Panorama Time

The Music of the Steelbands
Gone Global
(Bradley Continues to Dominate the NY Scene)
 

It is that time of the year when some of the fiercest, high-level steelband musical competitions are taking place all over the world.  The Virgin Islands, St. Vincent, Antigua, Grenada, Toronto, St. Lucia - have all held their steelband music panorama competitions, to name a few, with major markets like the United Kingdom and New York soon to follow.

Master Arranger Clive Bradley On Stage for Panorama

For those who are not familiar with, or have never experienced a panorama competition, it is similar in nature to a marching band  or drumline competition, except the musical implements belong to the family of steelpan instruments with orchestras upward to 100 players, sometimes more.  The musical selections are normally between 8 and 10 minutes in length, and can take on different looks and formats.

Each country puts its  own unique slant and/or narrative, musical influences, rhythmic themes and motifs on its steelband music panorama competition presentation.  For example New York panorama selections tend to be more modern and peppered with urban influences.  This is largely due the musical leanings of huge amounts of young people involved in the New York pan scene.

Like its drumline counterpart, Panorama is drama, theater, and grand pageantry.  Both aspects - musical content and performance - are adjudicated as the arranger and orchestra   tell a story through an eight-ten minute piece.

This is the year that at least two major panorama competitions have dedicated their events to the late master arranger, musician and composer Clive Bradley.  Bradley is considered the greatest steelband music arranger.  Bradley's popularity, genius and musical importance have steadily grown since his November 2005 passing.  Indeed, hundreds of thousands of references can be found for Clive Bradley on the internet search engine, Google.

New York, where Bradley's popularity reached epic proportions among the steelpan music community, will host their event on September 2, 2006 at the Brooklyn Museum's grounds, under the auspices of the event promoters - West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA).  Seven out of the scheduled ten participating steel orchestras have chosen a song that pay tribute to the late master arranger Bradley.

Each year New York hosts a fantastic steelband music competition. Since it's inception, "panorama" has been a leading influence in the promotion of the steelband music performance genre.  This showcasing of the steelband art form has gained much momentum in the last 10 years, coupled with the offering of school music programs that teach steelpan musicianship and offer an opportunity to perform, compete, and perpetuate their music overall.  In educational institutions percussion programs have taken off through their most visual component, the steel orchestra.

For more information on the UK's Notting Hill's 2006 Panorama competition go to www.panpodium.com

For more information on the New York's 2006 Panorama competition, go to www.WIADCA.com or call 1 (718) 467-1797.