(Excerpt from an article appeared in the NEWSDAY Business Day Thursday February 9, 2012 - "A new modus operandi" by Sasha Harrinanan)
THE WINDS of change have blown through the Trinidad and Tobago Entertainment Company (TTEnt) following the appointment of Valmiki Ramsingh as CEO on January 5.
We need to go high-tech with our culture and how our products are seen, both by us and the global audience. Imagine seeing Panorama on an IMAX screen, seeing bands cross the stage on Carnival Tuesday in 3D, seeing a pan up close as sweet notes are drawn from it by the pan sticks.
"I'm also considering a World Cup of Pan, in which 16 teams would compete in Trinidad during a week-long festival of pan. It would held mid-year as a tourist event to draw visitors here during the off-season," Ramsingh revealed with a broad smile.
The internet is one way he plans to target international audiences. Another is holding pan concerts with local musicians in New York, Toronto, Miami, Nigeria, Japan and India.
All of this, Ramsingh cautioned, must be done in an efficient and goal-oriented manner if taxpayers are to see a return on their investment to TTEnt.
Replies
Yes man! Less competition : more exposition. Promote creativity and innovation. Trini style competitions will not do that.
Pan is not just instruments, it's the voice of a nation. http://www.trianglesteelbands.com/background/history-of-tsc-inc.html
Well I believe that we are leading the world in a community technology, may be some people don't like to lead. Why do educated people in so many countries of the world choose to use the steelpan and the T&T model to follow? I believe because it's got merit. It can pull a whole community together if only for a moment. In the same way all other world cup events and events like the Olympic games pull the people of a nation together, this would give people of the nations involved another reason to feel like one. We not only have to think outside the box but we have to think global. Many schools and communities around the world copy us because they recognise something that most Trinis take for granted and that is how powerful this thing is that we have developed.
I see noththing wrong with having a World Cup of Pan but how does that benifit the band comming from Japan?
Maybe if you compare it to World Cup Soccer.The winning team gets the honors where ever the competition is being held.And when all´s fairly done and duely rewarded then the bads would come from everywhere.Maybe one day the competition would be held in Japan.
I'm not surprised that many would disagree with my (very strong) point of view regarding pan competitions, because most of us grew up knowing panorama and other pan competitions as a motivating force, something to look froward to each year.
Sadly it hasn't yet clicked in the minds of most of us that the time to relegate this competition stuff to it's rightful place in pan history, as pan competitions have outlived their usefulness. Actually, these days it would not be unfair to say that competition and the desire to win ( often at any cost), is doing the exact opposite and may even be stifling creativity.
Then there's the issue of "subjectivity", which will always lead to differing opinions about the which really won, etc.
If it were up to me, I'd leave competitions to school bands and organize several pan festivals every year,(for non-school bands), at national, regional and international levels. That would cement T&T's rep as the Mecca of pan.
Things have been done in a certain way for so long that most of us seem to think that it's te only way to go.
There's so much corporate money available (globally), through sponsorships, etc., that there's really not much need to for government welfare (and the dictates that come with that), to be as dominant in panville.
Time to think outside the box, as the old standards have run their course - it's time for some radical reforms,... if not straight up revolution in the world of pan.
I've played at the New Orleans Jazz and heritage Festival twice and I don't remember the fact that it was not a competition ever geting in the way of creativity, on the part the of any of the artists in the line up.
Instead I saw a virtual mutual admiration society among the musicians, and a desire to express their art, to the fullest, after all,... that's what professionals do.
Like I said before, I can understand and fully accept any kind of criticism that such radical points of view might generate. So bring it on. However, my intention is merely to stimulate dialogue, because not only have things been stuck in the same place for too long, but they may actually be going backwards.
As Dick Gregory so eloquently put it - "A hot bath can be quite beneficial,... however when one stays in the water for too long, the process goes into reverse".
Hey Brian.Could you(I guess you can) imagine carnival without Panorama?No way!! Competition and the will to win demands creativity.It give the arrangers and musicians a chance to show what they have learnt,what they could do together as a team and how they would match up against what is truly the best on the planet.
The problem lies in the politics round about the steel pan buisness (The money,the egos,the people who have nothing to do with pan or music they just there because they know somebody)That kills.
Maybe the festivals of which you speak,and other festivals,are not direct competitions,but at the end most of these bands and musicians are rewarded for their works,awards are handed out to the best of those participating in all genres.So indirect there is a competition.
As to T&T being the mecca of pan.I think that is already cemented.Nobody could take that away from us.But if we are not careful and organised we could loose the benefits.And that´s one of the reasons why I find the idea of SWC a good one.We should just not be stingy about it and make it a real open international affair with international judges,musicians and venues for all to take part and enjoy.
Just to mention one incident some years ago.The calypsoian´s name I can´t remember nor where he was from but the song I think was "Tourist Leggo" it was the most played song that whole carnival season but because he was not Trinidadian he was not given the title of Road march king.I think,since that time that it was wrong. I would hope that rules like those would´nt exists anymore.
Thank you Bryan,
You are correct on all points and the metaphor, "Time to think outside the box" really applies to this discussion and pertains to "The Resurrection of the Steelpan".
PS: Inside the box is no thinking at all. The box is the coffin and while inside it the thoughts perish. Ps. 146:4
this would be a great Idea but also one that will cost a lot of money to get bands to come over.
I see nothing wrong with pan competitions, the Grammy Awards Show is about music and although the participants do not
actually perform on the night, they are rewarded for their contributions after competing over a period of time after which the best ones are chosen. Thus I see the idea of any steelband competition as the same but only different in format.
There are, as informed by WSL, thousands of steelbands around the world and the idea of a World Cup, a World Premiere or
whatsoever name we want to call it, is a grand one. But if we want all the trappings of sending it to the world via the net, cable, etc., we must have the appropriate venue(arena) large enough to accommodate thousands of the anticipated foreign visitors and one free from the Trini crowd madness a la the Queen's Park Savannah. The music must only be arranged from calypso (soca) compositions.
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