Make steelpan the country’s national instrument-- Shaqq

By William Doyle-Marshall

Hameed Shaqq (the Pan Piper) wants the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to introduce legislation making steelpan the country’s national instrument.

Shaqq, a former member of Invaders and a tutor on the Ontario scene who has been playing his instrument in Canada for about two decades, is troubled that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has not officially legislated steelpan as twin island republic’s national instrument.

Hameed Shaqqq, Trinidadian steelband performer converses with a Canadian poet at a festival in Toronto

He confesses that former Prime Minister Patrick Manning made a declaration that steelpan is the national instrument of the country. But that declaration does not make pan the national instrument. “There must be an Act of Parliament that embodies the emblem. Without that, it is just talk. I am arguing that there is no Act of Parliament to prove that pan is the national instrument,” he contends.

A Private member’s Bill or a Government-sponsored initiative can correct the situation, Shaqq advises. “We have Pan Trinbago which was incorporated. They incorporated carnival, they incorporated chutney and they disguised the incorporation of the steelpan under Pan Trinbago but there is no protocol; there is no Act of Parliament which states it (steelpan) is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago,” the veteran steelband artist argues.

Shaqq is concerned that lots of individuals are now taking out patents about the instrument. He recalled a recent case where someone was patenting the ‘cycle of fifths’ which Tony Williams brought into being many years ago while he was at the helm of Pan Am North Stars. The cycle of fifths was made popular by Pythagoras, the mathematician, in the 6^th century BC. He didn’t invent the cycle. He made that theory popular and there are lots of diagrams you can see about the cycle of fifths but there was never an instrument until Tony Williams did that in the 1950s and we should have protected that intellectual property because it is indeed a unique invention and a ground breaking discovery. It should have been incorporated at that time.

Shaqq cites the country’s Coat of Arms that cannot be patented by anyone as that would be illegal. Determined to see changes in the situation, he laughs “It’s not too late now to introduce legislation to correct the situation because the world is not coming to an end. We always have time to secure our intellectual property.”

Because Nobel Peace Prize is awarded for unique invention and ground breaking discovery, Shaqq says, the steelpan qualifies for such recognition. He insists that recognizing those individuals who created this instrument is necessary and vital as a mark of respect and appreciation for their talents. Ellie Manette, former Invaders captain; Bertie Marshall, of Highlanders and Tony Williams are among nationals who must be recognized for their efforts, he charges. Unfortunately nationals of Trinidad and Tobago seem to have difficulty praising each other and crediting people for what they have done.

If you look at the history of the steelpan, you will see in 1951 they took TASPO to England for the 100^th year celebration and they took the pan there. The British press made the steelpan look very impressive. We saw in 1953 steelpan came to the Canadian National Exhibition. We saw in 1957 the United States Navy opened a steelband that was based in Puerto and it lasted until 1999.

“With all these things happening internationally in 1962 our government did not make this instrument the national instrument which would have protected all the copyright developments that happened later. This failure to protect steelpan is such a serious issue for Shaqq that he insists “one has to look at the overall national cultural expressions of Trinidad and Tobago”. There is a feeling among concerned individuals involved in the arts, and due to the flippant attitude over the years, many believe it has grown into wholesale copyright infringements visibly particularly in the music industry. There is a distinct feeling among the average person that it is okay to pirate music on the street corners.

“In 1992 the then government of Trinidad and Tobago under the leadership of Basdeo Panday fought a case against a person who had taken out a patent on the steelpan. Those guys from the United States won the case because their defence was, they were not patenting the steelpan, they were patenting a process of making the steelpan. As a result they got the patent licence for that. If we had gone beyond in 1962 to patent the instrument then no one would be able to patent any process of making the instrument nor you could not patent anything related to the instrument.”

January 19, 2013