2016 Panorama Festival in Trinidad

T&T Steelband Panorama Excitement Looms Large

By William Doyle-Marshall

Panorama 2016 is heating up the atmosphere in the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Finalists have been selected by panels of judges and anxiety is quite high touching the sky. Citizens in the country as visiting family members and friends are already there for the big occasion. President of Pan Trinbago Keith Diaz admits recession is taking its toll on the festival attendance but without having final figures on hand he could not be very specific. Well, as everything else, life goes on.

   After almost seventeen hours of keen music rivalry, the finalists were announced in the wee hours of Monday morning, Pan Trinbago announced earlier this week. Ten bands from each category will compete in two Grand Finals (Single & Small) at Skinner Park, San Fernando on Thursday February 4^th, and the Medium & Large Conventional Bands at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, on Saturday February 6^th, respectively. Fifty-one steel orchestras, including fourteen from Tobago performed their tunes of choice before three (3) individual panels of judges in order to be selected.

The big question many have asked over the years: Why is Panorama such a big thing? As one who has been exposed to this cultural happening from quite young, I consider this event as the showcase for the country’s talented musicians and arrangers. Yes members of the steelbands are drilled like soldiers to show up at competition venues and perform admirably. Impressing the judges is the principal objective. In addition supporters are fed with material to return home with bragging rights. “Yuh hear sweet pan? Dat is pan in yuh tail. Take dat!” These are only a few comments that braggarts use following their favourite steelband’s performance at Panorama. Some of the very colourful expressions cannot be used in this column.

photo from Pan Trinbago archive: 2014 Panorama festival

   Now that deejays have taken over the sound on carnival days steelbands have lost their glory of the past. If you are old enough to recall when two bands would meet on the street and try to outplay the other. Those encounters provided the percussionists (iron man or woman) to exhibit dexterity on their instruments and the stronger one would survive. But at Panorama, patrons are treated to the work of creative geniuses. Arrangers would take a composition and work it to the point that the listener would sit or stand in awe and applaud spontaneously as the musicians on stage executed their work.

   It is almost impossible to sit quietly during Panorama at the Queen’s Park Savannah especially if you have a genuine interest in music. After weeks of preparation; many nights of very little sleep, working and re-working segments of arrangements then coming up with the final serving for the judges on that particular night, you get to hear what many believe is the finished work of art. But given another chance arrangers return home and re-work the piece again. A young journalist in Toronto decided two years ago she wanted to learn to play the instrument. She joined Pan Fantasy and was troubled with the arranger’s demand that she should attend rehearsal every night. After explaining to her that arranging a composition can be compared with writing an article. You write and re-write until you hand it in to your editor. Given some more time you are likely to make further changes. It is the same experience arrangers have, I told her. At that point she got the message and stopped worrying about having to attend rehearsal every night.

   With this at the center of my mind, I am troubled at the sub-standard of broadcast I have been experiencing at this year’s semi-finals and even the last two years. Alvin Daniel, a respectable composer and other broadcast personnel have been showing up to competitions unprepared to do their work. A broadcast (radio or television) is serious business. And the person holding the title for that time ought to be in control of his topic. Viewers and listeners are interested in knowing about the performers onstage. Where did they prepare for this big day or night; did members of the orchestra make sacrifices to be where they had arrived for this contest. Well, this calls for research. A haphazard interview with the arranger on the night in question is insufficient.

   The judges are the ones to decide whether an arranger’s selection was worthy of being in the competition. Fortunately they do not listen to these unprepared broadcasters in order to decide. I am referring particularly to Andy Narrell’s tribute to Raf Robertson, an outstanding and passionate musician, who died recently. Keep your opinion to yourself Mr. Daniel and prepare for a proper broadcast with facts and figures and real questions not taking up precious time with talking about yourself.

   There was a time when steelbands waited on calypso compositions of the year in question to prepare for Panorama. But it is commendable that is no longer the practice. The mix of selections prove there is no such thing as an old song. In my experience nationals of Trinidad and Tobago are quite tolerant and appreciative of the hard work which our artists undergo to provide us with creative material.

   With changing attitudes the appearance of events featuring other types of musical experiences is refreshing. Music lovers now visiting the country for the carnival may well take advantage of these happenings. For instance the Groovy Soca Steelpan competition and pan mass takes place February 8; Pan on the Road Mas and Las Lap is on February 9 and Champs of Steel at the Queen’s Park Savannah February 13

January 30 2016

Paris Climate Treaty: Time to Reduce Footprints

Paris Climate Conference Treaty Beneficial for Caribbean States and Tourism Initiatives

By William Doyle-Marshall

“Canadians can be proud of the strong and positive role we played during these very important international negotiations to address one of the biggest challenges of our generation,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau emphasized after there was agreement on the Paris Climate Agreement earlier this month. He acknowledged there is much tough work that still needs to be accomplished at home and around the world to implement the agreement.

Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party, a long-time advocate for climate change said in an interview that her standards are pretty high. “I don’t want to paper over a bad deal and say ‘hurray, we have something’. I have been working at this too long; I have been working on trying to get a climate treaty since 1990. This is not the end of the road but unlike Copenhagen, this at least puts us on a good path to continue to reduce emissions as rapidly as possible,” May explained.

While admitting the agreement has the right framework to keep pushing and it’s got what developing countries need to see, she observed “it doesn’t have enforcement mechanism, that’s a key problem but we haven’t had enforcement mechanism in an environmental treaty since 1987.” That’s a political problem, the Green Party Leader affirmed “because world leaders give more attention to trade than they do to climate but given what we have in our hands as possible, when this negotiation began November 30, the climate and our grand kids have done very well.”

At the COP 21 climate conference in Paris, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accompanied by (clockwise from top left) Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Belgrade, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Dion, New Democratic Party Leader Thomas Mulcair, Conservative Environment and Climate Change Critic Ed Fast, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.

     Following the Paris meeting Trudeau noted the world gathered to fight climate change and its devastating impacts on our earth, our health, our economy, and our very way of life. He proclaimed that the gathering had a common vision to leave a sustainable planet for “our children and grand children” The Prime Minister was pleased Canada and 194 other countries were able to reach a historic, ambitious, and balanced agreement to fight climate change. Trudeau promised to meet with the Premiers within the next 90 days to work on a plan to realize Canada’s international commitments in tackling climate change and transitioning to a low carbon economy. In addition he promised to work with a wide array of stakeholders – and all Canadians – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including through carbon pricing.

   As some question the importance of this conversation, researchers and scientists have presented proof that melting ice caps means rising sea levels; threatening coastal populations around the world with some islands at risk of disappearing. Melting arctic soil is opening up sink holes, ruining railways, roads and homes and warmer climes. Scientists say climate change shows up in earlier springs and warmer summers which is good news for sun lovers but warmer waters also means an increase in the number and strength of hurricanes and typhoons. Inland warmer temperatures mean drier weather; many lakes have spent most of the last 15 years at levels well below average; forest fire season is starting earlier and ending later and a longer summer also means more pollen; worst allergies for those who suffer from them.

   A Grenada delegate at the conference Dessima Williams an avid advocate for justice told  participants that small island states like Grenada in the Caribbean can not only get dwarfed in the negotiations but are also some of the nations right on the front line, suffering the most from the effects of global warming. She was there in support of the work of Oxfam International. “The way of life as we knew it, which was relatively stable and known, is no longer the case. Our agriculture, our tourism is at risk because 65% – 63%-65% – of all our physical infrastructure and, most of all, commercial activities are on the coast and that’s getting inundated with the sea. Our airport is at risk, it will go underwater if we have a metre rise.

   While Ms. Williams could not say whether the rich countries understood the plight of Caribbean states, she was confident that over a hundred countries do, and that’s why her delegation asked for a maximum of 1.5C as a tolerable global average temperature so that the small states would not be put at further risk. “I think the more powerful countries, that larger physical mass, may not quite understand the immediacy of the threat and the impact of climate change to small islands, to coastal countries. And we have been fighting to get that message across for many years. I think it’s beginning to sink in a bit but the policymakers, some of them, still feel that there is time and space to manoeuvre because they have big economies, big land mass,” the Grenada delegate continued.

   She reminded the conference that many countries in Africa, across Africa, the Pacific, the Caribbean, have small economies that cannot continuously finance the destruction caused by climate change, neither do they have large land mass where people can in fact escape the ravages of the sea and the rains and so on. “So I think we have an uphill battle to meet in the commons of justice,” she concluded.