed Pan on the Roads Exclusively Carnival Monday and Tuesday  it will have the Same Results. Its Time that they Older Folks Like My Buddy Glen and Others Realize that and Stop Trying to Make Blood out of Sand. Young People Only Want Panorama. That is Why I Continue to Preach that Without Panorama PAN DEAD. Bless

  • I am not sure what the meanings of "young" and "old" are in the context of pan. If young is between 15 and 35, there are both young and old in there, as evidenced by the make -up of pan players in ALL bands. If old is 35 plus, the there will be old-people support.

    In any event, support will be evidenced by both presence and spending of money. Additionally, visitors will, I believe/think have an opportunity to see and hear pan on the road as opposed to on the stage performances. Road arrangements and Bomb tunes will make for excitement and a closer feel.

    Of course,trucks will have to take a side!   

    •  For the purpose of this discussion , David Ragobar , "young' would be people under 35 , who have no memory of a powerful steelband presence on the streets of T&T.

      Indeed , I do believe that the nation's collective memory of the power of pan on the road is fading , since as time goes by , fewer and fewer Trinidadians would have experienced it.

      And this is why there may be little enthusiasm among  the youth about something of which they know little.

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