Hard times again for Tropical Angel Harps

THE EDITOR: I have been meaning to write to the media to voice my deep discontent and amazement over the points gained by the Tropical Angel Harps Steel Orchestra in the National Semi-Finals of the 2003 Panorama. I kept putting this exercise off until I read a letter to the editor by one J Leonard in the Newsday of Sunday February 23, 2003.

This letter, ‘Pan Trinbago, Panorama ju-dging needs assessment’, questions both the quality of the adjudicators and the judging and laments the fact that a gross injustice had been perpetrated on Invaders in the National Semi-finals held on February 16, 2003. As a pan enthusiast myself, who has followed the Panorama competitions for more than four decades, it struck me that Tropical Angel Harps also suffered a gross injustice at the hands of the panel of adjudicators. This band has always had to do more than the North bands to arrive at the same point. It is as though the band is continually being asked to prove itself in a way that a Renegades or a Desperadoes does not have to, and it may well be that this is what it will take for a band from Central Chaguanas to emerge among the top three in Panorama.

Before putting pen to paper, I decided to call around to some of my pan colleagues to see whether my assessment of the performance of the band was skewed or tinged by some sort of bias for the underdogs. Incidentally, I am from the Port-of-Spain area, but had previously lived in the Chaguanas area for some five years during which time my attention had been drawn to the quality of Tropical Angel Harps music and the budding genius of its youthful arranger, Clarence Morris. Roughly ninety-five percent of my pan colleagues with whom I spoke agreed with me that something seemed to be wrong with the low points received by the band, particularly when compared to most of the other bands whose quality of music in no way could have rivaled that of Tropical Angel Harps; nor was their performance superior to that of the Central band.

Chance would have it that as I contemplated writing about this injustice, I came across in my files an article written in February 7, 1985 by one K Alexander of Chaguanas on a similar injustice meted out to this same band back in 1985. The article entitled ‘Where were judges when Harps played?’ could very well have been the heading for this one being written by me. Some of the same questions raised then are applicable in this case. As we try to make sense out of this situation, a number of questions immediately arise. In as much as Tropical Angel Harps was the first band to play that Sunday, were the judges being conservative in their initial marking, but decided to open up later in the competition? This is the same band that had a week ago gained 270 points and taken the title of the South-Central Zonal finals in the process. Were the judges fully awake when they judged this band? What exactly did these judges hear to make them award such low points to this band? Many people who listened to the competition from start to finish thought that no more than two or three bands rivaled the performance of the Chaguanas band.

This leads one then to question the consistency, fairness and integrity of the adjudicators, a point made by the writer referred to above in the case of Invaders. What would have driven these adjudicators to award the points they did to bpTT Renegades when the general consensus was that Renegades’ performance was rather lacklustre; and how about the points awarded to Silver Stars, to name just a few. What are we to expect of these same judges as we go into the Panorama Finals on Saturday March 1? As we ponder upon these questions, I have often wondered whether the geography of a band has anything to do with the way it is perceived and consequently judged by the adjudicators. Is Tropical Angel Harps being punished because it is a Central band? As ridiculous as this question may sound to some, these thoughts have been voiced by many over the years. Finally, I appeal to the adjudicators who will be judging the Finals of the Panorama on Saturday March 1, 2003 to come to their task with an open and unbiased mind. Listen to all of the bands with the same degree of attention and scrutiny. I am sure that you will hear on Saturday what many of us heard from Tropical Angel Harps on Sunday February 16 and I think you will be more than pleased that we drew your attention to your mistake.

JOHN WILLIAMS
St James