Can any one of My Pan Brothers or Sisters Come up with a Solution that would make Panorama Finals a Five Hour Show instead of a Nine Hour Show. Panorama Finishing after 4.00am is Beyond Ridiculous.
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I'm taking this opportunity to say a hearty and public Thank You to my band Merry Tones for at last having the confidence to trust me as arranger for 2015. It was indeed a tough task given the shortness of the season and the few negative influences, which ultimately cost us a place in the Semis. Had we been a stronger force in numbers and talent I'm certain we would have placed higher that 15th. But say what….15 out of 54 could never be bad. I remain happy beyond imagination and extremely humbled by the experience. Again Thank You Merry Tones
I want to hear the the music from the competition going on in skinner park now
The Panorama Preliminaries Small and Medium is steaming on Talk Radio 91.9fm. I am locked on now.
Mr. Dennis "Tash" Ash is a double second panist in Desperadoes Steel Orchestra since 1961. He is one of the five who played on all 10 of Desperadoes Panorama victories. From 1963 to 2014, Dennis played at 50 of the 52 Panorama Preliminaries and 45 of the 51 Finals. For the older panmen, do you all remember when Desperadoes won the 1965 Prime Minister's Trophy performing the most difficult classical piece at that time, "The Marriage of Figaro?" Those double second men amazed the Queen's Hall audience.
Dennis "Tash" Ash is 75 years old, January 22nd 2015. Many more to you sir and love peace and pan.
Ian Franklin
According to the Trinidad Guardian, Thursday, January 15, 2015, culture minister, Dr. Lincoln Douglas made an oversight when he submitted his 2015 budget allocations to Finance Minister, Larry Howai. He failed to include a $150 million debt which the NCC accrued in 2013. http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2015-01-15/carnival-budget-mistake-has-howai-bind-douglas-ncc-hope-%E2%80%98bligh%E2%80%99. As some may recall, last year Dr. Douglas gave (or at least promised to give) $190 million to the NCC for the 2014 carnival, $150 million of which was to cover debts incurred since 2010. http://newsday.co.tt/news/0,190342.html. Is this the same $150 million? Were those contractors not paid in 2014? Who are these contractors anyway? Can someone help with an explanation??
As the terrorist drama unfolds in Paris, France, I recall that in the mid-60s there was a competition within Panorama for the best version of the theme song from the war movie: 'Is Paris Burning?' Former Radio Trinidad broadcaster Rodney Webb of 'Town says Paramount' fame use to advertise the competition on his 15-min programme on Sundays. Does anyone remember who had won that competition?
With so many competent female panplayers throughout the land the time is overdue for Steelbands to have their individual "All female stage sides".
e.g "All Stars female stage side", "Phase II female stage side", "Silver Stars female stage side", "Exodus female stage side", " Katzenjammers female stage side", " Bucconeers female stage side" , "Angel Harps female stage side" etc.etc.etc. It is time that the women get together to organise themselves within their respective Steelbands.
Maybe some form of competition can be considered for such All female stage sides with the three best performing during the 2015 International Steelband Festival Think of it.
Ian Lambie
Lord Blakie sang Steelband Clash in 1954, but the event took place in 1952[51].The clash in 1959 was with San Juan All Stars and Desperadoes combined with Tokyo by the hospital.There was also another clash between two steelbands on Park Street between Frederich and Park Streets.This was not on a carnival day in the mid 50s. In those days steelbands were allowed on the streets on Discovery Day until the Baseball incident.
Teddy Pinheiro
Mr. Rudolph Charles, aka Charlo, Trail, The General and The Hammer was honoured by the Head of State of Trinidad and Tobago, President Anthony Carmora. The ceremony took place in St Ann's, Port of Spain on August 31st 2014, which was the 52nd anniversary of Trinidad and Tobago's Independence.
Mr. Charles was awarded with the Chaconia Silver Medal, 29 years after his passing in 1985. His medal was received by his brother, Mr. Kenneth "KC" Charles.
"Charlo" was first a member of the teenage panside, Spike Jones from Ovid Alley, off Laventille Road, before joining Desperadoes in 1959 and he soon rose to captain in 1961. Mr. Charles' leadership and vision took Desperadoes from a Steelband to become one of the top Steel Orchestra in the world.
Mr. Rudolph Charles is the only Pan Manager to lead his Orchestra to 10 various victories from 1965 through 1985, i.e, 6-Panoramas, 2-Classicals, 1-Best Bomb and 1-Best Playing Orchestra.
"Charlo" is also responsible for the chroming of pans, designing his canopies to harvest sound and brainstorming The Quadraphonic, 4-Pan, 6-Pan, 9-Bass and 12-Bass.
It is with great regret that I announce the death of Earle Phillip, PHI co-inventor and early pioneer of the gospelypso music genre. Earle was not widely known on the steelpan circuit but his love for music and for the instrument knew no bound.
Here's to you Earle. Thanks for the guidance, teaching and motivation. We will fight on to ensure that your dream becomes a reality. May the God, in whom you so fervently believed, give your spirit peace.
Brian Copeland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQR_etoC4Bw
Just a taste of Pan on the avenue 2014 I posted to YouTube.
The organizers of Pan on D Avenue honoured 12 arrangers of the National Instrument of Trinidad and Tobago on August 23rd 2014. This Pan Parade was first held in 2012.
Because of the late start, the hostess could not mention some of the accomplishments of these 12 arrangers, and some of the awards were not presented on the air. These are some of the language I was looking forward on hearing about three of the arrangers who led a Steel Orchestra to Panorama victory in the 1960's..
(A) Mr. Lennox "Bobby" Mohamed at 22 years of age in 1965 was and still is the youngest person to become a winning Panorama arranger. (B) He is the first from the Southern region to lead his Steel Orchestra, Cavaliars to 2 victories and the first arranger to be in the top-three positions for 4 consecutive years, 1965 through 1969. (Bobby and band were not in Trinidad for the 1968 Panorama) (C) In 1967, Mr. Mohamed became the first arranger to qualify his band at a Classical Music Festival with his own composition, "Revelations From Beyond"
(A) Mr. Earl Rodney is the first arranger to lead his band, Hamonites to 3 Panorama victories in the years 1968, 1971 and 1972 (B) Mr. Rodney is also the first to lead his band to the top-three positions, 5 times from 1968 through 1973.
(A) Mr. Ray Holman led Starlift to 2 Panorama wins in 1969 and 1971 ((B) Although Ray did not arrange in 1965, he led Starlift to 6 top-threes from 1964 to 1972. (C) Starlift is the only Steel Orchestra to qualify for the first 11 Panorama finals, 1963 through 1973, and Ray was part of 10 of them. (D) Ray Holman won the 1964 Soloists Category at the Music Festival (E) In 1972, Mr. Holman became the first arranger to compose a tune that also placed in the top-three (F) In 2013, Mr. Holman became the only arranger to qualify 8 different Steel Orchestras in all 6 decades of Panorama.
The other 9 honourees were Mr. Steve Achaiba, Dr. Jit Samaroo, Mr. Pellham Goddard, The late Mr. Edwin Pouchet, Mr. Ken "Professor" Philmore, Mr. Earl Brooks, Mr. Terrence "BJ" Marcelle, Mr. Duvone Stewart and Mrs. Michelle Huggings-Watts.
r.
Cinderella’s Dance represents my response to the 2014 panorama in Antigua & Barbuda.
Once upon a time there lived an unhappy, motherless girl with her stepmother and two stepsisters. The stepmother did not like her one little bit because she was prettier than her own two daughters. In fact, the poor girl was prettier than anyone else in the whole, wide world. She should have had a web site, www.noneprettier.com.
She was forced by her spiteful stepmother to do all the housework. Her only respite came at the end of the day. Even in her stepsisters’ hand-me-downs she had a calming effect on all around her, except her stepparents. As she ate and shared her scraps of food, the cat did not eat the mice and the mice did not eat the pumpkin. Together, they sat in the pumpkin patch near the fire, looking at the shapes of the dying embers of the coal. She gazed at these fallen cinders so much, they called her Cinderella.
One carnival day, two beautiful costumes arrived at the house for the stepsisters to go to the steel band panorama at Carnival City. Cinderella was very sad she could not go. But suddenly that evening a moko jumbie appeared and turned her raggy clothes into a beautiful carnival costume, the pumpkin into a coach and seven mice into six horses and a coachman. Before she went off to panorama, the moko jumbie warned her that she must leave carnival city at midnight, when the spell would end. And the cat said, “meow”.
As the steel bands played at panorama, Cinderella danced. She danced, she danced, she danced, until she and the steel band became one. The upper parts of her body danced to the front line steel pans, the single and double tenors and the double second pans. Her lower chest and abdomen danced with the mid-ranged pans, the guitar, cello and quadrophonic pans. All the basses from the four bass to the nine bass pans went to her lower back and behind, and the engine room was strung along her hands and feet. She danced.
All the while, her two stepsisters were gyrating rudely to the steel band, dancing out of time, out of rhyme and out of everyone’s mind. Cinderella danced so well she forgot the warning until she heard the first stroke of midnight. Quickly, trying not to miss the next beat of the clock and the next beat of the music, she ran from Carnival City, lost her glass slippers and vanished into the night.
The next day, the winning steel band, for which she had danced the best, went in search of her, using the glass slippers to find her. When they reached Cinderella’s house, her stepmother tried in vain to get the slippers to fit her daughters. But Cinderella was the perfect fit instead. As the steel band played again, Cinderella danced again. Legend has it that for every panorama since then, the band to win must make Cinderella dance the best.
The music for panorama must satisfy the criteria. The arrangement carries 40 per cent of the points. The judges and the audience must follow the intro, the outro, the development of melody, the development of motif and the re-harmonization. If you are not a very well trained and tested musician or an ardent follower of steel band, you should go to the pan yard to see how these elements of the criteria are developed, shared out, interchanged and exchanged from pans to pans.
You have to listen keenly to hear these musical elements, changes and interplay. Otherwise, it is all noise. Listening keenly simply means going to the pan yard often and just being there without trying too hard to listen. A quiet, passive, receptive mind is all you need. Witnessing the development of an orchestral performance is an invaluable tool that can assist you in all facets of life. It will really make your life dance, like Cinderella. The bounteous treasures in the steel band are yet to be fully unearthed for personal and community gains.
The general performance also carries 40 per cent of the points. This comprises interpretation, dynamics, creativity and balance. The remaining 20 per cent points are divided equally between tonal quality and rhythm.
As steel band arrangement becomes more sophisticated, the overall sound of the band becomes paramount. Cinderella must dance throughout the entire piece in such a way that the entire musical story unfolds from intro to outro, with all the nuances and surprises in between. There must be an overall harmony throughout the steel band so that crucial parts to be heard above others, at certain times, are indeed heard. Without this, remarks from a passionate pan lover, about her own steel band and mine, will include, “After the flat tune, the band played “ pure stupidniss”; “pure stupidniss”. Either the remark was correct or the inner beauty of the music was lost. It’s all about the design and architecture of sound, on the panorama stage, on the night and not just in the pan yard.
Frontline pans can become background pans and vice versa. Also, the mid-range pans can soar to the front or fall to the back. Cinderella’s dance will teach you when to listen and when to talk and how different parts can work together or work separately and still be part of one glorious, dancing whole.
Some arrangers here and in Trinidad and Tobago are calling for more sophistication in the arrangement of music for steel bands as they try to stay within the panorama criteria and yet get away from the historic, formulaic simplicity of most of the arrangements. However, regardless of the sophistication of the music, the physical setup on stage, the overall balance and the overall storytelling on the panorama stage are fundamental requirements for winning, lest all the hard work in the pan yard reap little.
During the next panorama performances, and indeed for any steel band performance, listen well. This means your mind must be open and at rest. Listen well and see if you can see Cinderella dancing from rags to riches. It will be easy to determine the winning steel band. The winner will be like the prince who puts the glass slippers on Cinderella’s feet and make her dance the panorama criteria so well, so logically and so clearly that she and the steel band will be married and will live happily after. And the cat that knows music will say, “Meow”.
S.N.S.E. threatened via an ultimatum, withdraw your claim or I'll dismiss it...
says The Honorable Justice BOODOOSING, at a shedule hearing last month, where the defense Brian Copeland et al, filed a notice application for an extention of time to file a defense, as they had failed to, prior to the time stipulated by the Court, a rule of Law, which clearly stated, if you fail to file a defense within 28 days of the claim being served on you, Judgment maybe entered against you for the whole amount claimed, SNSE has since filed for Judgment, which means the defense has LOST THEIR CASE,
SNSE has filed an application to strike out the defense application, as they are not own the Cycle of 5ths, or the 4ths & 5ths, also called the spider web pan, that is the issue, they have NO DEFENSE. we are not with drawing anything,
if they dismiss it,we will be appealing to the House of Lords or Privy Counsel if we have to, Justice BOODOOSING ERRED, in giving us this "OR ELSE ULTIMATUM" WRONG WRONG WRONG...
As a result of Professor Brian Copeland & The T&T Government revocation of the Cycle of 5ths or 4ths & 5ths technology in the United States, that revocation places the technology in public domain, it means that the public now knows about it, subjection this item to licening, by the original owners S.N.S.E. (St James North stars Steel orchestra Enterprise) therefore; every tuner and or manufacturer the world over, will have to obtain a licenes in order to reproduce or manufacture the 4ths & 5ths tenor pan technology in the future, licening can be obtained at AWESOM INTEL LIMITED Copyright Agent for the owners S.N.S.E, at 174 Eastern Main Road Tunapuna Trinidad, Ph no # 868-221-7026 e-mail address awesomelimited.com, T&T tuners will have to pay much less royalties say 10%, the foreign tuners will have to pay the full 33 1/3 % royalties on every 4ths & 5ths tenor pan, also some tuners licening fess will be waived, licening will commence on August 31st 2014,
