By Orville Wright

Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, Marlene McDonald

With an Act of Parliament on January 28, 1986, Pan Trinbago was affirmed as the monolithic body to govern everything pertaining to what is now the National Instrument.  It was not until 1992 that the present Prime Minister gave his blessing to pan and announced to the world at the finals of Pan Is Beautiful, that the pan is the National Instrument of Trinidad & Tobago.

I remember that occasion well because I served Pan Trinbago as the Chief Adjudicator for that competition, and when I heard that announcement, there was a feeling of euphoria all over the Jean Pierre Complex.  When I spoke to the audience on behalf of all the adjudicators, I mentioned the need to have the National Instrument in every school in Trinidad & Tobago.

Sixteen years later, while there is a Pan In The Classroom Unit under the aegis of the Ministry of Education whose goal is to have pans in schools, there seems to be a monumental hurdle-acquiring instruments-that has to be overcome before all schools have the minimum number of instruments required for an ensemble. 

The catalyst for this commentary is the brouhaha that erupted in December when the Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, Marlene McDonald, MP for Port of Spain, South, sent a letter to the President of Pan Trinbago questioning the use of the word national as it referred to the newly formed National Youth Steel Orchestra. Within the last twelve to eighteen months, there has been a perception of acrimony between Pan Trinbago-the body which the 1986 Act of Parliament charged with promoting and developing the National Instrument, and a government of the very PNM party that was in power when the Act was passed. 

This December incident is not the only conflict that has emerged between the government of Trinidad & Tobago, the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, and Pan Trinbago and its role with the National Instrument.  In July 2007, the Prime Minister participated in the launch of the G-Pan, a pan evolution project funded by the Government of Trinidad & Tobago and implemented with absolutely no consultation with Pan Trinbago. 

Another embarrassing situation came up on March 28, 2008 when the Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, Marlene McDonald, introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to change the name of Trinidad and Tobago National Steel Orchestra to the Trinidad and Tobago National Steel Symphony Orchestra, and gave the impression to her fellow MPs that she had consulted with Pan Trinbago on the name change.  Based on information gleaned from a commentary by Sean Douglas in the Sunday Newsday of November 2, 2008, the Minister did her best to articulate the difference between an orchestra and a symphony.  None of it made sense to me, but the eventuality of it all was that Patrick Arnold, President of Pan Trinbago, said “his body had not been consulted on the new bill.”

I have always wondered what process a Prime Minister (regardless of party) utilizes to select individuals for specific portfolios.  My assumption is that the individual selected would have some training and/or background in one of those fields, or, has a very strong and proven relationship with that particular discipline.  There may not be a universal litmus test regarding such portfolios in governments worldwide, but I strongly believe that where the individual lacks expertise in the portfolio, consultation with those who possess the knowledge is of paramount importance. When the Minister tried to explain the difference between an orchestra and a symphony, you could tell she was completely out of her league   It seemed that she had either not consulted with Junia Regrello the Junior Minister in her Ministry who has very strong ties to the National Instrument, or she had  forgotten the information that he passed on to her.  

When Minister McDonald was given the portfolio of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, I asked a number of my friends and colleagues in Trinidad about the minister’s connection to the arts in general.  Ah ask one set ah people, and nobody could tell me of her connection to the arts.  I became more suspicious when I listened to Steelband Times on i95.5 FM on Saturday afternoons.

I would be remiss if I did not mention former ministers of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, Joan Yuille-Williams and Penelope Beckles, who, because of their affinity to the arts, represented culture extremely well.  To my knowledge, both neither was an artist, but to use contemporary vernacular, they had the steelband back.

Between November 2007 and February 2008, the host of Steelband Times occasionally compared the former culture Minister-fondly referred to by Chalkie as Auntie Joan, to the present culture Minister.  He lamented the lack of connectivity between the present culture Minister, Pan Trinbago and the National Instrument.  The current testy relationship-or lack thereof-between the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, and Pan Trinbago seems to justify his concerns.

Getting back to the use of the word “national” in the NYSO, I thought this was very bizarre.  Here is a minister who ought to be an advocate for the National Instrument, sending a letter to the President of Pan Trinbago, chastising him and his Executive for executing responsibilities granted to them by the 1986 Act.   Worse- is that the future of the National Instrument was in the hands of the future, the youth, during that concert.  The 1986 Act says under #3, “The aims and objects of Pan Trinbago are as follows: (a) to promote the development of the steelband movement; (b) to promote the steelpan as an indigenous cultural art form.”

Quoting from the Express of December 18, 2008, the letter from the Minister to the President of Pan Trinbago said in part, “The ministry is concerned about the use of the word “national” as part of the proposed name of your Youth Steel Orchestra.  Moreover, the ministry has been receiving several calls enquiring whether this proposed steel orchestra is similar to the National Steel Symphony Orchestra; whether the designation satisfies legal requirements, and whether it is Government supported.” Now, people in Trinidad are not stupid. So I question whether enquiring minds really wanted to know if the National Youth Symphony Orchestra was “similar to the National Steel Symphony Orchestra.”

Did the Minister consult with Junia Regrello before she sent this letter to Pan Trinbago?  If she did, and Junia went along with the contents of the letter, one has to question his role as the Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs and more importantly, his role as it relates to the National Instrument.  If she did not consult with him, one can only deduce that the Parliamentary Secretary is there in name only.

The Act of 1986 grants Pan Trinbago the authority under #3, (d) “to present, manage, conduct, arrange and organize concerts…”  Having a youth orchestra of about one hundred children performing at the premiere performance venue in Trinidad & Tobago epitomizes the spirit of organizing a concert, and Minister McDonald should have been sending congratulatory messages to the President of Pan Trinbago on the accomplishment of the youth orchestra.  I am not always pleased with some of the initiatives of the present Executive of Pan Trinbago, but this initiative warranted kudos, and when I heard Patrick Arnold on i95.5 FM’s Steelband Times program in December patting himself on the back for his accomplishments, I couldn’t help but jump on the bandwagon with him. However, I had to say to myself, what took you so long?

I do not know how the NYSO learned its repertoire and I am not sure of the quantity of pieces in the band’s repertoire, but I trust that the Executive of Pan Trinbago is using suitably qualified musicians/individuals to develop a curriculum for the orchestra that includes note writing (music), theory, ear training, harmony and most importantly reading, so that two years down the line, those children would be learning their parts by reading music as opposed to learning by rote.  I think a brave initiative like this could boost Pan Trinbago’s governance of the National Instrument, and ultimately propel them to earn the respect that was vested in the Act back in 1986.

Currently, the perception among the public and some of the pan fraternity/sorority is that Pan Trinbago is a useless organization, and the government and the Ministry are just prepared to fund Panorama-and that’s it. When one looks at the past couple of years and what has transpired with the government and Pan Trinbago, the question has to be asked, why is Pan Trinbago not consulted when there is an initiative with the National Instrument?  The most egregious slap in the face was with the unveiling of the G-pan in July 2007. 

I previously shared my views on the G-pan from an arranging perspective, but I cannot fathom why the G-pan would have been conceived, developed, and manufactured without Pan Trinbago’s involvement. Quoting from the Act #3, (g) Pan Trinbago is “to encourage and conduct research programs on the steelpan.” Letter (h) under #3 further states “to do all such things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the above objects or any of them.”  This language is quite explicit with respect to Pan Trinbago’s mandate.  Why then were they not consulted?

Is it because certain members of the present Pan Trinbago executive have been there far too long and have outlived their effectiveness as guardians of the instrument and the organization?  Has the government had enough of the leaders of the organization making the same excuses year after year for the tardiness of almost every show that Pan Trinbago produces-especially Panorama? Does the government really care about Pan Trinbago? 

Pan Trinbago finds itself in an awkward position.  They go to the government to get funding for any major program they plan-as they did recently to get $2.4m-and as long as this symbiotic relationship exists, the issues present today will continue until tomorrow and beyond.  There seems to be a mind-set that pan belongs to Trinidad & Tobago, and therefore it is the responsibility of the government to fund every conceivable project related to pan.   

But is that really plausible?  Every time an individual outside of Trinidad & Tobago-Trini or non-Trini-does some enhancement with the pan, the first thing you hear is, boy how dey go do dat; dat is we ting; pan belong to Trinidad and dey eh have no right to do dat.   I always chuckle when I hear this because I don’t think the people who are making all this noise are aware that if somebody in Japan make a pan, the government of Trinidad & Tobago and Pan Trinbago cyar do nutting bout it.  All this talk about patent and royalties is just hot air, and the government of Trinidad & Tobago and Pan Trinbago will never be able to reap any financial gain when somebody in Switzerland make a pan. It is impossible to police something like this.

Jazz is the one and only genre of music that America calls its own, but you don’t hear the thousands of jazz musicians in the US calling on the government for support.  I know that some people will say that the pan is the only instrument invented in the 20th century.  But what does that guarantee? There are a number of organizations in the US that support jazz, and this is done through NGOs all over the US. IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators) was the premiere organization focusing on education, but this organization recently filed for bankruptcy.  The fundamentals of this organization were that it had worldwide membership, and members paid dues and there were annual conferences all over the US and sometimes in Canada.  Pan Trinbago should research this model to determine if this is an appropriate direction for them. 

Sometime in October or November 2008 when I tuned in to Steelband Times on i95.5 FM, the host of the program had Pan Trinbago;s Education Officer talking about a cooperative initiative that would involve members of all the steelbands in T&T.  This sounded like an excellent idea until the Education Officer mentioned that out of this cooperative a scoring industry would emerge.  

Having studied music-arranging specifically-I have never been privy to a scoring industry, so a statement like that from a musical perspective has absolutely no merit.  Musicians learn to write scores, but it is not part of the pedagogy that yields countless scores to have a scoring industry. This sounds nice, and I think I know what the Education Officer wanted to portray, but she ought not to mislead young people or anybody into believing that a scoring industry is a possible outcome of the cooperative initiative that she was presenting.  

However, writing scores is an area that Pan Trinbago should explore because as far as I know, there is no methodology for writing scores for steelband.  For the World Steelband Competition/Pan Is Beautiful, arrangers are required to provide scores for the adjudicators, and I am confident that there is no uniformity with regard to the role all the pans have on the scores provided.  Moreover, you need people to teach music to the members of the cooperative-first-and then you might have some direction with regard to writing scores for steelbands.  Again, the idea is great because the Education Officer envisions scores being produced for steelbands, but you cyar put de cart before de horse.

The Pan Trinbago (Incorporation) Act 1986 incorporated Pan Trinbago for the purpose of exercising powers “to promote the development of the steelband movement and the steelpan as an indigenous, cultural art-form”.  Many argue that, since being established in 1971, Pan Trinbago has not done much to develop the steelband and the steelpan movement.   Now in its 38th year, it may be time for Pan Trinbago to engage in some serious self-assessment and have an independent organization examine its operation with a view to making it more responsive to the needs of its membership, potential membership and its market, and also better able to exercise the powers granted to it by the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago Act No. 5 of 1986.