So Your Band Got Jacked Up by the Sound System at NY Panorama 2016 -- You cant blame WIADCA for that...

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A NY Panorama Devils Tale - What happened to the accepted standards that were set a long time ago, for professional sound reinforcement and broadcast?

Sound Devil

Brooklyn, New York, USA - There were no rookies in New York Panorama 2016 when it comes to expectations with the sound system. And yes, for the umpteenth time the sound was brutal. The sound devil was nasty and kicked the pan players asses from start to finish. Beautiful music, rich harmonics, arrangements and musicianship went 10 rounds with the sound system storm troopers aka devils from Alpha Centauri, and lost every single one [round]. The Sound Devil seem to say, Dont bring that poppycock excellence in music BS here. Leave that stuff in the panyard. And further more Dont bring that balance and great musical setup and pan placement on this stage. Dah aint go wuk. This is sound-hells domain and I am the boss.

Up first was the NY powerhouse CASYM with champion arranger Duvone Stewart. Duvone was looking for his third championship for 2016 having already won in Trinidad & Tobago, and the United Kingdom. The Sound Devils rolled their eyes and said Not today, Duvone. Listen to how bad we could make the great tuner Andy Neils pans sound. We go kill yuh arrangement. CASYM was savaged. Slap, slap, slap - go and dont come back. And everyone heard it live through the speakers and over the internet. Volume up, Volume down, Volume up, Volume down. Truthfully, CASYM didnt even make it to the 3-minute mark. All that great music and work gone - jus so. Of course the Sound Devil wants to know whats everyone so uptight about. CASYM was ah sound-check, get with the program already. And adding insult to injury the Sound Devils wanted to know how we liked their live re-mix of CASYMs performance in real-time? Last time we checked, CASYMs captain Travis Roberts was still going through the mandatory concussion protocol that the folks in the WST (When Steel Talks) forum often joke about. It has been brought to our attention that the mighty CASYM is still suffering from nightmares of the Sound Devils throwing hot water on their faces to wake them up while singing Meh People, People...  Truth be told, the word is the highly regarded and dignified Captain Travis was about to suffer the fate of those fellas on the Game of Thrones had it not been for Lord Adrian, of the family of Lovell, from the tribe of Sonatas. He produced a valuable Friday evening recording, that, well - you know the rest of the story.

Up next was ADLIB performing an Amrit Samaroo-arrangement; the great past champions from Long Island. Veteran captain Franklyn Mayers - all-around nice guy and moreover, one of the more knowledgeable authorities on setting up an orchestra on a Panorama stage for proper balance and listening/projection purposes. No, No, No, No - doh try dat says you-know-who [Sound Devils] - proper setup be dammed A couple of out-of-phase mics and a snare mic on a bass - and the middle dropped out. 1,2,3 - it was over for ADLIB. Rumor has it that ADLIB players and pans are still experiencing major phase-shift issues between off-world dimensions. One minute you see them and hear them - the next minute you dont. Now why is the, you-know-who, singing Bam Bilam Bam Bilam Bilam Bam with a happy face? Now Andy Neils,  also tuner of ADLIB, is an exceptional craftsman. Who I would let tune my prized instruments any day. But you would not have known it by the interference the sound fiends were running.

Now this is when things got real interesting. Up next were the newbies,  Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra. The pitch-fork fellas decide to take a fire break to reheat-up dem steelpan audio-killing irons and gadgets. They figured with this newbie they had lots of time and they would be easy work. However, veteran panmen and strategists Lyndon and Brian were seen mulling around the Pan Evolution yard and lending expertise the day before Panorama. This is very significant as both these past NY Panorama champion personnel were part of a very small posse of panmen who successfully grabbed the 1987 NY Panorama crown while simultaneously putting the Sound Devils on ice that year. That group may go down as one of the smallest and tightest orchestras to ever win a major Panorama in history.

Anyway, Pan Evolution slipped on stage: focused, ducking, dodging, weaving and packing killer music jabs. Not to mention their secret weapons - two six-pans. The Sound Devils didnt even get time to reposition their tools of mass sound destruction or hit the sound demolition button.

Down the road the band went with power and precision for the Andre White-arrangement of Cheers To Life. The Sound Devils were completely discombobulated. The crowed roared! Now the Rama Start they yelled. And by the time Andre White gave his signature T stance with one arm pointed to the east and the other to the west when hes feeling it, party done! See ya - wouldnt want to be ya... All that was left was a Cam Newton Dab and a quick roll-off the stage before dem fellas from sound hell could release their drones. Word has it the head devil was extremely disappointed they didnt get a chance to mess-up the sound of Pan Evolution as much as they wanted to. He was seen slapping the second in command. Steups! - How you let them get away?

Despers USA Steel Orchestra performs in its panyard prior to Panorama 2016
Despers USA Steel Orchestra performs in its panyard prior to Panorama 2016

Up next in succession were Despers USA, CrossFire and Pan Fantasy. Yo, these cats were dropping some serious music. If you didnt catch them at full throttle in their panyards - believe it, you did not hear them. What came through the speakers and on the online stream has very little semblance to what these orchestras sounded like in their yards. Fortunately, we were able to listen to them in said yards. Of particular note was Pan Fantasy who we heard as a drive-by on Friday night. Their instruments, musicianship and arrangement were outstanding. To not have properly broadcast what this orchestra (which drove down from Canada) brought to the table was straight-up criminal.

Now fast forwarding to the final orchestraand eventual winnersof the night, DRadoes Steel Orchestra. They brought power, size, an array of musical voices (triple seconds, quads, four pans, double guitars and a sledge hammer that did not allow the sound devils to be a factor in terms of them capturing their third consecutive championship. Plus BJ Marcelle and Dane Gulston were on stage conducting. They had invested a lot of hard work and time in this band. The sound devils were smart not to have pissed them off. However, there were some musical subtleties and background counter play that were lost due to the sound system. BJ Marcelle dropped some musical science that was not captured. Again, if you wanted to hear sweet pan with a dab of sophistication and get a sense of what the powerful 100 DRadoes players sounded like you had to go to their yard. What was broadcast was not it. And that is a shame.

New York Pan can no longer be seen as a victim in the sound fiasco -- but rather a willing partner in crime. Players, tuners, arrangers and leaders all have to be held accountable. And the worst offender is USSA (United States Steelband Association) which negotiates these sacrilegious conditions year after year. Is this not your work? Your supreme effort and cultural expression of the art form that you are supposedly vested in? Your dot in the history timeline? And what is it worth? What self-respecting musician goes on stage without a sound check?  Antigua, Grenada and St. Lucia generally do sound checks, either by rolling, or doing a one- or two-minute piece. Didnt you know it is a one- and-done competition? And its not like the bands got paid as they exited the museum grounds like normal musicians. Right?

Can you imagine Commissioners Roger Goodell, Adam Silver, Rob Manfred or any entertainment show of noteafter 40-plus yearsbeing broadcast on this level? Hell no! Wake-up call - we are only a few seconds away from when anyone on Facebook live or YouTube live can get the job done.

What is also particularly alarming is that the public is starting to exhibit the battered-wife syndrome. Comments like It really wasnt as bad as it has been in the past are popping up on social media. Furthermore, people are trying to have serious musical discussions about the Panorama when a sizeable amount of the music was left in the yard, severely distorted and/or never captured/properly broadcast. Have the pan folks gotten so used to bad sound, and sound reinforcement mediocrity that only the ardent pan fan can tolerate to listen or understand?

So your music sounded like howling dogs on trash cans with the volume going up and down like a Coney Island rollercoaster. And? The audio broadcast to the world sounds nothing remotely like the sound you left at the yard and worked so hard to cultivate. Hmmm... Panorama is indeed a critical component of the pan communitys cultural display of self expression. But really, come on - this 2016. You couldn't get away with this in a 1950s broadcast.

CrossFire Steel Orchestra performs in its panyard prior to Panorama 2016
CrossFire Steel Orchestra performs in its panyard prior to Panorama 2016

Suggestion to band appearing #1 in the future: punt - go without amplification if your band is large enough... let the band behind you become the sound check... LMAO!

One good thing or unexpected consequence of the goings on in Brooklyn is there is so much alternative Press present around pan this year, there wont be a haven for the normal mamaguying and utter stupidity, BS talk floating around by people with voices of a mouse who dont know - talking nonsense and slapping each others backs...

In any regard dont blame the Sound Devil(s) for your sound reinforcement woes. After all he is a devil. And you sure as hell cant blame WIADCA.
 

Read more on WIADCA (West Indian American Day Carnival Association) here

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