Pan vibes and hope

A good friend and valued colleague of mine asked me last Sunday why there isn’t more of a “vibe” in the Grand Stand of the Queen’s Park Savannah between Panorama performances.

I took this to mean that between the magnificent performances we were witnessing at Junior Panorama, there should have perhaps been loud party music, dancing, shouting across the aisles, and half-drunk groups conjuring up iron sections to incite riotous jams.

Then, on Monday, a fellow Caribbean journalist asked about the state of my (these days afflicted) legs after all the “wining down” at the show.

I am no prude, and I have grown to appreciate the revelry that occurs over in the North Stand and elsewhere in the vicinity (I shall not call its name) between performances. I seriously don’t mind - though I think a large, soundless screen on Chacachacare is more appropriate for those who go to party rather than to listen carefully to pan.

In all my 45 plus years of following the competitions and other steelpan shows, I have been in such company just once. Puke avoidance and paramedical assistance to the intoxicated are not my idea of fun.

And, yes, I get up to stretch my legs between performances and repeated playing of the various tunes of choice does help me flex even more.

Renegades Youth show their skills on stage (WG photo)

But I firmly believe I belong to a growing (not diminishing) category of people who go to pan shows for the pan and nothing but the pan – the greatest thing we do in all of T&T. My old Panorama liming partner, the late George John, would entertain not even the most hushed tones during performances.

A passing nutsman would earn the stare of agonising death, and the couple gossiping behind us as bands played would hear an untraceable “Shhhhh!!!” Whether on duty or not, we’d walk with notebooks scribbling points such as “too much banging of the pans”, “who but the audience is seeing the conductor?”, “that frontline tenor is shadowing”, and all the stuff I still do.

So, back to Franka. The music was loud when I responded – “The London Philharmonic. Do nutsmen pass by shouting ‘salt and fresh’ during performances?” The reference was appropriate for my once UK-based friend. She had surely been to the Barbican Centre and the Royal Festival Hall – and I am not at all saying what happens on stage there is superior to what we have on offer, but that there is clear respect for what is on show.

What I mean is that the evolving nature of the steelpan and what it is offering requires a greater level of regard even as it allows us to flex as Trinis between performances. I confessed to Desiree Myers of Invaders last Sunday that her band’s performance squeezed the season’s first pan tears from me.

Much of this is owing to my belief that the steelpan is the single most important asset of ours. I have also developed an appreciation for the value of competitions as one of the several activities to boost the durable, wider reach of the music. I did not always think so and it remains subject to the kind of change I recognise, as expressed below.

The fact is pan is greater than the competitions and even the national body which oversees its state and corporate assisted growth and development. It is a model for social development and a prospective, yet under-recognised, asset for economic diversification and prosperity.

And, if you think all of this today is to avoid confronting current dystopian descent home and abroad, think about what the instrument is bringing to us at this time. For close to 12 hours last Sunday, many (not all) of us were witnessing the great hope our young people are bringing to the table.

What is happening in pan is respectful of diversity, egalitarian in nature, and mindful of creative imagination as a resource of immeasurable value. We need to remain awake to this.

Additionally, I think there should be more about the (perhaps unprecedented) three ties in the 2025 Under 21 Final. Four bands tied for second, three for eighth, and two for eleventh.

Such tight placings can be interpreted to be implicitly flagging the true significance of the encounters as more than a mere competition. Ditto the other categories – wait till the Medium and Large bands come along to defy a notion of “judging.”

Once again, and through our children, hope has been laid on our tables. We ignore such an offering at our collective peril.