Bradley was particularly proud of "Stranger" and "Celebrate" musically which might seem like an odd choice given that Pantonic almost came dead last with "Celebrate". Bradley felt that arrangement went completely over the head of the judges. Many of embedded musical themes of celebration from different countries were missed.
Bradley loved being around young people as you probably already know. He never cared too much for the "dinosaurs" and "loggerheads" as he often called them. He was most content musically, particularly in his later years in New York, because he was surrounded by youth who he found to be much more open-minded musically, rather than the usual restraints of the ‘musically-conservative Trinidadian mindset’ – particularly so with reference to Panorama.
Bradley also had a lot of confidence in their [Pantonic especially] being cable to execute whatever he wanted without compromise. Bradley almost always chose the tunes for the New York bands. These were tunes that bands in Trinidad and Tobago outright rejected or did not touch when they were originally released. Tell Me Why, Dingolay, Passion, Stranger, Trini To D Bone, Celebrate and Darling - to name a few such tunes.
Bradley was particularly dangerous when he felt he had something to prove or he felt he let his youth musicians supporters down. He would say he personally didn't care about winning or losing and that the judges couldn't judge him, but that he was "disappointed for the kids because they worked hard". Those moments gave us New York Panorama gems like Dingolay (1992), Stranger (2001), Trini to D Bone (2003) and a first/second place with Action and Darling (2005). The specifics of those moments are great historical footnotes - that would have me writing all night.
I can't argue with any of your picks BigMac. However, after having spoken to Brads many times at WST on this subject, he would not necessarily agree with us.
Pantimes...in all fairness to Bradley...he never did a "bad" Panorama arrangement...some were just better than others...his best ever for me were Pan In Harmony, Rebecca, No Pan and In My House
We agree on this one, Pan Times. Future generations to ccome will be able to empathise with this crazy arrangement. On a related point, however, we do not, like the Europeans, Japanese, etc., teach our own culture in schools [from kindergarten to university] by including our geniuses' creative contributions in course curricula. Every European child first hears about Mozart in kindergarten.
Glenroy, Brads put some music that both your great, great grandfather and great, great, great grandson who is not born yet can understand immediately and relate to. Such is the genius and cultural significance of Bradley's work. No one will ever have to explain to you or them where the break-away is in a Bradley tune.
It can never be easy to rationaly adjudicate the fine lines between first/second/third place in Panorama.
That said, to address an earlier point made on this forum regarding Bradley's genius, it was NOT his unique understanding of the cultural nuances of T&T that made him able to execute 9 minutes of Whap Cocoyea, it was his formal musical training (on keyboards I might add) combined with his own creative musical genius.
Comments
Big Mac,
Bradley was particularly proud of "Stranger" and "Celebrate" musically which might seem like an odd choice given that Pantonic almost came dead last with "Celebrate". Bradley felt that arrangement went completely over the head of the judges. Many of embedded musical themes of celebration from different countries were missed.
Bradley loved being around young people as you probably already know. He never cared too much for the "dinosaurs" and "loggerheads" as he often called them. He was most content musically, particularly in his later years in New York, because he was surrounded by youth who he found to be much more open-minded musically, rather than the usual restraints of the ‘musically-conservative Trinidadian mindset’ – particularly so with reference to Panorama.
Bradley also had a lot of confidence in their [Pantonic especially] being cable to execute whatever he wanted without compromise. Bradley almost always chose the tunes for the New York bands. These were tunes that bands in Trinidad and Tobago outright rejected or did not touch when they were originally released. Tell Me Why, Dingolay, Passion, Stranger, Trini To D Bone, Celebrate and Darling - to name a few such tunes.
Bradley was particularly dangerous when he felt he had something to prove or he felt he let his youth musicians supporters down. He would say he personally didn't care about winning or losing and that the judges couldn't judge him, but that he was "disappointed for the kids because they worked hard". Those moments gave us New York Panorama gems like Dingolay (1992), Stranger (2001), Trini to D Bone (2003) and a first/second place with Action and Darling (2005). The specifics of those moments are great historical footnotes - that would have me writing all night.
We agree on this one, Pan Times. Future generations to ccome will be able to empathise with this crazy arrangement. On a related point, however, we do not, like the Europeans, Japanese, etc., teach our own culture in schools [from kindergarten to university] by including our geniuses' creative contributions in course curricula. Every European child first hears about Mozart in kindergarten.
Peter
Glenroy:
It can never be easy to rationaly adjudicate the fine lines between first/second/third place in Panorama.
That said, to address an earlier point made on this forum regarding Bradley's genius, it was NOT his unique understanding of the cultural nuances of T&T that made him able to execute 9 minutes of Whap Cocoyea, it was his formal musical training (on keyboards I might add) combined with his own creative musical genius.
Peter
You all have me going backwards and forwards listening to both tunes, and I'm finding it very difficult to pick one!
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