A Carnival lament

In this period when the air is full of music, of all sorts, we need to pace ourselves or we get music burnout. The people who programmed the marathon 18-hour steel pan competition for the Panorama semi-finals have never heard of burnout and exhaustion, of mental and emotional fatigue.

There is no word to describe the foolishness of subjecting us to dozens of bands from morning to night, dulling our senses and turning the pan’s sweet notes into a din and our eager ears into cloth. It was always true that an excess of anything is ruinous. Remember your Shakespeare where in Twelfth Night the bard remarks that even with love, “Surfeiting, the appetite may sicken and so die.” Panorama is the highlight of my Carnival but I, very sensibly as it turns out, missed the semi-finals, as I was to have an early morning start. But even without that inconvenience, it is hard to imagine lasting so long as to be still in the Savannah at 3 am to hear my favourite band play. And, I cannot imagine that there was anyone much remaining to hear the top big bands at that hour.

What is the point of the crush? It would make more sense to split up the goodies over two days, so that each category of band could attract a decent size crowd. Or, reduce the number of bands that go through to the second and third rounds.

These are elementary observations, so why do they elude the organisers? Apart from the lack of professional know-how it reveals, it makes clear that the organisers have no respect for the pan players or the pan fans.

I once complained that every cultural event in TT is too long, including theatre productions and music concerts, no matter how wonderful the performances.

It was explained to me that Trinis like it so because they expect to get their money’s worth, so, for them, the longer the better.

A typical example of overkill is the recent evening of “Afro Calypso and Latin Jazz Fusion” that would have been perfectly exquisite had it been 30 minutes shorter. The show stealer was the amazing Grammy award-winning pianist Arturo O’Farrill and his jazz band, with a front line comprising trumpet, sax and the finest trombone; a groovy bass guitarist, drummer and ace percussionist completed the line-up.

Their music was so rich and textured, a five-part movement of one composition taking the audience into realms of ecstasy, that they alone, with the one and only Arturo Tappin, who preceded them, would have been enough for the cost of my ticket. But Sean Thomas, the show’s producer, over-egged the pudding by opening with calypsonian Mr Shak — a nod to the Carnival season, no doubt, but the element that was surfeit.

To go off track here, I am glad that Mr Shak performed, because it reminded me of why not all calypso travels well: it is simply too didactic; too many words that leave no space for the music; too many ideas and arguments and sledge-hammering of the poor audience.

The one recent exception to the normal “make them pay for coming” rule was jazz trumpeter Etienne Charles’ highly creative “Carnival – The Sound of the People” Queen’s Hall concert that thrilled and certainly left the audience wanting more.

The appearance of traditional Carnival characters that accompanied his very original musical odyssey through tamboo bamboo, tambrin, steel and iron bands offered a real experience of the Carnival tradition with great style. Catch him and his friends on Carnival day.

Enjoy!