'MY TAKE!
On the 2004 Panorama Results'
by a World Music Lover

I would like very much for the When Steel Talks people to allow me to share what is on my mind about the results in the large band category of the Panorama 2004 in Trinidad which took place on Saturday February 21.

I guess that you can call me one of those 'newbies' - at least by pan veteran standards.  You see, I really only got into pan music a few years ago, but have been basically a 'musician' all my life.  I truly began to appreciate steelband music when I started to visit pan yards.  That revolutionized my view of pan music.  Previously the atrocious stuff I was used to hearing on AM Radio - in Trinidad, and also what I term the poor quality pan recordings in general - turned me off, unless I got a chance to see the World Steelband festival live on TV.  That gave me hope for pan music.  Then, within the past couple of years I could also go up on the internet and catch some of the video action of pan recordings in the pan yards - from the New York pan scene, so I guess things were moving along.   I also got to listen first-hand to the Double CD put out by the New York USSA Panorama crew in 2001, and now own that along with the Pan In New York 2002 and 2003 CDs, among others.   These recordings are something else and works of [musical] art.   I cannot figure out why recordings from Trinidad - those from panyards, semi-finals, or Panorama finals night - cannot even put a toe in the shoe of these recordings from New York. Something must be wrong somewhere - as the bulk of steelbands is from Trinidad and Tobago - home of the steelpan.   I've given the above preamble, to kind of set the stage for my own thoughts on the final part of the Panorama 2004 season in Trinidad and Tobago.

By and large I remain a musician first and foremost.   So what moves me is MUSIC - not sometimes aimlessly wandering steelpan arrangements, or those which sometimes borrow from those of years gone past.   I also think that - a band's execution, or arranger's arrangement - is only as good as that particular year or season - so no 'feel sorry for' or politics, should come into play.  

Generally I am a pain in the ass when it comes to pan music - there must be some musicality for the non-pan person to enjoy - because it is by that standard, that the rest of the music world at large - will be able to relate to the instrument and the sounds from it -be it orchestral, stage side, duet or single pan performance.   So if even you do not know the selection, you should be able to appreciate the general musical structure.   Being around music producers and artists, this is a given.   No marks for genius here.   And I really HATE to bring this up - but that fact (musicality) plays a small part in why those 'tourists' keep asking for things like 'Yellow Bird' (aarrgghh!) - they are familiar with the damn stuff, there is a some sort of (aaarrgghhh) tune there.   There are also other key reasons why they take to that type of stuff, but this is not the forum to address those.

I was actually at the Panorama 2004 finals and got the opportunity to hear all the sixteen bands - medium and large category - live - not via radio where you cannot ever experience the sheer power and performance of each steelband.   I also was not bombarded (thankfully) by 'tainted, slanted' comments made by generally uninformed and/or asinine so-called radio personalities - who basically should be in another line of work - preferably where one of the requirements must be that they keep their mouths closed.   To their credit, and excluded from this sorry set of 'broadcasters', was the team from Radio Trinidad or Tempo (wherever the broadcast was carried live) who had seasoned announcers, and were generally knowledgeable and objective in their commentary.

Like most competitions, Panorama Finals results are based on points gained in a number of pre-determined categories.   Exodus Steel Orchestra was adjudged best when all was said and done.   But I listened, and listened well - and with a critical ear - from a commercial world market and musical producer's standpoint, not from the view (or with the ears of) some judges who apparently could not arrange for a steelband if their lives depended on it.   These judges however 'adjudicated' and decided that Desperadoes merited no more than a third (or fourth depending on how you look at it) place in the competition.

Desperadoes' overall performance and execution, with stage presentation and involvement of the players - made them clear winners in the large band category for Trinidad's 2004 Panorama.   If the MUSICAL Arrangement they were given by Clive Bradley is looked at - it was superior to anything performed that night.   Why is it that Exodus was 'given' a win by such a wide margin - 12 points - over any other bands? (Phase 2 and Trinidad All Stars tied for second or third place, depending on how you look at it).   Is someone honestly going to say that Exodus was so superior? Who are these judges kidding? This stuff happens again and again, year after year.

Last year Phase 2 were clear winners of the Panorama - but - the band was penalized for "taking a long time to set up on stage" - even when the event organizers - the world governing body for steelpan - Pan Trinbago - had no measures in place to move over-enthusiastic band supporters off the stage.   So the band 'paid the price' and came in third.   As the leader asked afterward - why was a monetary fine not considered? Or was there another reason?

This year however - Phase 2's performance did not merit their second or third place tie.   No kind of musical sense or objectivity was displayed by the judges in general - based on the result.   Pan and musical connoisseurs alike last year knew that judges' (and who knows what other kind) politics played out in the ousting of Phase 2 from the Panorama crown.   So was this year's second place tie a kind of 'pacifier' for Phase 2 - in part for the injustice of the 2003 atrocity, and also in sympathy because the band leader and arranger - 'Boogsie' - was critically ill and almost was lost to the pan and greater world during the height of the 2004 Pan season?

Exodus has traveled to other countries to perform; I believe they were in Japan in 2003.   Could it be that they are booked to travel again in 2004, and it will look better that the 'Champions' travel and promote the national instrument and its music, as opposed to another band which has a no-nonsense character of its own? I must also draw attention to Renegades' sterling performance this year.   Their overall rendition and MUSICALITY (yes there goes that word again) with crisp chord structures and flow of music arrangement - reminded all that Jit Samaroo is one of the masters at work in the Steelpan world, globally! Second place honors (and not tied with anyone!) would have been their accurate desserts this year, had the judges for the finals of the large band category been even vaguely qualified to sit in their chairs.

Why would I say 'qualified'? The ilk of judges for Panorama in the semi finals - makes one cringe.   So do we even dare to assume any better or more knowledgeable - were selected for the Panorama Finals? On an interview with When Steel Talks, Boogsie recalled one of the judges praising his use of and work with cello pans - when he did not even use such pans! And these are the people who JUDGE pan competitions - when they do not even recognize the voices of the various steelpan sections? Heaven help us! Liam Teague, who arranged for Skiffle Bunch this year, also said he had a similar experience with the judges, but was not prepared to talk about it, and that he also knew of another such occurrence.   I have to agree with Boogsie.   It would be an interesting lesson to see if each judge were given a band to arrange for after the panorama season was over - for ten minutes - and what would the result would be.   Perhaps their 'qualifications' would be reviewed after this exercise. 

Judges, commentators and such other personnel at international sporting and competitive arenas such as basketball, cricket, the Olympics, etc - are mainly culled from past competitors who have proven themselves proven their mettle in the respective disciplines.   But for the foremost competition in Panorama in the world??

Steelpan music came about in spite of colonialization, and was in direct protest to it.   Just ask any of those old-timers in the pan movement who are still around.   It is therefore ironic that the musical training 'style' (note: NOT 'musical knowledge') being used to judge the same steelpan music in today's world - is garnered from people generally educated and proudly using such musical precepts from the world which was the very reason for the protest and rise of the steelpan movement.   Knowing how to read and write music, and/or being 'musically-trained' should not be the passport to adjudicating, especially for those who should themselves be at the feet of the masters - those arrangers annually who they dare sit in judgment of.

While I do not condone the gun-toting, 'finger-on-the-trigger' males masquerading as 'security personnel' in Trinidad, those comprising the security team that escorted the Panorama judges OUT OF THE COMPOUND, BEFORE THE RESULTS WERE GIVEN, might have performed a needed task under the circumstances, considering the fraud that the judges of the large bands category perpetuated in the name of "results" for the 2004 Panorama finals.

On the topic of Liam Teague - can someone tell me if being part of the teaching faculty of a United States university, or being a world-traveled pan soloist - automatically means that you are recognized as a panorama arranger of note for eight to ten minutes - either by inept judges or star-struck radio personalities? The professional music world has indeed gone mad, and is in serious jeopardy - when one can listen to the arrangement and presentation of Renegades, and then that of what was given to Skiffle Bunch by Liam Teague - and place his arrangement ahead of that of Jit Samaroo.   Again - this is all going solely on what was presented on finals night.   Skiffle Bunch got as far as they did mainly on their own merits.   In fact their alliance helped Liam's career, and validated it - not the other way around! Skiffle Bunch's musical ability and performance is what placed them in the finals.   Liam's arranging skills in regard to Panorama - leaves a lot to be desired.   Again the ability to read, write and teach music does not a good arranger maketh.   Skiffle Bunch came fifth to Renegades' sixth place.

If Panorama judges cannot be qualified, and the results fair, then maybe there needs to be another major Pan happening in Trinidad and Tobago which is not under the hype of the traditional Carnival umbrella.   Trouble is - this will probably never happen.

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