You see, long time in PANORAMA when yuh see an ARRANGER name on a banner or you see that ARRANGER "conducting" the band in the PANORAMA COMPETITION -- MOST DEF he was the man who arranged THE TUNE for the BAND.
But now ah days it isn't so.
Some HIGH LEVEL MUSIC men call me to tell me that (today) THE MAN (OR WOMAN) you see standing in front the bands doing his antics with their name on the banner -- may not necessarily be the PERSON who actually arranged the tune.
They say that you could PAY AH BIG NAME ARRANGER to arrange a TUNE FOR YOU and then you take credit for arranging the tune and become the ARRANGER OF RECORD but not of COMPOSITION (which remains a secret).
But the men who call me to tell me that is BIG JUDGES and MUSICIANS in TRINIDAD -- and me eh know nothing about music ... so I can't argue with them. However, they went as far as to tell me that when they break down that arrangement of the SMALL BAND 2020 WINNER and they look at his previous work and compare it to this recent arrangement -- they could not account for the sudden significant improvement and they could hear signature movements from a SHADOW ARRANGER (whose name I am not going to call).
Well, dem is EXPERTS and poor me cannot argue music with them. But if allyuh read the report from the last PAN TRINBAGO MEETING (carefully) allyuh will see some hints on this NEW SHADOW ARRANGING ISSUE with the VEE PEE and ah next lady from THE EXECUTIVE.
In the end it is really ALL ABOUT GETTING PAID!!!
Anyhow, ah don't expect to see too much reaction to news like this because the STEELBAND COMMUNITY is a FEEL GOOD community (much to the detriment of PAN PROGRESS) that wants to close their eyes to the endemic corruption and JUST ENJOY what they think is a COMPETITION -- when it is ACTUALLY a CORRUPTION!!!
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It's nothing new Claude...Unforunately I don't have enough evidence to add to the discussion, but I have heard stories about certainl big name arrangers being complicit in that regard over the years...