LOCAL T&T STEELBAND NEWS

FRONT   Page EVENTS 2000   Page

July 2000
eEd - tobagojo@trinidad.net

 New boss for World Pan Fest

Amral Khan asked to step down

© SATURDAY EXPRESS - 1st July, 2000 - Page 6
By TERRY JOSEPH

A NEW acting chairman of the World Steelband Music Festival 2000 was appointed yesterday, replacing Amral Khan, who last month took over from Alvin Daniell.

   Pan Trinbago Vice-President Keith Byer was appointed acting chairman of the festival committee at the end of a lunch-time meeting held yesterday.

   Khan was asked to step down, after a powerful lobby from Pan Trinbago’s influential Northern region demanded that a senior member of the organisation be placed at the helm.

   Khan, whose status has been the subject of debate among pannists since Cabinet-appointed chairman Daniell resigned last month [7th June], was repeatedly addressed as "chairman of the festival" by Culture Minister Dr Daphne Phillips at the formal launch earlier this month. [15th June]

   But pannists say that they had nominated Daniell and his replacement cannot be effected without consulting them.

   Northern region chairman Keith Diaz said: "We now want our president to chair the festival committee, because we cannot afford to lose another grip on the event."
   "What happened at the launch sent us a signal," said Diaz, referring to a conflict over the banner produced by the Ministry of Culture.

   Pannists complained that the banner gave the impression the Ministry was responsible for the festival.

   Some later burnt the banner publicly. [22nd June]

   Arnold said he was prepared to take over as chairman because he had been involved in the planning of the festival over the past two years.
   "It is a Pan Trinbago concept and if our membership say that they want the president to represent them at the highest level in an event we are hosting, I will readily respond to their wishes."

   In another reversal of an appointment made by Cabinet on the advice of the Culture Ministry; businessman Tim Nafziger is to be replaced as chairman of the National Cultural Council. Nafziger was appointed last May.

 Steelband Festival Test Piece under controversy

© NEWSDAY - Friday, 14th July, 2000 - Page 36
By SEAN NERO

PAN TRINBAGO’s education officer Richard Forteau has come out in defence of local composer/pan arranger, Rudy Wells, following an onslaught of complaints from arrangers of participating national steel orchestras in this year’s World Steelband Music Festival 2000, that the test piece for conventional bands, Dawn of the New Millennium, is "littered" with errors.

   Newsday has received telephone calls from disgruntled musicians who are of the view that the reputation of the composer, the steelband body, and the country will be thrown into question because “inaccurate” music scores have been forwarded to international contestants.

   According to one musical director, “musical terms and notation are incorrect”, as well as the appearance of the word ‘Diluendo’ which does not correspond with any known musical expression.

   Forteau admitted having knowledge of the errors on the score sheets (his band, Courts Laventille Sound Specialist, is one of the top contenders), but pointed out that the “errors” appear to be typographical in nature and would not have been the fault of Wells.

   “Former chairman of the World Steelband Festival 2000 Committee, Alvin Daniell, was the person responsible for scoring the test pieces,“ he said. “Perhaps the scores sheets should have been returned to Wells for final vetting before being issued to local and international contestants.”

   Forteau said the test pieces for the categories of ensembles Mein Freund; quartets Shado’ Beni and duets Mi Diese had not received such negative reviews.

   President of Pan Trinbago, Patrick Arnold said he had no knowledge that the test piece for the conventional orchestra was faulted.

   He said: “That’s strange! I have been in contact with Clifford Alexis of North Illinois University Steelband which is one of the North American qualifiers in the festival and he did not bring this to my attention. And knowing him, the first thing he would have done was complain about the mistakes if there were any.”
   “Neither have I heard any complaints from the bands in Tobago, but I would need to make inquires into the matter.”

   Forteau stated that musician, Paul Campbell who adapted the musical selections for recording purposes had identified minor flaws and would issue an errata sheet soon.

   A team of 25 pannists selected from Tamana Pioneers, Melodians and Sangre Grande Cordettes, who will not be participating in the Festival, were assembled under the direction of Campbell to adapt the test piece for participating orchestras.

   Speaking to Newsday, Daniell said: “As far as four weeks ago, I told Keith Byer (Interim chairman of the festival committee) that if Paul Campbell had queries he should not make changes to the test piece without first consulting the composer.”
   “Get Campbell to list his queries, I told Byer and I would forward them to Wells, who is a meticulous person on this subject.”
   “I have had comments from representatives of participating bands in Europe. They wanted to know if they had any queries to whom should they be addressed.”
   “One band leader from Europe related he found the test piece interesting and wanted to know more about the composer.”
   “What is happening is, the music has been written in a particular key not familiar to pannists.”
   “I have gone through the music and there were written expressions that I was unfamiliar with and I had to look them up.”
   “If there were any typographical errors, they would not have been on my end, but from Rudy (Wells).”
   “But that’s an interesting accusation. It’s not that typographical errors aren’t possible, but Rudy did the music on his computer and sent it to me. By the way, his computer can play back the music for him to listen. Added to that, he has perfect musical pitch.”
   “I honestly can’t believe he would send a piece that wasn’t produced properly. As far as I can remember, there has never been a test piece that has not been queried. A perfect example was Fire and Steel composed by Winsford DeVigne, which has been hailed as one of the best test pieces to ever be produced.”

   The musical item was recorded last week at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain by Neville Aleong.

   But today Aleong is presently awaiting officials from the Cabinet appointed committee to authorise which version of the recording should be used for radio and television airing Newsday has learnt.

   Byer was unavailable for comment on the matter.

© 2000: tobagojo@trinidad.net - 20000703 Last Update: 05 November 2000 00:00:00 Processed by: Jeremy G de Barry

FRONT   Page EVENTS 2000   Page