Thumbs down for pan initiative

Trinidad Guardian
DAVID CUFFY

Pan enthusiast and marketing specialist Dennis Ramdeen said: “Pan on the Avenue on Carnival Monday night was painful for me. Steel orchestras spend so much time on eight minutes of music that they can't learn another song? “One or two bands have to break out of the pack and take another road. The current road is a dead end, and I fear we are coming close to the end. 

 

“Pan needs some innovation and oxygen and no one else but pan people will figure this out. Pan needs new arrangements—and I’m not talking about the music.” Asked for his thoughts on the impact pan had on the Carnival celebrations, Ramdeen responded: “The steelband’s impact on Carnival 2014 has been consistent with its downward trajectory of the past several years. 

 

“Pan therefore needs a new vision. Pan needs a big idea, like when Peter Ueberroth made the 1984 Olympics the TV games, raising close to a billion US dollars from broadcast rights. Previous to 1984, others focused on stadium seats to be the main supply of revenue. “Ueberroth changed the product distribution from the stadium seat to the living room couch. We are still relying on selling physical seats in one place.

read more 

You need to be a member of When Steel Talks to add comments!

Join When Steel Talks

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • In South the DJs ruled by sheer force of sound. They should have been made to follow the steelbands.

  • Pan could never die, whats dying is the steelband on the road.

    What is needed?  "BRAIN POWER" we need to find ways to take the steelband off life support.

    • Just a question,,,Who are the buisness men in T&T,,,   who has the Capital,,,what are Steelband,, Steel Orchestras focusing on,,,,do you have a gig after Panorama on a regular basis,,Where do you think you can obtain constant support and last but not least what kind of music are you involved in, playing,,,I AM STATING AND MAKING  MY POINT FROM PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE  NO GIMMICKS AND AS A PANMAN,,TUNER  TRAINER AND ARRANGER,,,,just sharing a little something,,,STRATGEY AND REALITY,,,MUSIC  HAS NO BORDERS,,.when the Steelpan plays its not in Chinese ,,just note for note and tone for tone,,maybe now it would be realized where I am coming from,,if one cannot read through the lines ,,then ????????my respect to all WST members.

      • The businessmen are definitely not in PanTrinbago. The focus? Money...what else? How many steel bands in T&T have community support? There was community support in the late 50s, 60s and 70s despite the era of "steelbands clash". The govts of T&T have been solely responsible for the demise (impending) of the steel band. How? Why? Million$ meted out without transparency/accountability/audits. And lastly, the steelbands are not playin' "we kinda music". Don't know where you comin' from. but I know where I'm going.

        • Where I am coming from would be shared in due course with the New Visioneries and The Ghost That Speaks after the  result of the Town Hall Meeting,,further I know exactly where I am going and what I am speaking about,,have done it all.

          • I guess ur the businessman that PT is looking for.

    • Use your BRAIN, Cecil.

    • Say it once more Mr Hinkson

  • There are no incentives to learn anything else... Why spend hours in a pan yard just because you like pan and absolutely no reward for your hard work…. Money is the name of the game now. Trinidad and Tobago can afford it. I say take back the Greens money and give it to the pan men. There is absolutely no DJ or Soca band in Trinidad that would play for free. Everyone needs to be rewarded at the end of the day. This is our national instrument and playing it should be rewarded. If the parties don’t want pan then the pan should have their own party. Open up the stadium Carnival Monday night and have pan on the track party. Bands could play on the way there.

  • long ago pan used to play in fetes,so they had to have a roster of tunes. that is not so any more, so all their concentration now is on panorama.

This reply was deleted.