Sharing this rough edit of some rough footage of the Laventille Steelband Street Parade that celebrated it's 20th year earlier this month. I wasn't going to do anything with the footage because I shot it in between primarily focusing on taking photographs, added to which the camera's audio is dismal, but when I looked back at it I thought to myself that this is not about producing a polished video, it's about sharing the atmosphere, the energy, the joy, the warmth, the sheer brilliance in ourselves that is PAN. Steelband music is a true wonder of the world and when it happens like this in the street, close to us the people, pans being pushed, is when it is pan at it's most beautiful and powerful in my view. Pan is most potent when it is experienced in the street, when you can feel the pulse and vibration of the feet of the pan players chipping down the road. This is why I love Laventille Steelband Street Parade, because there are small bands like Sea Lots, Tripolians, Brimblers, among others, moving, swaying, down the road in a sea of sound, propelled forward by people pushing the pan. We can touch and feel the pan at these times. This is healing, this is magic, right there for you and me.
This video features Sea Lots Steelband, St. James Tripolians, Brimblers, Defence Force, Arima Angel Harps, Exodus, Renegades, Desperadoes, Trinidad All Stars and Laventille Rhythm Section.
Bless.
Replies
Aye Claude, I believe the music you are looking for will come from the electronic gizmos. no need for the steelband other than Panorama and pan here and there.
To me the mobile steelband has always been primal , organic, feeding off, and reflecting the vibration from the streets , the people and the surrounding buildings.
Removing the mobile steelband from the streets creates a different entity.
The steelband on the stage (or even on a truck ) is static ; it makes one more of an observer , not a participant.
So you can only appreciate the ART of the pan , but not its true power , the VIBRATION (Pan Vibes).
( that is why the "drag" remains so popular, since on the track , you can still get that vibe)
In the discussion of panorama vs the streets over they years , I've been trying to make that distinction , but only some of the older heads who were around in the glory days of the steelband in T&T seem to truly get what I'm talking about , and those elders are fading away.....
In a way , this also ties into my feelings about the terms "beating" pan and "playing" pan.
"Beating" pan refers back to our African tradition of drumming- beating drums , hence the power and vibration associated with drums.
"Playing" pan to me reflects our unconscious desire to "Europeanize " the pan, making it more amenable to the concert halls of Europe , than the streets of T&T.
Glenroy: My favourite setting is a COUNTY FAIR or a MUSIC FESTIVAL where the STEELBAND (about 12 players) sits out in the middle of the open grounds and there are hundreds of people mingling all around and I am standing right in front close to the BAND as they rock some SOCA or CALYPSORIZED POP MUSIC.
That is my PEAK PAN EXPERIENCE!!!
On the ground you feel the Spirit, the JUMBIE...
What kinda ah SPIRIT (JUMBIE) is that that does only touch your musical soul when PAN is ROLLING ON THE GROUND.
But, Cecil, on another note you have been making a point for years that I have been dismissing and I suddenly saw the light LAST NIGHT when ah pull up that TERROR CALYPSO for the BIG 5 AD.
Man, even way back then they integrated THE PANS into that TERROR CALYPSO in a very sophisticated way that I never paid attention to before. Imagine what they could so with today's high quality PANS and the today's studio technology.
Ah hope this new PAN TRINBAGO EXECUTIVE bring some serious focus to MUSIC PRODUCTION among other things.
Many thanks Maria, from a pan jumbi inforeign
My band for the evening was San Juan East Side. This small band had the most drive and stamina playing non stop Rebecca and Pum Pum
"Steelband music is a true wonder of the world and when it happens like this in the street, close to us the people, pans being pushed, is when it is pan at it's most beautiful and powerful in my view. Pan is most potent when it is experienced in the street, when you can feel the pulse and vibration of the feet of the pan players chipping down the road. This is why I love Laventille Steelband Street Parade, because there are small bands like Sea Lots, Tripolians, Brimblers, among others, moving, swaying, down the road in a sea of sound, propelled forward by people pushing the pan. We can touch and feel the pan at these times. This is healing, this is magic, right there for you and me."
Maria Nunes is on the SAME PAGE with CECIL and GLENROY!!!
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