:-)

PANORAMA 1998 Steelband Competition Trinidad & Tobago

Play Order
1998 Finals National Steelband Panorama
CONVENTIONAL & TRADITIONAL Steelbands

   With a play order now drawn up, the stage is set for the 1998 Finals of the National Steelband Panorama Competition.

DOWN A BIT

   Before extolling the virtues of this most extraordinary event; a pause to look at an apparent down-side could be found illuminating.

   If the four Preliminary and Zonal Final events, and the show Pan in the 21st Century, are anything to go by; the following comments may unfortunately also hold substance for this, the most prestigious steelband event of the 1998 Carnival calendar.

   All the events so far have started late for various reasons; with Tobago having its own brand of trouble where the adjudicators had a harrowing experience in just getting to the event. Better time keeping is an issue.

   Because the Trinidad to Tobago ferry MV Panorama (named after the event!) is out of service; it will be questionable if the Tobago band, T&TEC East Side New Dimensions, makes it to the finals using the over-stressed resource space aboard the MV Tobago. No Tobago bands made it to Pan in the 21st Century for this reason. Best of luck to Tobago's East Side.

   All the events (leaving Tobago out only because I was not there to see) had serious sound engineering problems which one would have thought would have been solved by 1998. Not that the year is of particular significance, but rather that in the year 1998 the available technology is more than mature enough to address this task. Steelbands present a particular and difficult challenge to quality sound capture, but again, by 1998 the feat should present just a formality.
   Short range microphones on stage were continually falling into the bands; or hampered the passage of dancing flag bearers who invariably knocked them over. The microphones that were sensibly off the stage, were not sufficient in number, or arrayed with sufficient strategic skill to properly manage the event. (Their quality is beyond the scope of these comments as no data on their specification is at hand.) This gave the sound mixing engineer very serious problems where the 'tenor' notes - among others - of some bands appeared overemphasised in the sound spectrum, or sometimes under accented, virtually spoiling the bands presentations. This technical inability was sufficiently acute to understandably cause an irate captain of Invaders to perform mischief later - not the right move however - by reportedly locking members of Pan Trinbago in their office in protest.
   Where it is good to report that the amplifier and speaker system at the Grand Stand, Port of Spain, seems adequate to the task - on power and fidelity only that is; the sensitivity of the sound mixing person, to the event being presented, is now also questionable. As traditional, the bands arrival and set-up time to the stage is overlaid with the tune of their choice being blasted repeatedly over the sound system. This is OK, we can live with this - just. But when they finish, and we are still retaining the memory of 'pan' in our heads and they begin to exit the stage playing the same tune, a different one or just with the 'engine room' going; we would like to hear them leave the stage entirely, immersed in their sound and spirit, before being blasted with the next tune. The whole arrival process takes so much time anyway, that there is sufficient time and virtual-space for this sort of sensitive treatment for the bands; it would also help reduce the number of repeats of the arrival tune - but this is not the issue here. The steelbands are on show, not the DJ; just an awareness of who is where on the stage would clear this problem.

   To leave these comments on a positive tangent does not require the question Who is to blame, but rather Who do we have with sufficient managerial acumen to orchestrate all these aspects of these shows; let us find them soon. Making the National Steelband Panorama event a World Class show, will still take a great deal of focused management attention to detail.

UP TO THE SKY

   The 1998 Finals of the National Steelband Panorama Competition is set to be one of the best; perhaps even the best for this closing decade of this century. The chance of having 16 bands is fortuitous in itself, but it is the inclusion of such a wide spread of bands, from all the geographic zones, that is significant. With them they bring to this stage a staggering collection of musical arrangers, whose musical roots and influences span Europe, Asia, America and Africa; and not least of all, some with purely local Afro-Caribbean and Indo-Caribbean influences. In a sense, it is the arrangers who are in competition this year. There are young and old talents aside in competition. There is intellect against intuition. To make a choice here is nothing more than a show of preference; the buffet offers more than can fit on one plate.

   The bands will all be large for the occasion; 10 of the bands are known to have 100 players in each; and the rest about 70 and above in number. The performers ages will range from 9 years old and up. The players abilities will not be in question here; they will have drilled themselves numb for this one; and it will all be from memory.

   But this is really about music. Its about unique drummers who don't want to be called drummers. Its about players who make their steel drums sing. Its about arrangers who trust this dream in their head to these players they teach, and hope they can do it well. Its about growing a tune in a living steel machine; nurturing it and pruning it and budding it through to a musical flower. This is a very special flower. It lasts for 10 minutes and sparkles in rhythmic joy that is both seen in its players and dramatised by the colours of its sounds.
   Panorama 1998 will see the worlds most unique steelbands form an islands bouquet of wild and radiant flowers that she will throw up to the sky, making our hearts skip, to garland the young bride that is this seasons carnival, and for our eager ears to catch again; just this once.

Conventional Steelbands
Play Order
Processed 19th February 1998

The 16 Finalists for the National Panorama 1998 - Conventional

Traditional Steelbands
Play Order
Processed 21th February 1998

The 16 Finalists for the National Panorama 1998 - Traditional
[Late posting - Data integrity only]

Panorama Finals 1998 Play Order

© 1998: tobagojo@gmail.com - org19980206 19980220 - 1m20071228 - 2m20150929 Historic Update: 01 May 1998; Last Update: 29 September 2015 24:00:00 TT Processed by: Jeremy G de Barry