New York
- What initially looked to be a grey Saturday just prior
to Labor Day, co-operated beautifully for the annual New
York Steelband panorama by the time the first three
bands scheduled to compete, and the patrons, filed into
the grounds behind the Brooklyn Museum for the 2008
Panorama.
For the patrons, their point of entry
was changed over from its usual Washington Avenue spot,
to the Eastern Parkway driveway at the side of the
museum. Only the performers, their steelband racks and
instruments (pictured) were allowed in on Washington Avenue. With
construction trailers occupying part of the museum
grounds where the bands would normally line up one
behind the other, only two to three orchestras at any
one time were set up fully. Meanwhile, others awaited
their turn to enter, encamped on Union and President
Streets across from the museum.
With a line-up of nine orchestras in competition for the
title of panorama champions, and a mandatory cut-off
time before 2:00 a.m., organizers WIADCA (West Indian
American Day Carnival Association) ensured the show got
underway shortly after 8:00 p.m.
Many familiar faces were visible within the crowd
present for the panorama – such as Carl Merez from
Baltimore – of
BECI Harbor View Festival fame. Other steelpan
notables spotted during the course of the event included
Roger Greenidge -
one of Maryland-based Pan Masters
Steel Orchestra’s arrangers, Pamberi’s resident arranger
Brian Villafana, legendary steelpan instrument
manufacturer and tuner Bertram “Birch” Kelman, and
steelband co-director Clifford Alexis from NIU (Northern
Illinois University) in the company of Marie Toby
(pictured), the
captain of Tobago powerhouse steel orchestra Redemption Soundsetters. As is customary the crowd would grow as
the evening progressed into night. However there still
was not the regular “crush” of people in the museum
grounds as in previous years; but it was adequate enough
to provide enthusiastic support and feedback to band
performances, and also possible sources of revenue for
the vendors who were positioned to the back of the
seating area on the grounds.
D’Radoes played first, and fell prey to the dreaded
malady of being the “sound check” band on which the
sound system is regarded by many to be “tested out.”
Interestingly they were the only band which was actually
directed to play a few bars in an attempt at a sound
check – but the performance results through the speakers
were still quite distorted.
Many present felt this
unfortunate circumstance contributed in part to the
eventual competition place meted out to the band. The
crowd that awaited results gave loud gasps of disbelief
when D’Radoes (pictured on stage)
was announced eighth out of the nine
orchestras competing. Anybody who was in the museum
prior to the beginning of the competition and heard
D’Radoes run their tune ‘Oil & Music’ before taking the
stage, felt comfortable in their knowledge of what was
in the orchestra’s proven musical arsenal for that
evening, and in their recall of what the orchestra
delivered when they took their performance to the stage
shortly after.
But the orchestra could not do anything about being in
the position of circumstantial “test band” for the sound
system at the museum. C’est la vie. Play first – and
even though an orchestra’s performance may merit
otherwise - and it could almost be assured a place in
history somewhere in the bottom rungs of the results.
ADLIB Steel Orchestra commanded the stage and delivered
a memorable musical and visual performance, to a roar of
approval from the crowd. They were a popular choice for
the championship title. After their performance in fifth
position, for the rest of the show, several people in
the crowd could be heard voicing their opinion that they
would win.
All bands dread pulling a playing position of number one
in the panorama because of the bedeviling of the sound
system at that point. A number of bands have had this
misfortune befall them, including ADLIB who took the
stage first in back-to-back years of 2005 and 2006. The
same situation befell Pantonic steel orchestra after
winning the title in 2003. They went on the following
year of 2004 to play in position one out of thirteen
bands competing, with horrible distortion emanating from
the speakers, and were swiftly dealt a ‘second to last’
twelfth position in the “ears” of the judges.
This year, Pantonic (pictured on stage)
played in the position most desired
by orchestras – last.
But despite that position, and the
crowd response after the five-time panorama champions’ performance, when points were tallied, and the highest
and lowest scores eliminated, the band with arranger Keith
Roberts was dropped into seventh place, just above
D’Radoes Steel Orchestra. And like the crowd response in
regard to D’Radoes, the audience again was extremely
vocal in their disapproval, prompting MC Jemma Jordan to
remark half-teasingly that she knew “we all believed we
could judge panorama.” Like ADLIB and Sonatas before
them, a walk through the crowd evidenced thoughts from
many that Pantonic, too, were strong contenders for the
panorama title.
Playing in second position were defending champions
Sonatas (pictured on stage) who put on an extremely tight performance on
beautifully blended ‘Birch’ pan instruments which most
assuredly pleased not only their most ardent supporters,
but the crowd in general. They were also crowd favorites
but merited only third place by the time the high and
low scores were dropped from two of the five
adjudicators.
It is usually challenging for an orchestra
somewhat smaller in size to follow on stage after a
large and powerful band such as Sonatas, and this was the case for
Sesame Flyers. Additionally, Sesame chose to follow in
the footsteps of Trinidad and Tobago’s Exodus steel
orchestra and perform without canopies.
There were two
differences between Sesame and Exodus, however. The
latter probably took the stage with the full one hundred
and twenty musicians allowed in the Trinidad and Tobago
panorama competition, and additionally used cascading
“risers” to showcase their players as they performed. With neither of the aforementioned factors in play for
Sesame Flyers at the New York panorama, their appearance
did not have the impact that they might have hoped for. Nonetheless, the band delivered a spirited and credible
rendition of “Hooked” for their eventual position of
sixth.
Rumors abounded during the last days, and even up to
competition time that Crossfire Steel Orchestra
(pictured) would
not put in an appearance for the 2008 panorama
event. After all they were hunting for a panyard
with just a little more than two weeks to go before the big
day. This contributed in large measure to their very
small representation on stage – a mere shadow of the
2007 band.
But with new arranger
Khuent Rose who
determinedly and competently took the very small band
through their practice paces, and veteran leader Martin
“Dougie” Douglas who is no stranger to hard times,
Crossfire still made it to the museum grounds. While
eventually placing last out of the field of nine
competitors can be daunting, it was commendable that the
band possessed musicians resilient enough to prove
naysayers wrong for 2008.
There were several now-familiar names among
the adjudicators (pictured),
some of whom have been
regulars over recent years, including returnees from
last year: Judith de Four-Howard, Ezra Joseph and
Franklyn
Grant who now joined Tommy Crichlow and Jeff Smits to
round out the five-person panel. Another face well-known
on the New York panorama adjudication circuit - that of
Wade Robinson (adjudicated last year) - was present as
well, but this time in the capacity of ‘time keeper.’
Maryland-based Keith Preddie was tasked with the
tallying of the scores. Each orchestra had the
opportunity to amass a total of one hundred points, with
forty going toward arrangement, another forty to general
performance, ten focused on the quality of sound, and
the last ten points dedicated to the area of rhythm.
Almost every competitive event has its controversies,
and over the years of competing at the WIADCA panorama
competition, several New York orchestras have, on many
occasions, been openly disgruntled over results and 2008
was no different. In 2007, disconcerting discrepancies
even caused the normally reticent Despers USA to
go on
record last year as to what they believed were
unprofessional and inconsistent judicial practices which
they felt were reflected both by the lack of comments on
two out of the five judges’ score sheets, and what
appeared to be an invalid score sheet – one which was
not signed , or therefore not validated by one judge.
Last year all five judges’ scores counted toward the
final result – none were dropped. While that method in
itself fermented discord, bands which compete every year
at this competition at least deserve the respect of a
transparent and proven system that would fairly assess
their performances. But Despers USA, though, had to be
fairly pleased with its achievements this year – fourth
place –
their best showing in six years.
The selection of judges is mainly from the
same
familiar pool every year, resulting sometimes in
several personnel returning on an annual basis - these
adjudicators who, most, if not all of the bands’
management have not a clue as to their certain
identities, until their names are announced at the
event. The management of the competing orchestras
generally voice despair over this situation, and some
even question the competence and/or objectivity of said
judges. This situation is capped off with the recurrent
complaints about the sound system which many feel colors
the eventual output of the steel orchestras, and
subsequently impacts on the fair adjudication process.
So one would wonder why New York steel orchestras keep
returning to the competition year after year without
guaranteed change. Simple – with no other apparent
avenue to channel their competitive juices in an attempt
to show off their musical prowess, they resignedly put
out financially, over the season and eventually for
their panorama run – much more money than is at stake
even for the championship itself.
So if the afore-mentioned grievances are taken into
consideration, and play out year after year for the
steel orchestras at panorama time, it would appear that
the orchestras are simply hoping for the best each
panorama season – and not solely based on the work they
put in, and their musical aptitude – which should be
case. The bands take a chance when they draw for playing
positions, most desperately hoping they never draw the
almost doomed position of numero uno. Next – if they
dodge that bullet, they still pray that the sound system
does not horribly distort their musical presentation
being judged. And finally, they hope that their
adjudicators will be honest. Russian roulette, anyone?
Back to the panorama stage and the band which competed
after Despers USA – CASYM Steel Orchestra, who snatched
the second prize. CASYM keeps a relatively low profile
during the panorama season; their panyard does not
usually see crowds on the magnitude of that of other New
York panyards; but when this band appears at the museum
– they turn up the heat, with attire and presentation to
match. And as far as the judges were concerned this year
– that was good enough for second place.
Now - while history shows that there is only one point
that separated winners ADLIB (276) from CASYM (275), it
must be kept in mind again that this was the result of
the elimination of the highest and lowest scores of the
five judges, and therefore the result of three judges’
figures. Many believed that the separation between
those two bands was more than a mere point. So:
one wonders what the scores looked like from the five
judges in total. There should be some consistency from
year to year as to what rule of thumb is applied for the
adjudication system at this competition; as noted before
all five scores were used last year.
A one hundred-player strong Harmony Steel Orchestra
(pictured on stage) followed CASYM
as the penultimate band in the competition.
Fielding
excited, confident and mainly young people in its ranks,
many of Harmony’s members felt that they should have won
last year. They were sure that in 2008 the
panorama title would be theirs, and the band’s players
took on all comers playing “Hooked,” co-composed by
their arranger Ken “Professor” Philmore. As every other
orchestra that evening, Harmony’s final result was
determined by the judges. For their efforts, the
group went on to share fourth place honors with Despers
USA. Imitating the latter, it also turned out to
be
Harmony’s highest placing in the last six years.
Other than the bit-longer-than-usual period that elapsed
between the first and second bands, all went along in a
respectable time for the evening. Because of the
2:00 a.m. “lights-out” policy, the
panorama results were delivered more quickly than
has been the norm.
At
the end of it all, another New York panorama has come,
and gone, with the exhilarated champions ADLIB Steel
Orchestra (pictured on stage)
obviously being the happiest of all. They shed the most
tears that night – tears of sheer joy, for the road they
travelled to that moment in time. Eighteen year-old
Andre White who arranged the band’s winning selection
“Heat” has been a member of ADLIB since the age of five,
and proudly shared in the wondrous sensations of the
band’s accomplishments. It was also an apt plateau to
launch the youngster into his Fall 2008 freshman year at
the prestigious Berklee College of Music.
Like other bands, ADLIB endured their share of
disappointment in previous years while competing in the
panorama - but this year – it was their turn to shine.
Like other bands, they will most probably be back at the
museum grounds next year, as they defend their title.
And because of the all-consuming passion for the pan art
form that courses fervently through the veins as soon as
the season begins - one can be sure that the steel
orchestras – against all odds – will find a way to put
on a helluva show - one more time.
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2008 New
York Panorama-related Articles, Video, Pictures
