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BY
SEAN NERO
Prime Minister Patrick Manning has put the steelband fraternity
on alert that the emergence of the Genesis pan (G-pan) will
have serious implications on future Panorama competitions.
He said he anticipated that orchestras competing in the
Carnival event would no longer be required to retain their
present sizes since instruments in the G-pan family offered
greater musical volume.
Pan Trinbago is responsible for producing Panorama, which
is funded by the State. A large conventional orchestra taking
part in the competition has a ceiling of 120 pannists, 90
for medium, and 60 for small bands.
In Manning’s view, the need for a large complement
of pannists would soon be a thing of the past.
Speaking at Saturday’s launch of the National Steel
Symphony Orchestra (NSSO) at Queen’s Hall, Port-of-Spain,
the Prime Minister predicted smaller orchestras would soon
occupy the Panorama stage.
It’s the second time in less than a year that Manning
addressed the future of the Panorama competition while outlining
the Government’s achievement in discovering the G-pan.
He first tackled the issue during the launch of the G-pan
at the JFK Quadrangle at University of the West Indies,
St Augustine, on July 14, when he said Panorama orchestras
would have less need for an assortment of bass pans since
the new G-bass pan covered all musical ranges.
“One
of the advantages of the new pan is that of the top three
pans—the tenor, double seconds and the guitar—the
volume you get from these pans is 50 per cent more than
what you get from traditional pans; and the volume you get
from the new bass, which is the real innovation, is about
75 per cent more.
“What
this means is an orchestra that comprises only G-pans would
be configured very differently from an orchestra with the
traditional type.
“In
the case of the NSSO, the overall orchestra of 36 players
and percussionist would take it to a maximum of about 40.
“Initially,
we anticipated a NSSO of about 60 to 70 players. We now
have a NSSO with a maximum of 40 players. Innovation has
brought that about.”
Manning said he believed the G-pan would change the face
of Panorama despite its unresolved production obstacles.
“We
unveiled the G-pan on July 14, 2007. The research took longer
than expected and, more than that, the production facilities
of necessity that must go with it took us and continues
to take us a little longer than we expected.
“They
present a challenge that was over and above what we had
anticipated, but is not an insurmountable challenge.”
Manning told the Queen’s Hall gathering, which included
President George Maxwell Richards and Mrs Ramjohn-Richards,
that his Government’s decision to scrap the T&T
National Steel Orchestra was necessary because the system
under which it operated was flawed and “simply not
sustainable.”
He said the musical outfit, which was constituted under
the Basdeo Panday administration, was viewed with suspicion
by the steelband fraternity.
“We
began an approach that would have stood a better chance
of survival. We began an approach, for one, that was more
sustainable, and came to the conclusion that perhaps a symphony
orchestra, different from all other orchestras in T&T,
might be the way to go,” he recalled.
Manning said the Government spent $9.9 million to continue
research that was ongoing for some time at the pan research
lab at UWI, St Augustine, headed by Brian Copeland.
According to Manning, the main criteria for the Genesis
project was the creation of a soprano pan with a wider musical
range that did not suffer from the disabilities experienced
by the present soprano pan.
“It
did not take us long to realise we were onto something.
In fact, that research began to progress at such a pace
that we took the decision to delay the formation of the
NSSO, allowing the research to produce new instruments and
to take the pan one major step forward,” Manning said.
“If
we were able to develop these instruments, it would be the
first orchestra in the country and in the world to be equipped
completely with whatever pans we developed.”
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