Blog 2.0

I also attended the ‘Excellence in Steel’ NY Panorama at the Brooklyn Museum on Saturday, September 3, 2016. I have withheld my comments about the section in the program booklet referenced by Dr. Nyomba (https://whensteeltalks.ning.com/forum/topics/pan-players-dissed-by-excellence-in-steel-committee-chair-in) while observing the posts from the WST community. The responses on WST were wide-ranging. But, along with  consensus on the distraction posed by his struggle with the language ‘mechanics’, there was agreement that much of what Mr. Babb wrote was confusing and logically inconsistent. Any sober pan player could relate to where he was coming from and all should agree that the program booklet was no place for such verbiage.

But when the entire situation is put into proper context, one realizes that the disrespect in the program booklet was just the tip of the iceberg. The management of the steelband industry and the production and distribution of “cultural goods” requires more profound understanding and thorough analysis of these processes for the realization of the economic benefits especially by those involved in their production.

Pan players dissed pan players while Pan Trinbago Officials wined and dined

First about the section in the Panorama program booklet, it is obvious that Randolph Babb, Chair of “Excellence in Steel 2016” Committee, was disrespectful to the same pan players who were performing at the panorama. Panorama adjudication is always contentious. Pan players usually do not agree with the results of Panorama unless their band wins. Ken “Professor” Philmore, for example, still complains about Fonclaire’s ½ point defeat on more than one occasion. The subjective element in the judging, which underlies this contention, will remain until the technology for computerized adjudication is developed. Nothing is wrong with criticizing pan players, especially if the criticism is constructive, but using the official program of the NY Labor Day Panorama as a forum to “pong” pan players amounts to nothing less than total disrespect, not only for pannists in Brooklyn and elsewhere, but also for the mostly Caribbean audience at the Brooklyn Museum grounds on Labor Day Saturday evening.

Ironically, among the guests of honor in the VIP section of the audience were several members of the Executive Committee of Pan Trinbago: President Keith Diaz (he was introduced as being “on his way”), Allan “Pablo” Augustus, Trustee, Michael “Scobie” Joseph, Public Relations Officer, and Gerard Mendez, the Northern Region Chairman. Whether they were in Brooklyn attending to the business of pan, or simply enjoying one of the many perks of being in the leadership of “the World Governing Body for the Steelpan,” is open to question. Apart from the partying, there seems to be some disconnect between the affairs of steelbands in Brooklyn and the Pan Trinbago leadership.

While the steelband executives were basking in the limelight, enjoying the complimentary liquor and food, the leaders of some steelbands competing in the panorama were hoping their band would win so that they would be able to defray some of the expenses associated with outfitting their band for the competition. In Brooklyn there are no “appearance fees” and “assistance to bands” as in the T&T Panorama. Other leaders were concerned with vacating the lot which they rented to practice for the contest. Few steelbands in Brooklyn have a panyard, not to mention one that could accommodate a 75- to 100-member steelband. Real estate in Brooklyn is a scarce resource which is increasing in value and cost.

"Same Ole Khaki Pants"

In actuality, steelbands in T&T and Brooklyn face essentially some of the same issues. Panorama just serves to highlight these concerns and bring them back into the annual conversation. Problems with adjudication (real or perceived) will always be present given the subjectivity which undergirds the judging process. Also, as businesses become more fiscally conservative, sponsorship and other funding for steelbands decreases. Like in T&T, Panorama along with band launchings and other fund raising events is the major, if not only, source of income for steelbands in Brooklyn. Meanwhile prize monies are stagnant and the price of pans and other accessories for steelbands keeps increasing.

Tuners too are encumbered by the exorbitant cost of chroming pans and the making and blending of pans for steelbands which cannot afford to pay the tuners for the value of their skills and labor. To add insult to injury, some steelband leaders opt to bypass Trini master-tuners to whom they are indebted and instead contract other less experienced tuners to blend or, in some cases repair individual notes on, the pans made by the master tuners, further decreasing their income stream (not to mention the coveted space on the band’s banner!)

Respondents to the piece on WST also expressed concern with the judging criteria for the panorama. Adjudication issues reoccur year after year, Panorama after Panorama. Panorama compels us into a unidimensional mode of thinking about the steelband. The end result is that we tend to address the surface level problems: judging, competitions, prize money, the sound reproduction, etc., as opposed to the building of a solid logical foundation for the industry.

49 years of Carnival: progress, stagnation, or what?

WIADCA should be given the necessary credit for the massive undertaking it has managed with reasonable success for 49 years. I have had the opportunity of participating at the executive level in the production of an expat Caribbean carnival, albeit a smaller festival than the Labor Day Carnival, so I can attest to that level of organizing and coordinating necessary. “It ain’t no joke.”

But WIADCA is also a part of the problem. Over the years, audiences at their revenue-generating events, the BrassFest, the Children’s Carnival, the Dimanche Gras show, the Panorama itself, and at the Labor Day Parade, have grown exponentially. So too have the vendors and vendor fees. And massive NYPD plus other security at the gates has made it more difficult to “storm.” (Unfortunately, instead of demonstrating their support for the steelpan by being paid patrons at panorama, some “supporters” of steelbands still attempt avoid paying the admission fee by sneaking-in with the band or using other dishonest methods. Arbitrage is a common practice at Panorama and other carnival events.)

Yet the panorama prize money has been stagnant for about 15 years.  In fact, the panorama prizes were increased in 2003 only after most of the steelbands boycotted the Brooklyn Panorama opting for the USSA-organized panorama held at Jefferson Field in Flatlands in 2001 and 2002. The top prize in the USSA Panorama was $20,000, doubling the first prize in the Brooklyn panorama. WIADCA was therefore compelled to raise the first prize to $20,000 to attract the bands back to the Brooklyn Museum in 2003. Since then there has been no increases in the panorama prizes.

The prize money was not the only issue that motivated the move to Flatlands. Other matters raised by USSA included the question of respect for pan players and concerns with the adjudication and the sound system for the panorama. These issues remain contentious today as evident by the statement by Mr. Babb in the panorama program booklet and the usual post-panorama wrangling on WST and elsewhere. More fundamentally, there has been little development of the infrastructure for Panorama and the Labor Day weekend events. We cannot, for example, continue to aspire to the dust and pot-o-lets at the back of the Brooklyn Museum.

To my knowledge, beyond the efforts of the Caribbean Culture Center and the work done at Hunter College, it’s not too much of a stretch to assert that there has been little capacity and institution-building undertaken by WIADCA or (except in a few cases) the pan and mas fraternities in Brooklyn. Nor have they been able to use the 49 years of the Labor Day Carnival with 3 million spectators and the estimated over $300 million it generates annually to leverage additional public sector and private sector funding. The National Endowment for the Arts, the Smithsonian Institute, and several other private and public foundations, provide major funding to arts organizations with missions similar to WIADCA. Even at the local level, increased public sector funding could be strategically pursued. We should recall seeing a photo of NY Mayor, Bill de Blasio, and his family “jumping up” in the 2014 Labor Day Parade while he was campaigning for the office. Since then he was not heard from until his aide was killed during the 2015 Labor Day J’ouvert. Surely the Mayor’s office could be targeted to address the saga of the “vanishing” (really "non-existent”) panyards in Brooklyn.

Will the “first generation” pan players in Brooklyn leave a legacy of Panorama, rife with all its problems, for the young pan players to inherit? Leaders of steelbands in T&T and North America  should be able to empathize with the steelbands leaders in Brooklyn and their annual efforts to secure rehearsal space and funding to prepare for Panorama. For many in the pan and mas business, cultural production is indeed “a labor of love” with meagre financial returns.

Research on Caribbean Carnivals

Let’s put carnival in its proper perspective. Research has shown that, in terms of attendance and economic impact, Caribbean carnivals are the largest cultural festivals in Europe (Notting Hill Carnival) and North America (Brooklyn Labor Day and Toronto Caribana). Globally, the cultural sector, estimated at 7 percent of GDP, is one of the one of the most rapidly expanding segments of the world economy. Studies show that the annual attendance at Notting Hill Carnival and Toronto Caribana both approximate 1.2 million spectators, while Labor Day attracts over 3 million. From the data available, the economic impact of Notting Hill Carnival was $122 million (2002), Brooklyn Labor Day generated over $300 million (2012), and Caribana $438 million (2009). (See references below).

Before proceeding, a few words of caution about the data collection and use are in order. Data made available in the public domain may not stand up to rigorous scrutiny by professionals in the field. Researchers are not just concerned with the data presented. The methodology and assumptions underlying the collection, analysis and presentation of the data are just as important as the data. The motivations of those involved in the data gathering and analysis are also of significance. The predictive capacity of data is impacted by all these factors. Nevertheless, these are the data available and they do give some general sense of the economic activity generated by the carnivals, a point of departure toward realizing the benefits of Caribbean cultural resources

It would be useful if Pan Trinbago became serious about gathering data on the steelband industry in T&T and internationally. Thanks to WST there are some data available on pannists and steelbands globally.  Some of the primary data on economic impact of the major carnivals are dated and in cases withheld from public consumption. But the secondary data available show that pan players are at the bottom of the income distribution ladder. For example, I estimate that less than 3% of the total income of Caribana goes to pan players. Another critical observation of carnival is that the economic benefits to those producing the carnivals is smaller when compared to the economic impact on businesses and the tax revenues collected by the host cities.

Caribbean people do not own the airlines, the hotels, the car rental companies, the liquor stores, major restaurants, etc. that benefit most from the spending (of mainly Caribbean people) during the Labor Day and Caribana weekends. Caribbean residents of NY, Toronto and elsewhere where carnival is held are not the only beneficiaries of the tax revenues generated from sales, licenses, insurance, etc. The data doesn’t show the distribution of the jobs created by Caribana among Caribbean versus other Toronto residents. That would have been useful in assessing the extent to which Caribbean expats in Toronto benefit from the economic activity generated by Caribana.

Given that these cultural festivals are the largest in Canada and the US, one wonders why they are not able to attract more funding, at least comparable to other cultural festivals which receive government support. Unfortunately, these carnivals have been associated with violence, squabbling among the organizers and financial mismanagement. Maybe there should be some introspection among the producers of carnival arts in Caribbean expat communities and reassessment of the entire process of carnival production.

In the case of Caribana, it has been compared to the Calgary Stampede which has an economic impact of $173 million over 10 days and in 2009 received $10 million in government funding while Caribana received only $484,000. The question was raised as to whether this is due to Caribana being perceived as a “cultural outsider.” In the case of Brooklyn Labor Day, one wonders whether a similar perception is abound. Put the shoe on the other foot, we lifted the phenomenon out of one jurisdiction and tried to plant it into others, with no modification and then we are upset when neighbors in the vicinity of steelbands complain about the bands practicing late into the night. Should we impose ourselves on others who may have no relation to an activity that may be supreme to us, but totally unacceptable to someone else?

Changing the status quo

But all is not lost. The disrespect in the program booklet definitely calls for dialog between WIADCA and leaders of the steelbands in Brooklyn. With the sentiments expressed by (ex-Flying Squad operative) Randy Babb, maybe there is need to revisit the judging criteria, the selection of judges and the adjudication process itself. Also, WIADCA officials and pan players should be educated on the matters of mutual respect and discipline, as these seem to underlie Mr. Babb’s “ranting and raving.” Definitely the prize money should a major issue on the table. The first prize for the Labor Day Panorama champs has been $20,000 for the past 15 years.

Maybe WIADCA should take the lead set by Pan Trinbago at the 2015 ICP and offer $250,000 for the first prize! LOL! The wisdom of that extravagance is still mindboggling to me, especially since the first prize in T&T Panorama (the only real precedent or benchmark) is only $166.667, and foreign bands received as much as $60,000 in “assistance”! But that’s another story.

Several “minor concerns” should also be part of the conversation to make the panorama environment in Brooklyn more steelband-friendly. For instance, pan players should be more intimately involved in the designing and building of the stage and in the audio mixing and reproduction to avoid problems as the nearly 45 degree sloped on- and off- ramps and inconsistencies in the sound of the bands at the Museum. There should also be dialog with the police with respect to NYPD officers being more accommodating when directing steelband traffic to and from the panorama.

It is good to note that the Mayor is on board in terms of his support for the Labor Day activities. In the wake of the two killings in the 2016 pre-J’Ouvert hours, he promised that the J’Ouvert will not be cancelled. (These murders were not connected to the J’Ouvert and it is important that carnival community makes the necessary clarification to offset media reports which suggest otherwise.) But this is an excellent opportunity for the powers that be in the Caribbean community to begin institution-building and strengthening their relationship with their non-Caribbean neighbors, especially the recent ones brought in by gentrification in Brooklyn. Programs should be developed (or where they exist expanded) to deepen the understanding and broaden the appreciation and acceptance of Caribbean culture among these residents.

BTW, NYPD, Parks and Recreation and all the other agencies concerned should be called out for “locking down” the Ronald McNair Park, across from the Brooklyn Museum, during the Labor Day weekend. The park is usually used by young mas players and pan players as they line up to enter the Museum grounds. With the park locked-down, the sidewalk was the only place for the mas players and pan players to sit and relax, in some cases for hours, before their band is allowed into the Museum grounds. The entrance of bands into the Museum grounds for both the Children’s Carnival and the Panorama is usually staggered for security and other reasons. WIADCA should bear some of the responsibility for the park being locked-down.

Broadening the steelband horizon

Steelbands in T&T and NY should transcend the almost exclusive focus on Panorama. That event is one data point, albeit a significant one, but it is not the be-all and end-all of the steelpan industry. There are so many aspects of that sector which need to be developed strategically and coherently. For example, one of the problems underlying the functioning of steelbands in T&T and the US is that most are not constituted as legal entities. This has contributed to alternate models of ownership, leadership and management very often unfavorable to the pan players. In the North America this also limits the ability of bands to attract funding awarded to non-profits and to participate in arts and culture programs funded by government agencies at the county, state and federal levels.

Steelband leaders should give the young pan players a broader playing-field to explore. Things are already in motion in Brooklyn with the likes of Garvin Blake and Iman Pascal, who performed with Othello Molineux (his first ever performance in Brooklyn), to a mediocre audience on Father’s Day 2016. Iman was also featured at the Arrangers Concert in Brooklyn last May.  Both events hint at the direction headed by the young pannists in Brooklyn: beyond the confines of Panorama. Also noteworthy is the progress of young arrangers such as Odie Franklin, Marc Brooks, and Kendall Williams who together arranged for Brooklyn Steel Orchestra in the ICP and for Skiffle in the 2016 Panorama in Trinidad. They should be encouraged to further their musical talents by exploring other genres of music. Some steelbands are obtaining tax-exempt status and pursuing new models of steelband development extending beyond Panorama. This too is an indication of the forward movement of the steelband.

The integration of computer technology, the Internet and the steelpan by Northern Illinois University graduate Mia Gormandy and Pastiche Steel Ensemble in their Virtual Steelband Project demonstrates the promise of the intersection of the vision of young pan players and the application of the modern technology to the steelpan. Further, the use of social media for marketing and networking opens a universe of possibilities for young pan players and steelbands.

In terms of the steelpan in T&T and globally, Pan Trinbago’s leaders, as well-intentioned as they may be, should recognize that the management of a strategically valuable organization requires more than a marginal knowledge of basic business, strategy and other critical prerequisites. This alludes to the requirement that they become more open to ideas and willing to contract professionals to manage the steelband industry in T&T. A myopic vision is counterproductive to the management of strategic cultural resources.

As far as the expat carnivals are concerned, given their economic impact, a major challenge to organizers is how to attract greater capital investment from the public and private sectors. There should also be efforts geared toward increasing the share of the economic benefits of all carnivals which accrue to the organizers and artistes involved in the production of the carnivals. We are the producers, the artistes, and we comprise the majority of the spectators at these festivals, but not the main beneficiaries. Need I say more?

REFERENCES

“The Caribana success story,” TheStar.com, May 3, 2010. (https://www.thestar. com/opinion/editorials/2010/05/03 /the_caribana_success_story.html).

London Development Agency - Research, “The Economic Impact of Notting Hill Carnival,” May 2003.

Lennox Farrell, “Caribana, Ownership Versus Control, Part Two,” Share News, November 12, 2014. (http://sharenews.com/caribana-ownership-versus-control-part-two/)

Patricia Meschino, The Business of Brooklyn's West Indian Day Parade, August 31, 2012 (http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/touring/1083948/the-business-of-brooklyns-west-indian-day-parade)

Ajamu Nangwaya, “Caribana, exploitation and disrespect of a cultural resource.” (http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/blog/ajamu-nangwaya/7758).

Keith Nurse, “The Cultural Industries and Sustainable Development in Small Island Developing States.” Unpublished paper, Institute of International Relations, UWI, St. Augustine, Trinidad.

Keith Nurse, Globalization and Trinidad Carnival: Diaspora, Hybridity and Identity in Global Culture. Cultural Studies 13(4) 1990, 661-690. 

Keith Nurse, “Globalization in Reverse: The Export of Trinidad Carnival,” Unpublished paper, Institute of International Relations, UWI, St. Augustine, Trinidad.

Jo-anne Tull, “Money Matters – Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2005,” presented at Reflections on Carnival 2005, Carnival Institute of Trinidad and Tobago, April 22, 2005.

Dana Yates, “Analysis shows Caribana's impact on economy and potential for future,” Ryerson University, July 27, 2010. (http://www.ryerson.ca/news/news/ Research_News/20100727_caribana/) 

My heartfelt Condolences and that of the BP Renegades Steel Orchestra go out to the family and friends of the late Edwin Pouchet; as well as to his band, Silver Stars with whom Renegades sheared a close relationship. May you Rest In Peace Brother; I will always remember you as a sincere friend and an excellent steelband arranger and administrator.

RIP "Tempo"...stalwart and former Double Second pannist and as recently as this year's Panorama, great Rhythm Section tambourine player.

Your send-off today was synonymous with your personality, humility, love of pan and people.

Continue to fly the Renegades flag, and pan flag in general, flying high in heaven.

You will be missed by all.

Darryl Joseph's dispassionate account on why All Stars won in 2015  was spot on. What he did not mention in his article was the dedication of the Drill master and his drive for excellence. Additionally, the band had experts in the field who listened to  the practice sessions  and  provided  feed back to the Arranger and Drill master.

Also,  the band is blessed with  an arranger who is humble  enough  to willingly   accept feed back and to adjust his arrangement accordingly..

last but not least the band members never leave the yard with out the circle of prayer after each practice session.

When All STARS  plays..even the Gods are happy!!

Joan Gower de.Chabert   

How can one contemplate genius? How does one recognise that savant quality in gifted musicians? Here in the “Third World” of foreigners' fantasies, the reputations of communities have been placed on the shoulders of political giants, on the shoulders of criminals, on the shoulders of cricket captains and steelpan arrangers. For this Carnival 2015, I ventured to gather that magic of the urban panyard as a locus for creativity, for communality, for a congregation of the curious at the periphery looking in.

Travel writers have marvelled or maligned the steelband in print going back more than half a century. Patrick Leigh Fermor writing in The Traveller's Tree after a visit to All Stars panyard in the late 1940s noted, “[t]he sound that burst on the ears was hallucinating. From a mile away it might be almost agreeable.” "Almost" is not nearly good enough. Adjectives like “agreeable” are curt not ebullient. VS Naipaul a decade later in The Middle Passage reminisced infamously, “the steel band used to be regarded as a high manifestation of West Indian Culture, and it was a sound I detested.” A writer before his time or just a fastidious paladin in the service of the colonial ideal? These were still the early days for the phenomenon of the steelband.

In 1955, another “outsider,” Dane Chandos in his travel book The Trade Wind Islands wrote after his experience in a Woodbrook panyard that, “steel-bands-men...only at night turn to the serious business of living, pooling their thoughts, their humor, their ambitions and aspirations, with those of the other members of the gang.” The gang! When tropical urban youth gather it is described as a gang. History notes the violence of those gangs. Pan battles were rife. In Trinidad, however, out of chaos comes beauty.

The steelband, the community of players, now mostly female, the musicians on a mission are wilful participants in a kind of transformation of sound. The pans have evolved sonically over the years by those revered tuners—those iconic men of steel, Bertie, Butch, Wire, Tony, Ellie—into, among other things, engineering novelties like the awarded and gradually accepted G-Pan family. As Kim Johnson said so poetically, “the audacity of the creole imagination,” generations ago, birthed a movement. A movement of music, of genius, of people.

The steelband and the arranger. A unity. The last bastion of original Western orchestral music? Let's see. Travelling east to hear Birdsong just before the Panorama Semis, aware that steelpan iconoclast Andy Narell hasn't enthralled Trini pan cognoscenti as an arranger and composer, I discerned musical indifference from afar for what on close inspection was music that followed its own path parallel to the ingrained Panorama jam. Was it too soon, or was it a response to chauvinism gone awry with catcalls for his deportation because of arrogance? Westward ho, and one encounters panyard communities passionate with the fervour of zealots. Exodus, All Stars, Renegades, Despers, Silver Stars; Pelham, “Smooth,” Duvone, “Robbie,” Liam all enriched the well of orchestral music from this island. Tunapuna, Hell Yard, Charford Court, The Hill (come down), Newtown; communities enthralled. For this writer, however, that visceral feeling that one knows when something is working was left to the one and only.

Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, that avatar of all that's right and wrong in our music industry—brilliant prolific creativity and an errant lack of control to time and order—is Trinidad and Tobago's mad genius. In music, we have given regard to that definition to Mozart, to Charlie Parker, to Stevie Wonder. Men, sadly only men, who have made 90-degree turns in the music and enriched us. In the liner notes for his CD, “A Tribute To the Mighty Sparrow: Len 'Boogsie' Sharpe on the PHI,” I wrote:

Len “Boogsie” Sharpe has reached a point in his career where accolades are superficial. He is that temperamental genius who can compose in his head without the enhanced skill of an academy-trained musician, the scores for up to eight mini-symphonies for large steelpan orchestras in one short Carnival season. In Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean diaspora and the world, “Boogsie” is an icon of steelpan, that self-sufficient and brilliant musician who can do it all. In that sometimes erratic mind of his, “Boogsie” can cajole melodies and improvisations from any steelpan family member, making the familiar new, and the new, unforgettable.

Boogsie from Kim Johnson on Vimeo.

One is witness to that erratic mind. At 2:00 a.m., a couple days before the Panorama Finals, the seemingly random staccato of music notes being shouted out, in fact is the genesis of a new melody. "Boogsie" is creating on the fly, in situ. He is not improvising, he is "extempo-ing." In the film Pan! Our Musical Odyssey, "Boogsie" proclaims:

"If I hear a note or two notes, three notes, I have the chords in my head, and bass and everything running in my head...because I have the whole picture of the whole thing, how the whole orchestra sounding in my head."

What madness is that? The comparison to Mozart, Charlie Parker, Stevie Wonder is, however, apropos.

Through this madness, one has to listen. The song is never complete with "Boogsie". There is always the possibility of revision. His musicians know it. The fans know it. They expect it. This is music for the occasion defined by the occasion. Panorama is not your mother's cup of tea! With a track record that suggests that the judges must like him—enough wins, top five placings, and original music to start an industry—he steadfastly persists in coining the new future sonic clichés, fashioning the new musical trope. "Rough it up, rough it up," is a phrase often heard from “Boogsie” to make the players excite the sound. "Panorama is not your mother's cup of tea!" The shock of the new also attracts a new cadre of pannists.

Phase II Pan Groove, like all young offshoots, made a trajectory that deviated from the norm back at its genesis, and attracted a whole lot of folk who would not have entered a panyard with the experience of witnessing either madness or genius. The fortunate traveller Chihiro Nimomiya, little Aria Bartholomew, Gary Padmore, Natasha Joseph, Johann Chuckaree. Front-liners. The immediate faces of the band. In them, we see that Phase II is a conglomeration, a United Nations gathering. Varying nationalities, races, ages, sizes all come to do service in the house of "Boogsie". The combination of player and instrument is a magnet for a divergent spectator class that includes every shade of armchair critic, newly landed fanatics who crave the next tropical hangout as advised by social media, dancing fools and the local hypocrites who are, as Earth, Wind & Fire sang, “saying nothing, talking loud.”

To suggest that pan music and the audience's sudden appreciation of it are the faddishness of the plantation nouveaux riches is to conjecture that the pendulum of taste is static. Trinidad, unfortunately, lingers with the cyclical stasis of a short Carnival season creating a short appreciation season. According to the local press at the time, the first steelband on the road was celebratory outside the Carnival. We sometimes hold dear to old totems fanning away the flames of change. Pan is global. Pan music is not cyclical. That “audacity of the creole imagination” is now visceral. In the hands of these music men, it is genius personified.

13 February 2015

P.S. 16 Feb 2015

"Boogsie" and Phase II Pan Groove did not win the Panorama large band category. All Stars playing a "Smooth" Edwards arrangement of "Unquestionable" won, with Phase II second playing "Happiness" and Rengades placing third playing Duvone Stewart's arrangement of "Jam Dem Hard", co-written adventitiously by Johann Chuckaree of Phase II.

© 2015, Nigel A. Campbell. All Rights Reserved.

Members in 1975 A Panorama Judge wrote on the score sheet of A  big five Steel Orchestra that their Panorama tune of choice is not A Ponarama tune and awarded the band no points, The band failed to advance any futher.Can you name the Steel Orchestra and their tune of choice.

Disrespectful and shameful, the only way to describe the manner in which the steelpan was treated in Fyzabadat the OWTU pre labour day pan festival on Friday 15. A tassa band performed after every steelband, and was allowed to command the stage for long hours. When the final steelband (Gonzales Sheikers) was playing, they were hurried off the stage because of time and was not allowed to perform their required five selections. What was more disturbing, is another tassa group carded to play after Gonzales Sheikers was asked to come into the OWTU compound to perform while the steelband was sent home short of playing time.

I would lie to point out the following

• The handful of supporters are there to hear pan.
• Tassa should perform before or after the pan or on another day.
• The pan is being used to give Tassa an audience and as such due respect should be given to the instrument.

I was instrumental in starting this program back in the late 1990's with then President General Errol Mcleod and supportetrs filled the streets. since the introduction of Tassa into the equation, a mere handful of persons attend the show. Tassa is a rhythmic instrument and cannot stand alongside a melodic instrument like the steelpan. Come on OWTU stop boring us with all that Tassa; Stop disrespecting the steelpan for the sake of Tassa; stop running the crowds for tassa. Remember that the steelpan is not only the national instrument but also our indigenous instrument.

The Solo Harmonites Steel Orchestra will be going to Panorama 2012 with a new Arranger in the person of Mr. Seion Gomez.

Peter Kanhai - Administrative Manager Solo Harmonites

Dec. 05th 2012

back in the day, if i listen to a panorama tune a few times, i could jump on a pan and play some of the licks, from memory, I know I am getting old, but I still have that ability, I was given a rough track by a jazz band once and my first take was perfect, that was the final take and we only did a second one just for so, I jumped in a panyard and started playing a piece of their panorama tune in Brooklyn, if I go to you tube and listen to calypsoes and panorama tunes I never hear from back in the 90's go back, next day I could mout some of the arrangement, but  panorama tunes now, there is a notable lack of "assault on the senses" as Dalton Narine used to describe it, there is little or no show stoppers, and a total lack of climax to the music, the way bands disconnected from the theme of the pieces it was no surprise that phase II won they stuck to the theme,boogsie tried a show stopper but it was too brief,  and the parts were still a little abstract, I wonder if the 8 minute limit, is making arrangers not give extra play to their sweet parts, that helps to make you want to sing the lines, I know its not just me because I observe that young people who were not born yet humming and mouthing older panorama pieces when it is played, but silent when a recent tune is played,so my question is has Panorama music gotten too abstract? 

It is strange the silence from pantrinbago 'guardian of the steelpan'. Imagine the tassa association attempting to degrade the steelpan in the worst manner ( see the express article "honour tassa just like pan http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/_Honour_tassa_just_like_pan_-167400415.html

Not a word from our parent body.

If tassa want to be the second national instrument, then justify your claim but dont try to degrade the steelpan to achieve your goal.

How sad !!!!!!!!! Panorama without Andy Narell's and Ray Holman's input. Very disappointing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is now official, Duvone Stewart will take the BP Renegades Steel
Orchestra to the Savannah for Panorama 2K12. The popular Charlotte Street band
has won the national competition on nine occasions (including a hatric between
1995 and 1997) with arrangements by its former musical director, Dr Jit
Samaroo. Since Dr Samaroo’s retirement in 2007, the band has been out of the
top three placing but according to its President, Michael Marcano, is determined
to stick to its policy of using home grown arrangers. Amrit, son of Dr Samaroo,
worked on the band’s panorama arrangements in 2008 and 2009; Kenneth Guppy took
over in 2010 and 2011; now its Duvone’s turn to show what he is made of,
quipped Marcano. Amrit, Kenneth, and Duvone are all former players with the
band and together with Desmond Waithe have worked on the band’s stage-side, Pan
in the 21 Century, and Steelband Music Festival presentations since Jit's retiremeent.

Duvone Stewart hails from Tobago. He came to Trinidad at the age of
eighteenth and became a member of the Renegades Steel Orchestra. He was schooled
in music theory and practical piano from the age of six and learnt to master
the steel pan at age eight, playing with the Tobago All Stars Steel Orchestra. In
1986, he won the ‘Trinidad and Tobago Television’s 12 & Under Competition
and was awarded a trip to Disney Land. This trip motivated him to enter the Trinidad
and Tobago Steel Pan Junior Soloist Competition in 1987 where he placed fifth.

Since then, he has participated in and won several soloist competition including the Trinidad and

Tobago TeenTalent Competition, the Tobago Music Festival, and the San Fernando Music
Festival which he won four years in a row from 1989 to1992. In 1992, he also
participated in the Trinidad and Tobago School’s Music Festival as a soloist
and placed third. He followed this in 1993 with an appearance at the World Steel Pan Festival

where he placed fifth.

In1995, Stewart won the Tobago’s Scouting for Talent Competition, and Later that
year, won the Trinidad and Tobago Pan Ramajay Soloist Competition, as well as
the AVM Steel Pan Soloist Competition. The following year he placed 2nd in the
Pan Ramajay Competition and the soloist category of the ‘World Steel Pan
Festival, two competitions that he went on to win in 1998, 2000 and 2002.

Stewart started his own band, the NFM Pantasy, a six piece steel ensemble in
2000 and thus began his career as an arranger. In 2001, he arranged for the
single pan band, La Horquetta (L. H.) Pan Groove in the Trinidad and Tobago
National Panorama Competition and has since piloted them to five consecutive
Panorama titles between 2007 and 2010 (the only arranger to achieve this feat
in the history of the Competition). In 2011 he again won the competition this
time arranging for the San Juan East Side Symphony Steelband.

Duvonne has arranged for several other conventional steelbands in Trinidad and
Tobago including Merrytones, Solo Pan Knights, Our Boys Steel Orchestra. On the
international front, he has arranged for Harmony Steel Orchestra in New York,
‘Big Pan’ Pan Groove in Germany, Piton Diamond Steel Orchestra in St. Lucia and
Calypso Atlantic, and Pan de Montangac of France. He has also captured first place

twelve times at different competitions over the years.
place twelve times at different competitions over the years.

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

Trinidad%20All%20Stars%20-%204th%20Gen.docx

Trinidad All Stars: Four Generations of Sailors

From the 1930’s under the leadership of people like “Sagiator” Drayton to Eric Stowe, “Big-Head” Hamilton Thomas, Prince Batson and Neville Jules the great Trinidad All Stars has remained firmly committed to the Carnival Arts. This band from Hell Yard could not do otherwise, it is their CORE VALUE, their raison d’etre, the reason to be. The following is a quotation from their hopefully soon-to-be-published History Book titled: “Men, Mettle & Metal – the Birth of Steel-Drum Music and the History of Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra: “The lesson to be learnt is that Panorama should not be the ‘be-all and end-all’ for steelbands that are serious about the Carnival tradition and their institutional presence therein; furthermore, that the commitment to this tradition and to such a presence during Carnival pays off at the end of the day. All Stars has gained tremendously from such a commitment; every year collecting prize monies both for playing music and masquerading at the various judging points while other steelbands simply fold up after Panorama and J’ouvert until the following year. All Stars has over the years reaped a financial bonanza as a result and has been placed on a sound financial footing that is unmatched by any other steelband…” Beresford Hunte, the present Captain is never tired of saying to reporters that “All Stars is not a Panorama band, All Stars is more than that, much more…” In 2012, All Stars placed 6^th in the Band of the Year competition, in 2013, the band was placed 3^rd, now in 2014, it is the Band of the Year. It was not a fluke, not a surprise to anyone following the trajectory. The section leaders must be commended for their efforts and, most of all, tribute must be extended to the section of young Drum-Majorettes who performed at the front of the band on both days; amongst them were the grand-children and great grand-children of ‘Big-Head’ Hamilton Thomas namely Ms Lorraine Lamont, Mallorey-Marie Elizabeth Lamont and Alexxandria-Maria Shaniah Lamont – the fourth generation of Sailors from Hell Yard. All praises!

Bukka Rennie.  

I found this interesting perspective on the East Indian involvement in the development of the steelband in T&T.

It is written by the late Trinidad Express journalist Terry Joseph, a scribe who truly had his finger on the pulse of Trinidad culture.

It is bad enough that the Indian contribution to the development of the steel orchestra has so often been under-rated, but what is infinitely worse, is the misguided view that pan is an African thing.

Indeed, the very Indian population has fuelled the devaluation of its own input by cowering to African claims of exclusivity in any discussion about the origins and development of pan.

Africans have jealously embraced pan as part of their culture and frequently limit any mention of the Indian input to only the latter-day shining lights (most notably Jit Samaroo). Indians, under the perception that they were diluting their own heritage, have not been vocal about their achievements in this area either, making for a near-complete obfuscation of the facts.

Influential Indian religious leaders have also indicated to their followers that pan-playing and education were mutually exclusive concepts, and since pan cannot accomplish sruti, an integral part of their music (which sometimes requires quarter-tones in tremolo), the instrument was foreign to their aesthetic.

The thrust at that time was to ensure that if government attempted to introduce a pan-in-schools programme, it would have to also consider supplying and equal number of harmoniums to the classrooms.

The Indian community, therefore, also saw pan as African, and a seven-year-old girl, who had the temerity to attempt a bhajan on a tenor pan, was publicly admonished by her elders.

But history is difficult to hide. Fact is, Indians arrived in the panyard since the 1930s and have been there ever since, fully involved in the development of the modern steel orchestra, to an extent that may shock large constituencies on both sides of the ethnic divide. Some of their direct inputs still serve as benchmarks in pan's evolution.

Nestor Sullivan, better known as manager of the Pamberi Steel Orchestra, but himself a tireless researcher of pan history, last October delivered a lecture at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, on "East Indian Influence in the Steelband Movement in Trinidad and Tobago", which documents some astonishing truths.

While admitting that his work was by no means the definitive piece on the subject of Indian involvement in pan, Sullivan identified several key figures among the hundreds of Indians who have been involved with pan over the past 60 years.

One of his more striking discoveries is that some Indian families have actually produced more than one pan icon. Although Bobby Mohammed became a legend in the 1960s with his band Guinness Cavaliers, his brother Selwyn was, at the same time, the resident arranger of what is now the Amoco Renegades.

San Fernando also produced the Lalsingh boys, and San Juan boasted Lol and Jack Bactawa, while of all the most unlikely places, Couva gave us the Zackarali brothers.

Sullivan notes as well that since steelbands in the early days were strictly community-based organizations, those villages, which were predominantly Indian, perforce, produced its pannists from that grouping. Princes Town, Rio Claro and Tunapuna produced steelbands whose membership was virtually all-Indian.

Jimmy Bridgenarine, leader of Golden Dukes and subsequently Curepe Scherzando, was, up to the time of his death in 1987, one of the stoutest defenders of the steelband (and the Curepe community). Bridgenarine's role is seen by Sullivan as "not only pivotal to the development of Curepe Scherzando", but to the steelband movement during the 1970s.

The Samaroo Jets, originally an orchestra comprised exclusively of members of an Indian family, has evolved into the most travelled steelband in the history of the instrument. In existence for over 30 years, all members of the Jets are full-time professionals and musically literate. The band has also enjoyed the longest-running steelband contract, playing as house band at the prestigious Hilton Hotel for more than 25 years.

An entire section of the Sullivan paper is devoted to Samaroo, whose work with Amoco Renegades has produced a stunning hat trick of Panorama wins, among the record nine times he has taken the band to the top of the national standings. It is noteworthy that the Renegades panyard is located in the patently urban African setting of Lacou Harpe in Port of Spain.

Speaking to the Sunday Express, Sullivan explained that in areas like St. James and San Juan, the ethnic mix delivered bands comprising equal numbers of Africans and Indians. "And a kind of cultural cross-fertilization also occurred," Sullivan said.

"Bobby Mohammed's influence is among the more striking examples," Sullivan said. "It was his creative use of the bass pans that won the national title for Guinness Cavaliers in 1965 and 1967, causing bands from north Trinidad to follow that style, in the hope of improving their chances."

Sullivan added that Mohammed created an impact never before experienced in pan, and did not limit his resulting victories to Panorama. The Cavaliers were also successful in steelband music festivals, and the band toured extensively in the wake of those successes.

He added: "Another Indian arranger, Steve Achaiba, led Hatters to winners row in 1975, and later South Stars to glory at the national level as well, taking the revolution started by bobby in the sixties, well into the next decade.

Also operating at creative decision-making levels at that time was Henry "Bendix" Cumberbatch, an Indian arranger from San Fernando's Antillean All Stars, who took that band to several Panorama final during the 1970s.

Sullivan, who is currently doing a research assignment on popular Caribbean culture for the University of South Florida, took his work one step further, to look at the results of social integration and the work of Anthony Williams and Roland Harrigin.

Williams, who led the Pan-Am North Stars to several Panorama wins, introduced a major change in the design and structure of the tenor-pan. His "spider-web" design forms the basis for today's fourths and fifths tuning patterns, and gave the instrument a leap in the quest for standardization.

Harrigin is the preferred tuner for some of this country's top steelbands, including Phase II Pan Groove, Pamberi and current Panorama champions, the Arima Nutones. He is also master-tuner at Panyard Inc., the world's most sophisticated pan manufacturing company in Akron, Ohio.

But some of the examples of social integration are even more curious. Unlike Samaroo, Dudley Rouffe was an Indian-born and bred in the heartland of urban Port of Spain. He became leader of what is now Carib Tokyo, a band from John John, the heart of Orisha country. Rouffe not only led Tokyo, but also became a respected community leader, passing on the mantle to his son, who now represents the band in North America.

The view that pan is an African thing with a few Indian interlopers is, therefore, fundamentally inaccurate. Although the feeling first surfaced in the 1970s in the wake of Black Power agitation), with no move to dispel the perception coming from Pan Trinbago over the years, the players and those who are most passionate about the instrument and its music are least troubled by ethnic considerations. It is they who will tell you that pan is not exclusive to any ethnic group, but belongs to Trinidad and Tobago.
   
  TOP

The last leg of Pan Is Beautiful XII, which was the Orchestras Category, took place at The Savannah in Port of Spain, Trinidad on November 16th, 2013.

The following are the results:

(1) CODRINTON PAN FAMILY         577

(2) INVADERS                                571

(3) COUVA JOYLANDERS              566

(4) RENEGADES                            550

(5) EXODUS                                   547

(6) PAN ELDERS                           496

(7) TROPICAL ANGEL HARPS        489

(8) DIATONICS                               476

The Codrinton Pan Family who won the preliminaries on October 19th, also won the Tune of Choice scoring 289 points, followed by Invaders.

Invaders won the Best Test Piece also scoring 289 points followed by Codrinton Pan Family.  This was the first time that the top two Steel Orchestras' Tune of Choice were locally written.

"The Pan with Love-Our Gift to the World" was composed by Ms. Keisha Codrinton, and "1962 Overture-Our Independence" was composed by Mr. Arddin Herbert.

I would like to congratulate my son Hanif Goodridge for his bands performance in the recent Single pan competition, they did not make it into the semi final round, but he made a great effort, he was the youngest arranger in the 2014 single pan competition, and also his first time arranging for a panorama competition, Son the sky is the limit, you've wanted to arrange since primary school and you finally got the opportunity to do so, you would always have my support. Keep reaching for the planets and stars and never give up on your dreams, all the best hun !!!!