Panorama competition killing steelbands

THE EDITOR: All Trinidadians are not as forgetful as many people think. These days you are hearing about this tuner, that arranger of our national instrument. But there is a man who is for many of us, the most complete panman ever to grace our stage, Mr Anthony Williams. Tony set the standards for other bands to follow.

In 1962, with Voices of Spring, pan took a giant step forward. In 1966, Poet and Peasants again pan took another leap forward. Since the recording of Ivory and Steel, I do not think that any other band has cleared that hurdle as yet. Play any of these records you will hear what I mean.
Hear are some facts to consider:
1. As a panman, to be selected in the TASPO speaks for itself.
2. As a tuner, his tenor pans are the fourths and fifths’ and any arranger now would be glad to have the tonal quality of his pans.
3. As an arranger and musical director, anyone who had the pleasure of being at the Queen’s Hall at the Music Festivals and Classics and Carols on Steel would have heard some hair-raising performances, to many of us he is the most complete panman ever. A player, tuner and arranger in one.

Recently Hugh Borde, of Trinidad Tripoli fame, was quoted as saying that Bobby Mohammed caused Tony to pack it in. What rubbish. What utter rubbish: North Stars won back to back Panorama titles in 1963 and 1964. The band also won the steelbands Musical Festival in 1962 sat out in 1964 and won again in 1966 beating the same Bobby Mohammed and Cavaliers into oblivion with masterful renditions of Poets and Peasants Overture and that masterpiece of a test piece, Intermezzo in Eb by Anthony Prospect. Tony was a visionary. He was ahead of his time. The fourths and fifths tenor pan is his idea. Pan on wheels is his innovation. The oversized tenor is his idea also. He introduced change key in the pan calypso with “Dan is the Man”. So he withdrew from Panorama and even from playing mas. North Stars was one of the first steelbands to play for a mas band on the road. Tony was also one of the pioneers of pan composition and was one of the first to record his own composition in 1965 with Pan Down 5th Avenue. So Tony envisaged today’s scenario with bands playing one tune for the entire season and after running out in the preliminaries, no more pan till next year. That was not for him. Many did not share his view. But now we are saddled with a Panorama competition that is killing steelband, yet with no alternative in sight.

DARRLY A M KING
Cascade