I am going out of my mind trying to figure out how on earth can anyone reach the idea of making the prize for the King/Queen of Carnival, the same as that for the Panorama Champion.
As I see it, some calypsonians write and sing their own stuff, while others just sing the lyrics of others. Therefore, you are dealing with one performer/individual.
A steelband, whether small, medium or large, is a BAND ----many individuals.
When you consider a piece of music being played had to start with a composer, then an arranger working with tenors, seconds, guitars, basses etc. etc., long hours of practising, changing passages that were played many times, listening to the tone of the pans and presentation, you got to be out of your mind that all that work by all the players should share $2 million.
After the past years of turmoil with "whatever you want to call them", how can anyone have the audacity, the gall, the ...(censor) ...to reach such a conclusion!!!.
LISTEN PANMEN, the Mighty Sparrow's lyrics should always be remembered. He said, "the Queen get machines, radios and even motorcar, but all the KIng get is a brass crown on his head". The Maverick also went on to say "who want to go cud go up dey, but I aint goin no wey".
Wake up guys, you are the players of a great musical discovery. You are the ones to keep it going.
For the judges of pan music, here is what a great musical teacher named Professor Robert Greenberg said, "Music, like any pseudoscience, requires an adjectival palette by which we can isolate events that without proper terms we might not even be able to notice". He continued to say, "It's an interesting question to what degree language allows us to perceive things that are not language associated. I am a strong believer that if you've got the right word to identify something you can perceive it". He also went on to say that "musical creativity has provided a vibrant means of expression for grand spiritual, intellectual, political, social and economic forces throughout the history of our civilization".
Why must the beat go on??? Let's get it on!!!
Allan Gibson
Comments
For years now, I have been preaching a similar gospel, that panmen deserve 10 times what ANY calypsonian could win in "prize money", simply because of the relative effort involved. FURTHERMORE, this stupidness tthat a steelband must play for Panotrama a calypso sung by a calypsonian on the radio is just a big HINDRANCE to the prgress of the pan artform. Let pan musicians play whatever the hell they want, and be judged by their musical merit, just like in most other cultures. Let Holman ramajay heself, and everbody else too. Who the arse care if the tune was made by a calypsonian -- that is just historical tradition, and perhaps one that needs to be abandoned.
Peter Gray