Showtime at the Savannah!
A WST Review
“...With heart, faith and Steel. In the end there can be only one” - 2011 Panorama
One, two, three... nine, ten. It’s over! Good night, folks...
Like a scene out of the movie Rocky, or that classic still picture of the great Muhammad Ali, towering over the feared Sonny Liston - the now seven-time champions, the legendary Trinidad All Stars emerged victorious from the annual epic musical battle of the titans of steelpan music - PANORAMA.
Years from now when it’s all said and written, hundreds of thousands of people will give their brand of the story, in the then-“Galactic Steel Pan News Times” and tell you “I was there when the mighty All Stars rolled out of Hell’s Yard to the “Big Yard” and rocked the Grand Stand and North Stand with such an intensity, splendor and precision, that made all others run for cover as they took the coveted title home” - that of National Panorama Champions 2011. Indeed, this year’s title is more valuable to the participants and fans - than a Hollywood Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy all wrapped up in one. 100,000 plus people? Well, in the era of facebook, Twitter and live streaming, this is far closer to the truth than ever before.
As the judges’ scoring would later reveal, soon after the opening bell, a TKO was delivered by Trinidad All Stars in the first round of this heavyweight finals night competition. Playing in position number one, the world-famous steel orchestra scored high enough in that lead appearance position, to ward off any attempt of being caught from behind by the other nine formidable contenders.
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well said ron do something for pan would go dow in history
I wanted to make a comment on a couple of the pan tunes from this year. A lot of folks were claiming that "It's Showtime" is more or less a copy of last year and/or the year before's music, and it is unoriginal, etc. But I think what sets it apart from those previous tunes is this quote from your review:
"The song was obviously composed for the defending two-time consecutive champions Silver Stars Steel Orchestra by their arranger Edwin Pouchet. Trinidad All Stars was taking on the defending champions head on, and they obviously knew if they were successful they would have beaten Silver Stars with their own tune, in prime time, and on the biggest stage..."
I would add that with All Star's win it put "It's Showtime", the tune itself, into it's own light, giving it the potential to become a pan "classic", similar to "Pan by Storm", and others.
Also of note is "Do Something For Pan". After everything happening leading up to panorama this year, this tune is sure to become a sort of panman/panwoman's anthem for years to come.
I say all that to say emphatically NO to the suggestion that Panorama is killing pan. If Panorama goes global, like the Olympics or the World Cup, it will be because of the element of competition that defines it.
I had the idea that Pan Trinbago would have to partner with such as HBO or ESPN or SkyTV to bring this show to the world. But Advance Dynamics put up such a credible HD production over the internet, it may even be possible (with enough money and marketing) to take on the world with this "product" with a purely T&T production.
Pan Trinbago, as the owner of the Panorama "brand" must also be given credit for the excellent production.
There is much more that could be done, and should be done, but give them credit when they "do something for pan". Boogsie and the other arrangers that have made this into a world-class entertainment must be given credit also. Maybe Renegades failure this year is the signal that Jit needs to come back. If Panorama is poised to go global, it would really be great for his musical voice to be part of it.
- Big Sid
WOW ! Who wrote this ?
This reminds me of SENIOR CAMBRIDGE 1958 when one of our boys wrote on Cricket : " The bowler's arm swings viciously and the ball is a red blurr speeding to the batsman............." His essay - a one - was circulated by Cambridge U.
Steelband ! Cricket ! PAN ! What Drama.
Excellent review. The best overview of the finals!!!!!! The person who wrote this should be in Trinidad for live commentary. Thanks for your honest and beautiful comments on Fonclaire.
That's one thorough review for sure. I do have to put in my two cent's in defense of the CarnivalTV coverage that you stamped as "fair". Seriously? In my experience, when something is graded as "fair" that's typically a mark just between "good" and "bad". Personally, I thought the coverage was much closer to excellent, at least by comparison in my experience as someone that usually has to get info on Panaorama after the fact. I remember, not too long ago watching 3rd generation video tapes recorded from somebody's television, bad sound and picture etc. As an "outsider" but someone that is very passionate for pan AND the culture of T&T, I see your critique as something that has plagued coverages of Panorama, Calypso and now, even Mas. I will stick with the Panorama example. Even up to this year, radio coverage of the event is full of older, highly opinionated voices tearing apart every little bit the arrangements, politics and other trivial info. And it's typical for the listeners to tear apart the commentators. Not to mention, if you aren't familiar with the Trini dialect and accent, it can be very difficult to try and understand what is actually being said in order to become more educated on the culture. So to the CarnivalTV's defense, I say give them more credit. They brought in some young talent to cover Carnival as an event, they put in long hours, stayed pretty, and brought the broadband world high def coverage WITHOUT advertisement. In my book, that's a huge start and is worth more merit than you gave. Furthermore, as I do not know how they were compensated for the work, but to bring in someone that knows pan, I could only imagine that would mean having to pay quite a bit more money which would push to monetizing the coverage.
One last thing. In the past, I have given kudos to the work that WST has done as an effort to promote pan. I will continue to do so. But I have refrained from giving my critique on the web site and the common design standards it fails to use. I have even offered to help with this. The reason I haven't critiqued in public is, I want to keep things positive and be supportive for something I feel is a great start for things to come. I will ask you try the same for CarnivalTV :-)
Thanks for the work you put in WST's!
Thanks Theo
We appreciate the positive support. However, please to do not refrain from criticizing WST. We don't take ourselves that seriously. We only take "pan" very serious. We don't see ourselves as being good or even coming close to what we could be, should be or would like to do as it relates to pan. WST is just here until folks move on to something else. We are that thing between 'this" and "that".
As it relates to CarnivalTV they were much better this year and that's a great thing for pan. As far as the announcers go we think each generation must speak in their own voice. The use of new young announcers was an excellent idea. Having said that, the young people who took the stage and performed with Phase II, All Stars, Silver Stars and the other groups were not "practicing" when they took the stage. They came there to give a world class performance. And in this regard, everyone and everything connected with that event has to operate on that level. Anyone or anything that is not prepared to do so - is simply not ready for prime time.
Excellent overview of the Panorama Finals
Well done!
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