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A Look at 2017 Trinidad & Tobago Panorama Through the WST Forum Posts of S.F. Thomas aka “Big Sid”

by S.F. Thomas aka “Big Sid”

Trinidad good morning....
Show them how we does jump up
Show them how we does free up
Tobago good morning....
Show them how we does jump up
Show them how we does free up

‘Good Morning’ sung by Peter Ram, composed by Jovan James

Bugs,
You might be right, although I never saw Boogsie's genius as being complacent. Restless is more like it. But you're right that his genius is easily provoked. Given challenge, you can count on genius to respond. Consider Lara, consider Muhammad Ali.

Trinidad steelband panorama, from its founding, was set up as a genius-vs-genius, who-better-than-who, kind of contest. Where else in the world has such a format persisted, I wonder? So I doubt very much that Boogsie's inclination is to be complacent. Even with all the laurels, genius has a way of calling attention to itself, and sometimes positively to seek it. The very name of his band -- Phase II -- calls attention to something new and avant garde. All these many years later, Boogsie's genius calls attention to itself, even if now, older and wiser, Boogsie projects a mellowed humility.

I for one do not resent his genius. But he has had many detractors who take the evidence of his genius as intrinsically a character flaw -- the desire merely to show off. That is the burden of genius. It calls attention to itself, even if the genius in question is a very humble guy.

Bradley and Jit also were geniuses, and I would definitely add Smooth to that illustrious company. But somehow none of these were seen as show-offs. Why that is is a good question. The same kind of issue surrounded Lara and Ali to take just two examples.

In the present, musical context, I think it has to do with the nature of a folk music and a folk art more generally. One way for genius to assert itself is by taking the art outside of the “zone of comfort” as you call it. That is what Boogsie's muse called upon him to do. Or maybe he was in fact being a show-off. Why not? Genius is entitled. But that kind of expression of it will be certain to evoke the resentment of the folk who are in some sense the keepers of the folk art, of the cultural flame. Outsiders like Andy stir resentment for the same reason.

The contrast with a Clive or a Smooth is clear. Their genius did not stray from the idioms of the folk art. In some ways that is the tougher task. How do you stay well within crease, yet stretch the boundaries? That clearly is a tough call for the artist.

Jit in his genius also stretched the boundaries, but in a modest sort of way because he put a sort of classical discipline to an art form that tended, at its best and worst, to be loose at the edges. He was able to keep the excitement of the art form, perhaps even enhance its expression, by observing the niceties of classical architecture and expression. So in that way his genius did not come across as that of the show off. Quite the opposite, his genius lay in restraint.

The great artist, whether a cook, a tailor, an automotive designer, or a musician, will at some point learn the power of restraint. Too much bay-leaf will spoil the stew, too much flash will spoil the suit.

In music, the performer must establish his authority in the first two notes. I remember once at the New Orleans Music Festival seeing Wyclef Jean struggling for an hour and failing, to be followed by Hugh Masakela, who let us know in two notes that here was a master.

So Jit's genius lay in what he left out. Boogsie is well able, both as performer and arranger, to establish his authority in two notes, but then he proceeds to take you out of the musical crease of the folk art. Some will love it, some will hate it.

But Boogsie's genius IMO does not tend to complacency. It is a restless, bubbling kind of genius, tumbling over itself to come out.

Jit's work tended to complacency, perhaps because it worked too well, and the judges loved and rewarded it handsomely for perhaps a year too many. It is perhaps a good thing that Boogsie was made to work harder for recognition, so never lapsed into a same ol' same ol' sort of pattern.

Zanda I'm still trying to work out. I suspect he might more likely lapse into a repetitive formula. His music is new (?) and different, but very much in folk art crease, if anything looking backwards to reconnect to the deep ancestral roots of the “folk”.

Bradley was totally in folk-music crease. He might as well have been arranging for the brass bands that pre-dated the steelbands. His music had the sophistication and exuberabce, both, of musical giants like Pal Joey, Dutchy Brothers, and the other exponents of that ilk and before, but brought over to the steelband. So he was true to at least two genres of the folk music, and so resonated deeply with the “folk”. He also straddled the generations, and could appeal to the generation before the one that came of age with pan. Part of his genius was to take the new and turn it back upon the past, staying doubly well within folk art. This was not new direction. This was rediscovery of the old, using the new art form of the pan.

Zanda may be rediscovering the old also, but harking back to generations so far back that they resonate really only as ancestral memories somewhere in the blood. Not even Holly Betaudier (God bless his soul) could take us back that far.

So what is the sum of what I'm struggling to say? Thanks for bearing with me this far. 1) I don't think Boogsie would ever be complacent. 2) Zanda is taking us in a direction which is certainly working and I applaud. 3) The others might well have gotten a little stuck in a rut. 4) We've had one golden age in pan already ('80s and '90s), we might well have another, with the creative tussle once again involving Boogsie and his new directions veering out of folk-music crease, but perhaps now involving a “re-harmonization” :), through Zanda, with a deep musical folk-music past.

The judges, in their collective wisdom, may have a great say in how the tussle unfolds. I honour Boogsie, his art and his genius, but musically and culturally, I have to lean in favour of the folk-music, especially in the context of Panorama. Outside of that context, I welcome andynarization. (Andy has done some great work with Calypsociation and others, and I applaud what is happening elsewhere with the pan. Every culture must put some of its own blood and musical tradition into the pan when they embrace it as their own. That's a topic on its own.) It would be interesting to see how Boogsie responds if the judges find in Zanda's favour, as they're now leaning. In any case, music, sweet music, is the winner.

- Big Sid

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Boogsie's arrangement started off well enough. But then somehow it went off the rails in the middle passages. He tried to fix it after the semis, but the result was even worse than before. It had neither the sweetness of a good pudding, nor the spiciness of a great stew.

Except for the quality of the introduction and the first verse and chorus, he could have been placed even lower. This is Boogsie's failure as arranger, not the band's. The musicianship of the players is first class, and the tonal quality of the pans is not an issue. The arrangement did not succeed, and Boogsie's placement reflected that. IMO the judges were not making a statement as such; they fairly judged the music on offer.

Still, it is right to raise an issue. Boogsie insists on taking the artform off-centre. He has succeeded brilliantly in the past with that, “More Love” being one still recent example. T&T perhaps needed that message of sweetness and light then, and so he was well rewarded. But to go off centre like that the absolute requirement is that the music and the arrangement itself must soar. If that doesn't happen, the judges must give the nod to the on-spot, on-centre elements of the genre. This is a carnival event after all.

I say that as one that is more a fan of Phase II down the years than a critic, btw.

It is unusual for Boogsie, but he had an off year. And it had nothing to do with airplay as someone already opined. Nor the quality of production of the calypso. That tune is still potentially the basis of a great panorama arrangement. Just not in the direction that Boogsie thought he could take it.

There may have been a disconnect between the lyrics and the music as Boogsie conceived it. The lyrics are party lyrics. But the music seemed to be searching for something deeper... Hence he may have been in two minds, hence the arrangement fell between the stools.

The choice was whether to go bouncy as a party tune, or go sweet as a beautiful piece of music. In the indecision, his muse deserted him, and the arrangement ended up being neither pudding nor stew. It started off spicy, tried to go sweet, and in the end was just a pointless mush.

The same question will recur for Boogsie as he dusts himself off and comes back again. Obviously it will be a harder task in general to create a beautiful piece of original music every time, as opposed to recycling a well-worn formula, like Smooth, to produce a great bouncy party arrangement.

On another note, the quality of the Panorama was in general quite high. The judges had a hard job, but I think they got it more or less right. I would have rewarded Ardinn with a higher placement. Otherwise, I have no problem.

One other point: Duvonne was well deserving in the medium category as to his music. Butttt... I'm not with him as to his comment to an interviewer about the “roots of 'our' culture”, somehow identifying that with “Roti and talkaree”. What!!? The young panists might better learn about the kind of men (ol' niggas in the best sense of that term) that went with TASPO to England in 1951 (or whenever). No disrespect to the Indian contribution to T&T culture, but in pan that's another matter. And definitely no disrespect to Crazy, who has produced some great music over the years, much of it under-rated, including “Roti and Talkaree”.

-Big Sid


Zanda's arrangement was superb. It would take a musicologist to break it down and show us all the bits. I can only give an overall appreciation as a musical “consumer”.

His arrangement had a lot of stuff happening in the lower registers. His music is not off-centre in terms of the art-form, but it seems to somehow reach deeper into what may be ancestral memories. I can't explain it, except to say that it escapes the conscious, but somehow registers with the sub-conscious. Does that make sense? If not, suffice it to say that there is a depth to the music, at the same time that it works at the surface level of an exciting Panorama piece.

Despers fans might be queasy about it because it seems, not avant garde, but so retro as to be the same as if... Whe' he goin' wid dat!?

Wherever he is going, let him. Despers fans represent the centre of the art-form with that Bradley heritage. So yes, I'm sure there'll be a queasiness. It was the same kind of queasiness that Boogsie brought to the lovers of the art-form. He wasn't *given* any rope with which to metaphorically hang himself. Rather, he had to form a whole new band to do the exploration that was necessary.

The result was that the musical centre of the art-form shifted ... correction, no, expanded ,,, to include what Boogsie brought to the table. Likewise, Zanda may be somehow deepening the centre.

Btw, talking about Boogsie and his going off-centre... Arddin used a beautiful line from one of Boogsie's old pieces as Invaders performed “Full extreme”. Arddin's arrangement was on-point and on-centre, and as I already opined should have been rated higher. But embedded within that arrangement was a Boogsie riff that took us back to the 80s/90s. So that would be my evidence that Boogsie, after several decades, had somehow succeeded in broadening the centre of the art-form.

But centre-centre is owned by Smooth and Trinidad All Stars. TASSO is true to its name. What other band has “Trinidad” in its name, after all? Everyone else can go off and explore. Smooth stays at the centre. And like Adolphus, who would always roam, only always to come back home, Trinidad (and Tobago) must somehow always come back to TASSO. That's where the national spirit is when it comes to pan and Panorama. That's what 'Woman on the Bass' represents ... the artistic, and perhaps spiritual, centre of the art-form.

Definitely Smooth did not disappoint. It is easy to under-rate Smooth as just doing the same-ol' same-ol'. There's truth in that. But it is not easy to take a seemingly simple party song, and wuk it up to where even an analytical musicologist has to just give up and give in to the lure and magic of the music. That's Smooth's genius. It's what he did with 'Woman on the bass, 'Curry Tabanca', and any number of other tunes. He gets us to throw our hands in de air, and get on like we just don't care....

On that basis alone, Smooth well deserved to win. He brought us back home to centre-centre. Arddin did well in that same way. But TASSO is TASSO. They still have the most charismatic front-line in the business. Bar none. No offense to younger and fresher talent in any number of bands.

So to your question. Would the results have been reversed if playing positions were reversed? Very possibly. At position no. 10, TASSO came to shut down the competition. Exodus got the graveyard position coming after TASSO, who basically dun' the competition, or as the Americans might say, put a fork in it, it's done! In the same position, I could see Despers basically doing the same. Or Invaders come to think of it, although for whatever reason they've never won a Panorama. (Invaders IMO is the best band never to win Panorama. I think.)

This observation forces me to suggest a change in rule. Let the winner of the semis pick playing position for the Finals. And let the other bands pick in order of semis placement, on down the line.

For what it's worth...

-Big Sid

P.S.
“Arddin used a beautiful line from one of Boogsie's old pieces as Invaders performed “Full extreme”.”

The riff was from Phase II, Fire down below, 1989. See Invaders' piece ca. the 8:00 minute mark... I could detect another couple of riffs from Boogsie also I think but can't put my finger on them exactly...


 

Dear Pan Times:
Before saying anything else, let me say thank you for When Steel Talks. This is an enormous labour, and I'm glad that somebody is doing it. More than Pan Trinbago yours is the site of record for what is happening in the pan world. I for one want to commend you ... When one does good work, be sure that there is *always* someone looking...

Re Duvonne and Renegades, the same applies.

Music is a hard business for those who see it as competition, as we most certainly do in T&T. Few achieve the rank of maestro. And among those that do, all maestros are not created equal. Few attain the pinnacle. Many more come close to the summit, but cannot scale the peak. They even find they have to compete with memories of the dead-but-not-forgotten.

There is a poignant scene in the movie, Amadeus, where Salieri, a maestro in his own right, laments his mediocrity next to Mozart. Centuries later, Mozart is still an object of comparison, so high was the bar he set.

In T&T, we are gifted with so much talent, we wear it lightly and take it for granted. Most of us have no idea that T&T can compete with the best in the world, and in multiple genres.

Duvonne is one of those supremely gifted musicians that T&T has produced. And he knows it. He is now established as a maestro, as well as performer, of the first rank. He can hold his own with anybody, period. He is no longer an ingenue, testing himself. His misfortune is precisely what you suggest: it's crowded at the top.

In boxing or cricket or any other number of human endeavours, the young lion merely has to bide his time. Marciano could take down an aging Archie Moore. A relative nonentity took down the great Muhammad Ali; I can't even remember the fellow's name.

But in music, the older greats, if anything, get better with age. Even in death they still provide competition, as our memories enlarge rather than diminish them. Duvonne is world-class. But to be given his full props, he has to compete with Boogsie, Smooth, Zanda, among others, not to mention the memory of Bradley and Jit.

He is no longer a young lion; he is now a proven entity. But it is the nature of the music business that he is ...still...a young maestro. He need have no concern that he is not being given his due. He has been well rewarded in the medium category, vaulting over any number of older heads. But in the large-band category, it is natural that the young maestro not so easily displace the older ones that still have at their command all kinds of tricks, not to mention the power of reputation and its ability in itself to dazzle.

But as to sheer gift and talent. suffice it to say Duvonne is no Salieri. He need not look around at any older (or younger) lion and lament his own mediocrity. He need not see himself as second to anybody else.

Nevertheless, word to the wise: the older maestro tends to be a better master of timing, and restraint. Bradley was a master of both. The same kind of skill is needed in a batsman; the good one always seems as if he has plenty of time. In music, the evidence of this skill is that you have the listener hanging on every note, and the dancer thrilling to the musical ebb and flow. Sheer musical dexterity is part of the mix, but not all of it. The younger maestro can defeat himself with over-eagerness and getting too involved in his own head. I don't know if that makes sense.

Given the competition, a third position in the Panorama is a huge victory for Renegades and Duvonne. Give it time. The young maestro will assuredly scale the summit. For sure, his talent has not gone unnoticed. Btw, the same goes for Mia. But that's another story...

-Big Sid


 

Bugs:
I wasn't going to say anything about Supernovas or Tropical Angel Harps, as I thought my 2 cents really couldn't stretch that far...

But since you ask, here's my take on why these two bands bring up the rear. They both were working good tunes. That's not the issue. The musicianship also is not the issue, although they don't dazzle as much as the Big 5. The problem in both cases is arrangement. With good arrangement I'm sure the musicianship would be more than adequate.

The problem as I see it is timing, in the following specific sense:

It is entirely akin to timing in the love-making sense. Sorry to go there, but I sense we are all adults here, and only a few of us are given to political correctness. To satisfy a partner your timing has to be on point. Every move you make elicits a response. Based on that feedback, you know when to make your next move. And what your next move should be. Whether to up the pressure, or release the pressure. You're building to a satisfying climax. That is the metaphor for the kind of musical timing I'm talking about.

How that works is entirely up to the musical imagination and sensitivity of the arranger.

There is a rude expression in our language: how it hang is so it swing. That's what I'm talking about. Smooth has all the required sensitivity. Whether the whole arrangement comes fully formed in the arranger's imagination, or he works it out over weeks in the panyard, there must always be a pull-back (no pun intended) to see the whole, and whether the timing in the sense I've explained, is working. If the imagination is not well wired in that regard, then the “swing” will only match the “hang” of the imagination.

That's very abstract. Let me get more specific. Amrit's piece struck me as a Christmas tree, full of ornaments and ornamentation. But the “hang” in it doesn't allow the piece to “swing”. He is like a lover running too quickly from position to position frustrating the hell out of his partner.

He has to learn timing. How to build pressure, and when to release it. His father was good at that, check out Bees' Melody, Iron Man, even Pan in A Minor. This last worked so well in part because it was a masterpiece, not of ornamentation, but of restraint, and using restraint to build pressure. Amrit has all the technical elements, the trick now is to learn the kind of timing I'm talking about.

As I said, the same applies to Clarence Morris and Angel Harps. He too has all the elements, but it's putting them together to good effect that's the problem.

In Sun Tzu's Art of War, he says the wise general must know himself and he must know his enemy. If he knows one but not the other, he may win 50% of his battles. If he knows both, he can win 100%.

Smooth's success is that of the wise general. He too has all the elements. In addition, he knows what it takes to build the excitement of the musical piece to a satisfying climax. In a word, the answer is timing, and pressure, its build-up and release. Zanda also. Boogsie for sure, as demonstrated in a highly off-centre way with such as Birthday Party and Jam meh up, as just two examples. There must be a clear forward movement. Exactly as in chess, there must be no wasted move. Each move must build, or release, pressure. If all you have is a Christmas tree full or ornaments, but no emotional dynamic within a forward movement toward a final climax and musical resolution, the arrangement will fail, however beautiful the ornamentation. That is the problem of Amrit, and Clarence Morris, both.

Sun Tzu also said that the general that knows neither himself nor the enemy will lose every battle. I will not say that that applies either to Amrit or Clarence. They are both capable men, and certainly capable of success. But to get into the top 5 they're going to have to improve in “hang”, and therefore “swing”.

It don't mean a thing / unless it got dat swing...

That exhausts my 2 cents as to those two.

I'll just add the following about Yohan Popwell, who along with Duvonne, was outstanding in the medium category, with his arrangement of “Stranger”. This fellow knows his music, he knows timing. He learnt his music from Bradley, I heard him say. Obviously, he learnt a lot. He won NY Panorama some few years ago with Pan Sonatas, playing Bandoleros; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSFKy9osHYM . That piece succeeds brilliantly in the kind of timing I'm talking about. I'm surprised he has not found a home arranging for a large band, he should do well.

I mention him to lead to another, small, point. The old guard is wending its way off-stage. They are being succeeded by a young brigade who have now proven themselves: Duvonne, Seion, Arddin, Amrit, Yohan, Clarence, Liam, in no particular order. With these, the art form will be in good hands for many years to come. With such as Mia following hard behind, I could hope the art form will be taken to even higher heights than already attained by the founding greats.

My 3 cents' worth, humbly submitted.

- Big Sid


 

Sidd:
You make some good points, with most of which I find I can agree, especially about Boogsie and his genius. As to the politics, I have been very much out of the loop, and cannot speak to that. But what you say makes sense.

Where I disagree with you is on the “folk-art” characterization. Every folk art is subject to drift. Musical trends and influences touch every folk art, moreso in this modern age than at any other time in history, for obvious reasons. But granting such drift, the idea of a “folk art” remains one that helps to describe reality... not only for Panorama, but also for other musical genres.

Sometimes the drift represents such a large change, that a split is required, like calypso vs. soca. The panorama genre has certainly undergone musical drift, with Boogsie himself being one of the agents of change.

I remember when he did “Jam meh up”. That was panorama music, certainly, but it represented a big change. There was melody yes, but it was, well, elusive. But as music, this remains one of Boogsie's most compelling and intricate pieces. I remember once comparing it to Ravel's “Bolero”; Boogsie did not suffer in the comparison. But I digress.

The point is that one can have musical drift, yet nevertheless still have some clear idea as to where lies the *centre* of some musical artform. You can't have “drift”, unless you have some notion of where you're drifting from. In that simple sense, panorama as musical artform has a centre.

You can place Bradley at the centre. You can place the old Smooth at the centre. Jit would also be placed very near centre. Compared to all of these, Boogsie is off centre. I won't argue how much, because there is no metric that may be used for the purpose, and nor can there be. But I would wager all panorama aficionados, including Boogsie, would agree with me.

Birdsong is an interesting off-cenre case by itself. It has tended to be off centre for the simple reason that its members seek to place themselves in a sort of international musical mainstream. It does not mean they disdain the folk art, but they embrace international norms of schools, conservatories, cross-over and all that. Andy Narell helped in that endeavour, as did other Birdsong maestros. They produced great “music”, but they did not produce great panorama music. They were too off-centre.

I do not condemn Birdsong for that. (I'm still looking forward to listening to Mia Gormany's effort with them this year, I'm a fan of hers.) But neither do I condemn the judges for enforcing some kind of discipline for the time being as to where lies the centre and what is really too far from centre.

Panorama is not jazz, although I readily admit that some arrangers exemplify the jazz polarity, Boogsie among them. Panorama is not classical music, although I readily admit that some arrangers exemplify the classical polarity, with Jit the best exemplar in the panorama context.

I say all that to maintain that panorama as an art form is a genre all its own. It is quintessentially a folk art, because that is how it developed. It did not come out of conservatories and schools. It came from the “folk”. Yes, it is subject to all sorts of musical influences. That is one of its strengths. But there is a centre to it.

Smooth's “Hammer” probably represents the high point of the genre. That together with his “Woman on the bass” define the musical centre of the art form as “folk art”. Bradley's “Rebecca” likewise is at the musical centre. Along with his “Stranger” (NY Panorama, Pantonics, whatever year that was), these are at or close to the high point, as well as the centre, of the panorama art form. Slightly off-centre and near the high point is Jit's “Pan in A Minor”. Distinctly off-centre are any number of Boogsie's own offerings, with the afore-mentioned “Jam meh up” being perhaps most notable for its “strangeness” when first it was offered. Boogsie is in a class by himself, no question. He has generally maintained a consistently high standard of originality and musicality. It's hard even for me to say what was his “best”. Any number of his offerings are near the high point of the art, just off-centre in terms of the “folk art”.

- Big Sid

 
 
Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 14, 2017 at 2:56pm
 
Thank you, Adrian, for this post. It's a great service to put it all on the record.

It's especially helpful for those such as I who have been away from the scene.

I'm working my way through it.

I see you put Phase 2 at the top of the list. I wonder why:) This is certainly music of a high order, with musicianship to match. The only trouble I see is the issue of genre. Is this a Panorama tune, Panorama plus, or Panorama minus? Musical influences and trends being what they are, I think I agree with the poster that said something (on another blog somewhere) to the effect that Boogsie has been andynarized,

Like the judges, I was impressed by Zanda's work with Despers. I've liked Zanda at least since “I'm not drunk” with Deltones. He's on to something. I'll let the musicologists tell us exactly what.

I'm working my way through the others...

-Big Sid


Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 15, 2017 at 2:43pm
Bugs,

You might be right, although I never saw Boogsie's genius as being complacent. Restless is more like it. But you're right that his genius is easily provoked. Given challenge, you can count on genius to respond. Consider Lara, consider Muhammad Ali.

Trinidad steelband panorama, from its founding, was set up as a genius-vs-genius, who-better-than-who, kind of contest. Where else in the world has such a format persisted, I wonder? So I doubt very much that Boogsie's inclination is to be complacent. Even with all the laurels, genius has a way of calling attention to itself, and sometimes positively to seek it. The very name of his band -- Phase II -- calls attention to something new and avant garde. All these many years later, Boogsie's genius calls attention to itself, even if now, older and wiser, Boogsie projects a mellowed humility.

I for one do not resent his genius. But he has had many detractors who take the evidence of his genius as intrinsically a character flaw -- the desire merely to show off. That is the burden of genius. It calls attention to itself, even if the genius in question is a very humble guy.

Bradley and Jit also were geniuses, and I would definitely add Smooth to that illustrious company. But somehow none of these were seen as show-offs. Why that is is a good question. The same kind of issue surrounded Lara and Ali to take just two examples.

In the present, musical context, I think it has to do with the nature of a folk music and a folk art more generally. One way for genius to assert itself is by taking the art outside of the “zone of comfort” as you call it. That is what Boogsie's muse called upon him to do. Or maybe he was in fact being a show-off. Why not? Genius is entitled. But that kind of expression of it will be certain to evoke the resentment of the folk who are in some sense the keepers of the folk art, of the cultural flame. Outsiders like Andy stir resentment for the same reason.

The contrast with a Clive or a Smooth is clear. Their genius did not stray from the idioms of the folk art. In some ways that is the tougher task. How do you stay well within crease, yet stretch the boundaries? That clearly is a tough call for the artist.

Jit in his genius also stretched the boundaries, but in a modest sort of way because he put a sort of classical discipline to an art form that tended, at its best and worst, to be loose at the edges. He was able to keep the excitement of the art form, perhaps even enhance its expression, by observing the niceties of classical architecture and expression. So in that way his genius did not come across as that of the show off. Quite the opposite, his genius lay in restraint.

The great artist, whether a cook, a tailor, an automotive designer, or a musician, will at some point learn the power of restraint. Too much bay-leaf will spoil the stew, too much flash will spoil the suit.

In music, the performer must establish his authority in the first two notes. I remember once at the New Orleans Music Festival seeing Wyclef Jean struggling for an hour and failing, to be followed by Hugh Masakela, who let us know in two notes that here was a master.

So Jit's genius lay in what he left out. Boogsie is well able, both as performer and arranger, to establish his authority in two notes, but then he proceeds to take you out of the musical crease of the folk art. Some will love it, some will hate it.

But Boogsie's genius IMO does not tend to complacency. It is a restless, bubbling kind of genius, tumbling over itself to come out.

Jit's work tended to complacency, perhaps because it worked too well, and the judges loved and rewarded it handsomely for perhaps a year too many. It is perhaps a good thing that Boogsie was made to work harder for recognition, so never lapsed into a same ol' same ol' sort of pattern.

Zanda I'm still trying to work out. I suspect he might more likely lapse into a repetitive formula. His music is new (?) and different, but very much in folk art crease, if anything looking backwards to reconnect to the deep ancestral roots of the “folk”.

Bradley was totally in folk-music crease. He might as well have been arranging for the brass bands that pre-dated the steelbands. His music had the sophistication and exuberabce, both, of musical giants like Pal Joey, Dutchy Brothers, and the other exponents of that ilk and before, but brought over to the steelband. So he was true to at least two genres of the folk music, and so resonated deeply with the “folk”. He also straddled the generations, and could appeal to the generation before the one that came of age with pan. Part of his genius was to take the new and turn it back upon the past, staying doubly well within folk art. This was not new direction. This was rediscovery of the old, using the new art form of the pan.

Zanda may be rediscovering the old also, but harking back to generations so far back that they resonate really only as ancestral memories somewhere in the blood. Not even Holly Betaudier (God bless his soul) could take us back that far.

So what is the sum of what I'm struggling to say? Thanks for bearing with me this far. 1) I don't think Boogsie would ever be complacent. 2) Zanda is taking us in a direction which is certainly working and I applaud. 3) The others might well have gotten a little stuck in a rut. 4) We've had one golden age in pan already ('80s and '90s), we might well have another, with the creative tussle once again involving Boogsie and his new directions veering out of folk-music crease, but perhaps now involving a “re-harmonization” :), through Zanda, with a deep musical folk-music past.

The judges, in their collective wisdom, may have a great say in how the tussle unfolds. I honour Boogsie, his art and his genius, but musically and culturally, I have to lean in favour of the folk-music, especially in the context of Panorama. Outside of that context, I welcome andynarization. (Andy has done some great work with Calypsociation and others, and I applaud what is happening elsewhere with the pan. Every culture must put some of its own blood and musical tradition into the pan when they embrace it as their own. That's a topic on its own.) It would be interesting to see how Boogsie responds if the judges find in Zanda's favour, as they're now leaning. In any case, music, sweet music, is the winner.

- Big Sid


 
Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 15, 2017 at 5:49pm
Cecil,

I listened to Phase II again, and yes, it could use some work before the Finals. The introduction is good, the minor key is compelling, the chorus provides a nice recurring statement throughout, but the middle passages are weak and unconvincing, even with the tantrum-like ornamentation.

Boogsie will know what he has to do, I think. He has a way of pulling out the stops for the Final.

I would only suggest he might take the opportunity of a re-write to return more solidly to authentic Trini roots.

For example, instead of the throwing-a-musical-tantrum ornamentation in the middle passages he could better achieve the effect sought, by using the signature refrain of the carnival brass bands of old. David Rudder used that to good effect in the line: “we mad, we mad, we more than mad... st. ann's...” in that tune of his which title I forget at the moment. That might be more convincing, relevant to the theme, as well as making it more authentically a panorama tune.

It's only a thought. Next to Boogsie, what do I know ...?

- Big Sid


Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 17, 2017 at 12:44pm
 
Anthony,

By all means join the conversation.

Thanks for that spirited objection to the term andynarization. The coinage is unfortunate in suggesting that Boogsie is a copycat. That was not the sense in which I used it, since you're right and I'm well aware that Boogsie established himself and his genius long before anyone heard of Andy Narell.

Boogsie needs no defense in that regard, I would have thought.

If anyone's feelings are hurt, my apologies. There is a calypsonian strain in our culture that loves a provocative expression, and perhaps we too easily repeat them given that they can cause offense.

The sense in which I used the coinage was the sense, in its non-provocative aspect, in which I think the originator intended it, which was to suggest a drift away from the artistic centre of the art form.

That can be a “bad” thing if taken too far. I don't think Boogsie is guilty of that. His panorama pieces may tend toward the jazz polarity, but they're not jazz. Andy Narell's otoh...

- Big Sid

▶ Reply

 


 
Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 19, 2017 at 12:43pm
 
odw:

Thanks for that clip of Andy at eight years old playing pan already on American tv in 1963. Boogsie would have been 10 years old that year, and had not yet made a name for himself, except among those that knew him growing up! But Boogsie was already composing at the age of nine (http://www.seetobago.org/trinidad/pan/panpeep/pp33.htm). By the evidence of the clip about Andy, he was a bandleader already at the age of eight!

I think that we all can agree that both these guys are talented. I certainly without reservation use the term “genius” for Boogsie. I have not used it for Andy, perhaps because his genius seems to me somehow less bold than that of Boogsie.

But as I look back at Andy's work, it certainly impresses. As I mentioned before, he did some compelling work with Calypsociation (apparently in collaboration with some other French bands) playing Fam Matnik Dous (see Le Steeldream 1998 2eme partie starting at around 6:00 min. and see also Fam Matnic Dous to more obviously see his involvement).

In similar vein, he has done some compelling work with PANCH playing Differentology. This is just a sampling of his work that I particularly like.

So I give Andy well deserved credit, as I give Boogsie well deserved credit.

But here is the thing. Much as I love Andy's work, his contributions to Panorama (e.g. Coffee Street, Dis 1.4. Raf) have been underwhelming. Not because they lacked in musical quality. These are great, even outstanding, pieces of music. But they are jazz, not Panorama, pieces, considered as genre.

Panorama as genre requires a certain carnivalesque excitement, which these pieces lack. They are jazz pieces, studied in their almost abstract sophistication. They are not of and for the T&T carnival.

This is not at all to disparage Andy and his contribution. Steelpan as an artform in the broadest sense is wide enough to embrace pure classical at one polarity, pure jazz at the other polarity, and everything in-between. In that broader sense, Andy's impact has been huge in taking steelpan worldwide.

What I want to see more of as pan is exported to other cultures, is pan used to perform the traditional folk musics of other cultures. Here is one example of Pan in A minor played in Mauritian style.

Buttt... when it comes to Panorama, I think I'm with most Trinbagonians in being resistant to contributions, however excellent musically, that do not “fit” the Panorama genre in its narrow carnival aesthetic.

That essentially is what “andynarization” connotes. It is an unfortunate coinage, and I regret now having used it, because it too easily may be seen as dismissing not one, but two great men who have done great work which ought to be lauded and encouraged. Boogsie's contribution was revolutionary certainly, in moving the Panorama artform away from cultural and traditional centre. But Boogsie's music definitely was of the Panorama genre. Here I agree 100% with Sidd.

I was one who cheered Boogsie's victory in 1987 with “Dis feelin' nice”. History's judgment arguably is that Jit should have won with “Pan in A Minor”, but that has nothing to do with whether Boogsie was playing Panorama music as such.

That was 1987. Andy came on the Panorama scene much later, in 1999 (see http://www.andynarell.com/bio/).

So any idea that Boogsie is copycatting Andy is totally unfounded. That is the second reason why the coinage “andynarization” as it relates to Boogsie is misleading and unfortunate, and another reason why I regret having used the coinage. Boogsie is in no sense a copycat of Andy.

Buttt... Boogsie is close to that edge where the question may at least be posed whether he has gone so far off-centre that his music is no longer of the Panorama genre. I wouldn't put him outside the genre, and if anything his contribution may be seen as broadening the definition of where lies the centre.

That's fine. No living, vibrant artform can remain stagnant. Otherwise we fall into the same ol' same ol' trap. Nevertheless the pace of change ought to be managed. I think. In doing what they do, the judges inevitably, like it or not, dictate the pace of change. I respect those who argue for faster change, but I think that the judges have generally got it right over the years in balancing that tension between the old and the new.

- Big Sid

 


Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 16, 2017 at 4:16am
 
Thanks Bugs. Yes, I think we're in for a memorable Final this year. The music will be the winner, whatever the judges' placings.

Sidd is right that sometimes the judgment of history is different from the judges. But for the most part the judges do get it right.

In any case they play a great role in managing the pace of “drift” in the art form, by what they reward and punish... Zanda has been at it for a long time, and his “strangeness” is only now being rewarded, for example...

- Big Sid


Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 15, 2017 at 7:28pm
 
Sidd:

You make some good points, with most of which I find I can agree, especially about Boogsie and his genius. As to the politics, I have been very much out of the loop, and cannot speak to that. But what you say makes sense.

Where I disagree with you is on the “folk-art” characterization. Every folk art is subject to drift. Musical trends and influences touch every folk art, moreso in this modern age than at any other time in history, for obvious reasons. But granting such drift, the idea of a “folk art” remains one that helps to describe reality... not only for Panorama, but also for other musical genres.

Sometimes the drift represents such a large change, that a split is required, like calypso vs. soca. The panorama genre has certainly undergone musical drift, with Boogsie himself being one of the agents of change.

I remember when he did “Jam meh up”. That was panorama music, certainly, but it represented a big change. There was melody yes, but it was, well, elusive. But as music, this remains one of Boogsie's most compelling and intricate pieces. I remember once comparing it to Ravel's “Bolero”; Boogsie did not suffer in the comparison. But I digress.

The point is that one can have musical drift, yet nevertheless still have some clear idea as to where lies the *centre* of some musical artform. You can't have “drift”, unless you have some notion of where you're drifting from. In that simple sense, panorama as musical artform has a centre.

You can place Bradley at the centre. You can place the old Smooth at the centre. Jit would also be placed very near centre. Compared to all of these, Boogsie is off centre. I won't argue how much, because there is no metric that may be used for the purpose, and nor can there be. But I would wager all panorama aficionados, including Boogsie, would agree with me.

Birdsong is an interesting off-cenre case by itself. It has tended to be off centre for the simple reason that its members seek to place themselves in a sort of international musical mainstream. It does not mean they disdain the folk art, but they embrace international norms of schools, conservatories, cross-over and all that. Andy Narell helped in that endeavour, as did other Birdsong maestros. They produced great “music”, but they did not produce great panorama music. They were too off-centre.

I do not condemn Birdsong for that. (I'm still looking forward to listening to Mia Gormany's effort with them this year, I'm a fan of hers.) But neither do I condemn the judges for enforcing some kind of discipline for the time being as to where lies the centre and what is really too far from centre.

Panorama is not jazz, although I readily admit that some arrangers exemplify the jazz polarity, Boogsie among them. Panorama is not classical music, although I readily admit that some arrangers exemplify the classical polarity, with Jit the best exemplar in the panorama context.

I say all that to maintain that panorama as an art form is a genre all its own. It is quintessentially a folk art, because that is how it developed. It did not come out of conservatories and schools. It came from the “folk”. Yes, it is subject to all sorts of musical influences. That is one of its strengths. But there is a centre to it.

Smooth's “Hammer” probably represents the high point of the genre. That together with his “Woman on the bass” define the musical centre of the art form as “folk art”. Bradley's “Rebecca” likewise is at the musical centre. Along with his “Stranger” (NY Panorama, Pantonic, whatever year that was), these are at or close to the high point, as well as the centre, of the panorama art form. Slightly off-centre and near the high point is Jit's “Pan in A Minor”. Distinctly off-centre are any number of Boogsie's own offerings, with the afore-mentioned “Jam meh up” being perhaps most notable for its “strangeness” when first it was offered. Boogsie is in a class by himself, no question. He has generally maintained a consistently high standard of originality and musicality. It's hard even for me to say what was his “best”. Any number of his offerings are near the high point of the art, just off-centre in terms of the “folk art”.

- Big Sid


Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 17, 2017 at 10:26am
 
I just was able to take in Mia Gormandy's piece with Birdsong.

I like her work very much. She's brimming with talent, she's brimming with creativity. As a performer, we already know how good she is (Flight of the bumble bee). So I come to this with anticipation. How will she do as arranger?

I am not disappointed. Butttt... she is holding back...

I just wrote and uploaded a piece on the esoteric significance of the flag woman. It forced me to consider the respective roles of the sexes in this art form called panorama. And where I come out is that arranging is at some level very much the man's role. As arranger, a woman will tend to hold back, I feel.

Steelband arranging, not only by role, but also by tradition, is a man's thing. You don't have to be a bajon, you don't have to be a ol' nigga (in the best sense of that term, connoting a kind of never-back-down integrity). But it helps. The art form has moved away from the early days of gang warfare and etc. But still.

The TASPO fellows that took the art form to Europe had that kind of ol' nigga integrity, like Paul and Barnabas in their missionary journeys. I met some of these guys, the ones that stayed on in London, others that went to France and Denmark and wherever else. If the history of the art for is ever properly written (no offense to Kim Johnson), these would be recognized and even lionized as exceptional men. Come to think of it, at least one was honoured with an OBE, and that is too little. My point? It was a job for men, and special men at that.

Can a woman do the job is the question. As to pure musical talent, no question. But does the job require more than that? The hard-back men of yesteryear are now only a memory. The youth of today that are into the music will have no problem cooperating with and working under a female captain, arranger or what-have-you. That is not the issue. It's not an issue for Renegades, let along the nice UWI students of Birdsong.

I raise a different question, which I just addressed in another blog on the flag woman. Basically it is that there is something in the *panorama* genre that is quintessentially a dance of sex hormones. The flag woman symbolizes the female. The arranger is like a bard lusting after the female, putting his desire into music. How then can the woman occupy the role of the bard?

As to musical abstraction, of course it can be done. But the panorama music is a feeling, it is an expression, it is a yearning, all of those things, coming out of carnival, as a carnival art. The woman as arranger will hold back, because to wear the pants, as it were, would be for her to deny some of her femaleness. Ergo, she will hold back. Not consciously perhaps, but subconsciously.

I don't want at all to discourage Mia, because I want to see her become a great lady of the art form, like Pat Bishop. She has that talent, that potential, I feel. But as to panorama arranging, I think women in general will not fulfill completely their talent. The job requires an ol' nigga vibration, albeit with a certain sensitivity. Still.

- Big Sid


 
Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 17, 2017 at 4:56pm
 
A.L.

U r right. Not gospel cadence, but “Old Negro Spiritual” or something ... I'll have to look for the video. Maybe it was New Orleans-style second line...

What is interesting is that no one said anything about the “first woman arranger” to win a title. That's a social commentary in itself.

- Big Sid

Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 18, 2017 at 12:05pm
 
odw:

Thanks for the upload.

Michelle Huggins-Watts is a beautiful sister that knows her music. That cadence passage I think was inspired by New Orleans “second line”. It's the brass music played at funerals. They go in playing a slow dirge and come out playing with a happy rhythm. Check out this example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVrcAbv4Adc

I lived for a while in New Orleans. They have deep connections to Caribbean culture, particularly Haiti and Havana. Sometimes they say that New Orleans is the northern-most Caribbean city in its culture.

They have some beautiful belles -- not just physically but with a certain joie-de-vivre and a certain manner -- a lot like some of our Port of Spain beauties of a certain cultured class that we used to have in abundance and still do to some extent.

- Big Sid


Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 17, 2017 at 1:06pm
 
Cecil,

I remember the last Olympics when the boy from South Africa won the 400m. He collapsed after crossing the finish line. He didn't leave anything on the  track. That's what it took to set some stupendous new record in the event. He didn't leave anything on the track.

 

I think panorama arranging, and performing, is similar. You can't hold back (unless it is artistic restraint for greater artistic effect). Therein lies the challenge for women. The issue is not talent, ability, or creativity, it is giving free rein to it. The female arranger has to worry about remaining, or appearing to remain, “lady-like”. 

 

By contrast, Boogsie could collapse after a performance, like the afore-mentioned South African quarter-miler. No problem. And Bradley could “get on” in front the band, no problem, as he did for “Stranger”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWMGbbECD9k

 

Let's face it, it's harder for a woman. 

 

- Big Sid


Reply by S. F. Thomas on February 17, 2017 at 2:02pm
 
Claude,

I'm glad you like it.

I only hope, the women do not misconstrue what I've said and “take a tu'n in my backside”...

I have nuff respect for women ... and the furies they know well how to unleash when provoked...

So I do not seek to provoke, rather to have a honest discussion unaffected by whatever the latest trends in political correctness. Our pan elders would not want it any other way.

- Big Sid



 
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