Pan Explosion
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Pan
Explosion
We heard over the cruisers channel of
an event called The Pan Explosion. Transport organised by Jessie's Maxi Taxi's,
we were met at Peakes Gate by Derek and taken with a group of fellow yachties to
the home ground of the Neal and Massey All Stars Pan Band.
   Derek our driver, some
of the boys and Phil of Biothic taking in the atmosphere
The Master of Ceremonies was Mr Eric
Taylor aka The Pink Panther and the opening was the National Anthem played by a
young pannist called Keisha Codrington. The welcome address was from Hon.
Marlene McDonald, Member of Parliament for Port of Spain South and Minister of
Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs. We are led to believe her
business card follows behind in a small truck.
  That all done the opening performance
was from a feisty little thing called Ms Kizzy Ruiz
whose voice was far greater than her size. The sound
engineers were waiting quietly and the Renegades set up
shop.
  The Tokyo Steel
Band of the nearby St James were our first pan band. Really
good.
 Special guests were the contenders for the title Miss Trinidad and Tobago. The
winner going on to the Miss World finals, good luck to them all, each tall
willowy and beautiful, not that I'm bitter.
 Derek had told us we were sitting
geographically at the intersection of four armed gangs and we were stay put. No
need to be asked twice. In fact after we left we found out a shooting had
resulted in a fatality just across the road a few minutes before the event had
begun. Needless to say armed police had a couple of
turns around the good natured crowd "just to show presence". I just hoped he had
his safety on on such a big weapon ??? Well that said it was time for us to
enjoy the music and me to take pictures of interesting looking
people.
 
              The wall art of the yard
and my favourite lady.
Food was laid on - some free - some
for a small cost. We had some sweetcorn soup with a cheeky little kick. So much
so I lost the feeling in my bottom lip for a couple of hours. During the evening
we heard BP-TT Renegades (we saw them at the dress rehearsal for Emancipation
Day) also WITCO Desperadoes, who once again played 'Love is a many splendid
thing'. The National Steel Symphony Orchestra that so much money has been poured
into. These bright young things all have to read music. They had no microphone
system and to be honest we couldn't hear them very well and classical music
seemed out of place with the rest of the evening. The bar made us laugh. It was
brick built, thick doored, heavily locked, iron-barred, no nonsense and served
through a gap in the railings. We chatted to some locals and had a thoroughly
good night.
 The
Renegades were fantastic
 Panorama 2009. The winning band “Silver Stars” is one of the oldest bands in Trinidad, and gladly claimed their first Panorama Victory 2009 performing “First in Line “. Len Boogies Sharp’s Band “Phase II Pan Grove” placed 2nd with Magic Drum, and Neal and Massy Trinidad All Stars, placed 3rd, with Leon Smooth’s arrangement of “Pan Rivalry” Robert Greenidge’s arrangement of Pan Redemption place Desperadoes 4th. Last up was the home band. I can honestly say we were surprised to hear them play 'the green, green grass of home' - not sure what Tom would make of it but certainly different.
The rich and colourful history of the steelband
movement in Trinidad and Tobago is interwoven with the Neal
& Massy Trinidad All Stars. Developed between the First & Second
World Wars, the steelband was born of an innate and explosive creativity. The
band’s roots go deep and its turbulent early beginnings and explosive creativity
is the hallmark of steelband music today. “Hell Yard Boys” was the name they
gave themselves back in 1935. Hell Yard was a poor area on the banks of the East
Dry River in Port of Spain. The movement away from “tamboo-bamboo” to pan had
only just begun. This name changed several times – to “Second Fiddle”, then to
“Cross of Lorraine”, and finally “All Stars”, chosen because of the perceived
superior ability of the players. Soon after the war, “Trinidad” was added. In
1982 the contributions of Trinidad All Stars to the steelband movement were
recognised by the Government of Trinidad & Tobago with the presentation of a
national award – the Humming Bird Medal (Gold). Four years later, the band was
again honoured with an award from the Port of Spain City Council. One of the
many achievements of the band was its pioneering of classical music on the road,
played to the rhythm of calypso. This highlighted the capacity of the steelpan
to go beyond the previously self-imposed musical bounds of calypso or boleros.
Trinidad All Stars was the first band to play the pan with two sticks. For the
first time, both the melody and the harmony could be heard played together. The
band made the first “Quatro Pans” later called the grundig and the guitar pans.
A former captain of Trinidad All Stars, Neville Jules, also had the privilege of
making the first bass pan.
ALL IN ALL FANTASTIC |
