LARGE BAND FIRST AT THE PAN FINALS: by Ray Holman


(Published in Newsday and Guardian today)

PANORAMA FINALS COMPETITION:

In this article, I will confine my comments merely to the organization of the Panorama Finals Competition.

As someone who has spent most of his life and has devoted much of his time, talent and energy, at great personal sacrifice, towards the development, popularity and promotion of the steelband both at home and abroad, it would be re-miss of me to sit idly by and not attempt to remedy the current situation with respect to the Panorama Finals show and the obvious and continuous decline of the steelband in general.

I have been making some suggestions for the past ten years to members of the leadership of the governing body, regarding the downward spiral in attendance at the Panorama Finals show, which seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Any primary school student, if given the opportunity to solve the equation, would arrive at the obvious conclusion that twenty bands will require no less than eight hours to complete their performances.

I have heard many patrons complaining that they’ve paid money to come to a show but have had to leave without hearing the bands they paid to hear, perform. This is very unfair because it’s like paying for a gourmet meal and then being served finger-food. It is not satisfying, hence the reason for the rapid decline in attendance at the Panorama Finals show. In addition, there is almost a sense of being held hostage at the event. while patrons endure long hours waiting to hear their favourite band perform.

Prime time is always reserved for your main act which in this case, is the large band category. The bands should not be playing to a sparse audience during the wee hours of the morning. It is unfair to the musicians, the audience and the sponsors. I know for a fact that some sponsors feel cheated out of the advertising they expect to realize from sponsorship, simply because the audience is greatly depleted when their band finally performs.

It might be too late for implementation to have the medium and large band categories perform on separate nights, however I would strongly recommend that the large bands be allowed to play first, beginning with this years’ Panorama Finals show on Saturday. Patrons would then leave the Panorama event with a heightened sense of satisfaction in getting their money’s worth. If there is insistence on having both medium and large bands perform on the same night, obviously one category will suffer and it should not be the large band category as it is the category that the vast majority of patrons paid to hear.

This is just one of the areas in which the Panorama as a major cultural event, needs to be reformed.

Ray Holman

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  • My sentiment exact well said let's hope it's reform

  • Maybe the Medium and Small band categories could be held on the same night; start the event from 4:00 p.m. I certainly think the Large band category should be on its own date; but we shouldn't dismiss the other two categories because the players do perform excellently and they are just as enthusiastic and dedicated.  They also have put in those long arduous hours of practice and such discipline must be applauded and appreciated.  In addition, the skill level of these players is noteworthy.  Get rid of the dead horses (bunch of 'alternative' [to coin trump word], that are 'running' Pan Trinbago. People who are really concerned and dedicated to this wondrous art form and the members of the different orchestras, should be the ones working with the pan fraternity to ensure the well-being of the members and continuity of this magnificent instrument.

    • NIce post, Andrea!!! But getting rid of the "dead horses" is like belling the cat!

      • Do you mean to say that Pan Trinbago will always be plagued with 'those kinds of self-centered and self-serving and useless' people? I sincerely hope not!
  • Cecil if Panorama is supposed to be a competition, there can be no "moving freely"...ALL competitions are subjected to rules...(well ought to at least)...Rules naturally negate "freedom"...It's pointless for me to be going on and on about my personal feelings re: Panorama and it's present anyhowness. It's either one is prepared to play by the rules (if any) or one is a "gangsta". Mind you, even the "gangsta" life has rules...just think about that...

    • merrytones, if by players moving around gives a band an edge I'll be against it but I don't see this as the case here. To me it's just players capitalizing on the short season,   pan player playing pan to make a dollar.

  • If the authorities so consistently fail to consider the ideas of a person of such obvious experience, intelligence, insight, and commitment to the improvement of pan as Ray Holman, is there any hope that changes will be made to the Panorama competition? One does not feel optimistic. I do agree that the Panorama Final competition should conclude by midnight. As I see it, there are three key options to consider:

    1) Move the medium band competition to a different evening, possibly on Thursday evening prior to Carnival (someone mentioned reducing the price of admission for this. That's worthy of consideration).
    2) Reduce the number of competing bands for the final for each category, possibly seven bands, and starting earlier perhaps at 6:00 pm ( variation: 8 large, 6 medium)
    3) Create one category instead of two, and restrict the range for this new category as follows: 80-100 performers

    Obviously, each of these options requires significant sacrifices to the status quo. No real change can avoid that. But I think a serious commitment should be made by the relevant authorities to look at these and other options advanced by Holman and others to improve this wonderful festival of pan.

    • Further, there is a fourth option added to the three suggested in my earlier response on this matter. This is more ambitious, but places Panorama at a higher level of importance within the Carnival:

      4) The Panorama Final occurs on two evenings, Friday and Saturday of Carnival: five finalists from each of the two categories, Medium and Large are randomly selected to perform on Friday evening and the other five finalists from each category perform on Saturday evening. The format remains the same as currently, with the five Medium bands performing first, followed by the five Large band finalists. In other words, 10 bands perform each evening.

      • Lloyd McKell you were going fine until you muck it up here. There should be no medium steelband category competing for panorama during the carnival season.

        • Patrick: Some time in AUGUST they should organize  a PANORAMA for SINGLE, SMALL, MEDIUM and ALTERNATIVE in TOBAGO and invite TOURISTS from all over the world to come and enjoy the show.

          But HARDCORE PAN LOVERS doh want to spoil the GOOD GOOD PANORAMA NIGHT with a 9 hour show and all dem STUPID MEDIUM BAND distractions.

          Yuh make me turn up meh cards, boy!!!

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