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Trinidad and Tobago Steelband Music Festival EXODUS WINS AGAIN!
By Terry Joseph Exodus Steel Orchestra on Saturday night successfully defended its local Steelband Music Festival supremacy, adding that title to a streak of equally prestigious victories chalked up during the past few years. Conquests by the Tunapuna-based band over that period include the Champion of the 20th Century Champions in 2000, national Panorama titles of 2001,2003 and 2004, the Caribbean Panorama of 2002 and World Steelband Music Festival of that year, and last year's 40th Anniversary Panorama championship. Sub-titled Pan is Beautiful Ten, Saturday night's contest took nearly seven hours to determine which four orchestras will represent Trinidad and Tobago at the final round of the World Steelband Festival, scheduled for England in May/June next year. Apart from Exodus, the local contingent will now include TT Defence Force, TCL Group Skiffle Bunch and Courts Sound Specialists of Laventille, who copped second, third and fourth places (respectively), wresting the opportunity from pre-show top four favourites BWIA Invaders and Solo Pan Knights. Scoring 544 for its rendition of Giacchino Rossini's "Overture to Semiramide" and the test-piece (Kitchener's "Pan in A Minor"), Exodus not only topped both aspects of the contest but scorched a blistering 17-point lead over Defence Force Steel Orchestra and established a distance of more than 113 ahead of Birdsong, who finished on the trailing edge. The win, which earns Exodus US$25,000 is a badge of reward for what manager Ainsworth Mohammed described as "more than six months of enthusiasm, dedication and intensive rehearsals," reflecting the combined guidance of musicologist Dr Pat Bishop, house arranger Pelham Goddard and Venezuelan conductor Jesus Acosta. In fact, the Exodus win not only trounced contesting steelbands at the Jean Pierre Complex but was achieved in the face of overwhelming competition from the Joey Lewis Orchestra playing a fete across the street at the St John's Ambulance Hall, which overpowered the band's quiet passages during the Rossini interpretation and similarly jeopardized the dynamics of its work on the test-piece. It was perhaps the clearest argument yet for a permanent home for pan performances in the classical idiom, a case that may have to be made afresh as, when the Joey Lewis jam accomplished full bore, Acting Prime Minister (and substantive Culture Minister) Joan Yuille-Williams had already left the arena to fellow Cabinet colleagues of less relevant portfolios, Pennelope Beckles and Rennie Dumas. Staying the distance was Minister of State in the Culture Ministry, Eddie Hart, who assisted with distribution of awards. It was just a few minutes shy of 2 am yesterday when Pan Trinbago Education Officer Denise Hernandez trotted out the results before a residual audience which had, by then, dwindled to about 200. In fact, patronage never did better than doubling the 500 performers from 12 participating orchestras, giving fire officials no cause for alarm except when two mild earthquake shocks were felt around 9.40 pm. Pan Trinbago president Patrick Arnold yesterday said he was at his wits end trying to deduce precisely what should be done to attract larger houses to festival type presentations. "A large part of the audience was distinctly foreign and when that contingent left we were down to just the diehards," Arnold said. "While it is true that classical music concerts and symphony orchestras are struggling worldwide, the pan element used to have its own attraction but that too seems to be on the wane in this context and we may have to revisit the concept altogether if we are to keep this aspect alive." Those who did come were well entertained, among them Lawford Dupres, Nicholas Inniss, Ken Gordon and Kenny de Silva. Audience complaint was restricted to lament over protracted breaks between performances and a 20-minute intermission, albeit the latter was necessary for adjudicators to refresh themselves. Indeed, only one band exceed playing-time stipulation, having unwisely included Tchaikowsky's exhaustive "1812 Overture" in its set. Saturday's playoff marked 56 years since pan was first included in the Biennial Trinidad and Tobago Music Festival, its evolution and global embrace perhaps best marked by the presence of two foreign musical conductors and arrangers (Acosta and Dr Jeannine Remy), coupled with the fact that three of the 12 classical tunes of choice were penned by locals; two of which (Cary Codrington's "From Kumasi to La Trinidad" and Len 'Boogsie' Sharpe's "Echoes of War") made it into the top four.
Complete 2004 New York Panorama Info
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