The 12th Pan Royale concert at QRC grounds commenced promptly at 7:pm on October 12th, 2013. I am indeed impress that a scheduled start time for a "pan show" came to fruition. (lol)
After the playing of our National Anthem, Renegades Steel Orchestra were introduced, and they started off with their 2006 tune of choice at Pan in the 21st Century, "All Night Long"<> Next was a Reggae piece with Duvonne Stewart expatiating his soloing skills on an E-Pan. "Pant O Mine" and "Steelband Times" followed. A religious piece entitled, "The Prayer" was accompanied with a male & female operatic voice under the conducting of Mr. Desmond Whaite. Renegades ended their session backing up the singer of, "Kick in the Back Door."
The second Steel Orchestra was Desperadoes, and they commenced with "Masquerade" a Keith Salcedo arrangement. The band with Mr. Carlton Zanda's arrangements, backed up Singing Sandra with "Voices from the Ghetto and "Die with my Dignity." {I wonder if those two selections were from a higher calling} "Autumn Leaves" & "Pan in A Minor" were then performed in the jazz genre; both were arranged by Mr. Eddie Quarless. Desperadoes then performed excerpts from "Orpheus in the Underworld" in the classical genre. The band concluded with the second most popular winning panorama piece, which is their most popular piece, "Rebecca" (lol)
All Stars were the third Steel Orchestra to entertain us. Their repertoire of mixed genres were, "El Dorado"<>"Whiter Shade of Pale"<>"This is the Moment"<>"Time to say Goodbye"<>"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and their finale was "Morning Noon and Night" under the direction of Ms. June Nathaniel.
The last Steel Orchestra was Phase II with their arranger/soloist, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe. Some of their repertoire featured various other instruments, they were, "Forward Home"<>"Moon River"<>'Blurred Lines"<>"Rose"<>"Carnival Tabanca"<>"On Green Dolphin Street" and "More Love" {A mantra we must foster to get back our beloved Trinidad & Tobago}
We were entertained by the QRC Steel Orchestra under the direction of the young Mr. (oh boy I misplaced his name) as we entered the QRC compound. {Can someone mention his name}
This is my first Pan Royale concert and I do not know how the artistes are chosen. We all know that the four Steel Orchestras for this year have been in winners row 32 out the 50 years of panorama finals. Thanks again to the promoters of the Pan Royale October Concerts.
Love, Peace and Pan.
Comments
Pan Royale at QRC! I went!
I loved Boogsie and Phase II. They sounded like a very, very, very refined version of Brute Force steelband of days of yore! Their off key pans blended beautifully and Boogsie beat the living day lights out of his somewhat out-of-tune pan! They were different and deserving of more play time! They also interacted beautifully with the four violinists who were their guest!
Overall, because of the repertoire of the three other bands and their guests, the event could be compared to being in attendance at a concert at the Royal Albert Hall where Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones and the London Philharmonic Orchestra appeared on the same stage, in large part, thanks to Neal and Massy All Stars!
Talk about getting value for money! I certainly did!
I heard all 4 bands were outstanding. However, Trinidad All Stars received a standing ovation after they completed their 40 minutes performance. This was accomplished despite NOT playing their signature piece "Woman On The Bass"
Thanks Barbara,
I hear you, but I am sure that the Trinidad newspaper article will be more in detailed, and will be posted by Pan Times. I did not want to comment about the Steel Orchestras performances, because I was having a little problem with the sound system. I am mostly impressed with the streamlining of the event, i.e. punctuality and continuity. An average of 5 minutes elapsed time between performances, that's great.
Take care, I can do nothing in T&T, but I cannot do nothing up there, I get bored (lol)
Thanks for the update, Ian. Good job! For those of us who are interested but were unable to attend, is it too late for you post remarks from the promoters, musician/s and attendee/s? This would give us a bigger picture of the event.
This was a wonderful concert. The performance of the bands was "Excellent".
Thanks Mr. Clarke, the youngest pannist at 9 years to tour with North Stars in 1964.
@ Wayne, my sentiments exactly. I looked back at a speaking couple while one the Steel Orchestras were performing.
@ Bertel, I am looking forward to next Saturday & Sunday's prelims for the full Conventional Steel Orchestras at Pan is Beautiful XII, and am hoping that Pan Men & Pan Women of other the Steel Steel Orchestras will be supportive, at least 25% of registered members. {Time will tell}
Wayne I saw it, and agree with your statements and sentiments! We always want to HANG HIGH the critics of our Pan Culture and Artform, particularly if they are FOREIGN and WHITE, and rightly so! But we ourselves, are the worst examples too our very own. What Hypocrisy!!!!
Yes it was a great concert and well attended and all four bands were excellent.
But I continue to wonder about the motivation of many spectators who attend pan concerts but seem to be there just for the lime with the pan performances being of secondary importance and significance.
some patrons near where I was sitting spent most of the night chatting with each other instead of enjoying the musical performances, and not just the usual trivia, some were even heard to say things like 'why does Boogsie always have to be soloing?' or 'why he don't just let the strings play the music?'
It is this type of disrespect for pan and players that are keeping the movement back. Why bother to go if you're not really interested in listening to the pan?
I guess in one way we should be grateful that people spend their hard earned $200 to actually go to a pan performance but I don't understand why after having done that they pay scant respect to the actual pan performances.
I also enjoyed performing WITCO Desperadoes it was fun.