Sixteen months ago, Trinidad and Tobago’s 7th President spoke about the model provided by the steelband movement in its preparations for Panorama. She spoke about the discipline and the structure that the panyard brings into the lives of young people each year, in the lead up to Carnival. She shared with the country her belief that the elements in that model combine to create one of the most effective youth delinquency prevention programmes available in the country. And she vowed, not just to meet with and listen to the voices that for decades have been telling us about the value and the power of the panyard model, but to use the voice of her own Office to advocate for the adoption in our communities of youth programmes based on the panyard model – not just limited to specific periods in the year, but on a year-round basis.
Sixteen months later, here we are. Bringing the curtain down on what can only be described as one of the most amazing experiences that the rest of Trinidad and Tobago has ever missed out on, but by which every single soul who has participated in this week’s event has been blessed. What a week. And what an experience.
Not long after Her Excellency spoke those words and made those commitments at her Inauguration, Her Excellency set to work in making this week’s event a reality. She got in touch with some of the minds who have helped keep the panyard model at the centre of the national consciousness – people like Martin Daly, who in turn guided her to people like Dennis Phillip, a founding member of Birdsong, which is among one of the earliest of steelbands to implement the panyard model. Many and spirited were the conversations between Dennis, and Her and Excellency and me, about the steelpan; about what the panyard model actually is; and about using the Office of President to lift culture generally in the country. Dennis has undertaken to prepare, for Her Excellency’s assistance, a paper on a Framework for the Development of the Arts in Trinidad and Tobago. It is but one of the myriad benefits of Her Excellency’s interaction with persons like Martin and Dennis.
Her Excellency’s early discussions with Martin and Dennis led her to speak with Clary Benn, a stalwart of Tropical Angel Harps, and a mind possessed of an encyclopedic knowledge of the steelpan and of the panyard model. Arising from discussions with Clary, I sat and spoke at length with David Hackett of Shell Invaders, and Her Excellency and I marveled then, as we still do, at David’s love and passion for the steelpan. Our chats with David led us to chat with MITTCO, where we met and spoke with Akua Leith, who has, among his storied credentials, the title of Former Artistic Director and Conductor of the National Steel Symphony Orchestra and the visionary behind the formation of MITTCO itself. Akua was one of mentors and instructors who worked tirelessly this week to help run the Pan Camp. Her Excellency also met with Akinola and Alpha Sennon of Siparia Deltones. Following that meeting, Her Excellency and I visited the band’s headquarters. There, were we privileged to see at work, with our own eyes, the living, breathing, self-sustaining ecosystem that is the panyard model.
To all of these persons, and the countless others, who helped Her Excellency shape and refine the idea of this year’s Pan Camp, Her Excellency and I are deeply indebted.
But to the men and women whom we have come to call “the Technical Committee”, Her Excellency and I owe a special kind of debt – a debt that we know we can never repay. These are the men and women who came together, from various steelband organizations across the country, to help Her Excellency plan and pull off the Pan Camp. Permit me to mention just a few of them – I know that this will embarrass them and I ask their forgiveness in advance. But Her Excellency and I just want the whole world to know about these exceptionally good, decent, kind, hard-working and committed individuals, and what they have come to mean to the both of us.
Mr. Ainsworth Mohammed, Mr. Michael Dinchong, Mr. Junia Regrello, and Mr. Colin Greaves were responsible for the planning and coordinating of the Camp. Ainsworth was the Chief Consultant. He put the Committee together, and his was the wise and the quiet hand, guiding the entire project, from start to finish. Junia also served as a mentor. Using his life story as the background, he delivered one of the morning mentor sessions, focussing on the empowerment of the Campers. Michael was the Chairman of the Committee. He was our main point of contact and facilitated the logistical arrangements, transmission of information and provided, from his band, Invaders, the pans that the Campers used during the Camp.
The music team was responsible for the day-to-day teaching. This team comprised the gifted Mr. Clarence Morris (from Angel Harps); the affable Mr. Amrit Samaroo (from Supernovas); and the graceful and gracious Mrs. Michelle Huggins–Watts (from Phase II). The music team was expertly assisted by Mr. Neil Simon (from Supernovas), Mr. Emmanuel Joseph (from Renegades), and Mr. Christian Forde (from Supernovas). Emmanuel gave the last of the presentations by the mentors yesterday. He is as brilliant a presenter as he is a musician. And what can we say about Mrs. Elizabeth Namsoo–Dinchong. Elizabeth provided all the administrative support prior to and during the event, and she all but ran with the day-to-day operations of the Camp.
To all of you, Her Excellency and I say thank you.
You will notice that I have referred to many of these persons by their first names. That is because, at some point along this incredible journey with them, they passed from the condition of being co-collaborators, joined their hearts with our hearts, and became our friends. If nothing else had happened in the course of events which culminated in this week’s Pan Camp, gaining their friendship alone would have made the journey more than worth it.
But so much more has happened. One of the most amazing things that has happened is that we have all just witnessed the participants in the Pan Camp, master and play, with a poise and with an expertise that belie their years, a stirring rendition of an arrangement that they have had, in effect, 2 and a quarter (¼) days to learn. Four (4) half days, from Tuesday to Friday, and what was in effect just a quarter (¼) of a day on Monday. They are every bit the stars they have showed themselves to be today. Not only because they learned so quickly and played so brilliantly, but because they opened themselves up fully to the spirit and the soul of the Pan Camp (as Antonia told us this afternoon). The Campers were attentive and receptive to all the instruction and the mentoring they received. It will be near to impossible to find Campers for next year, who are like those who blessed us with their participation this year.
Other amazing things have happened. Her Excellency and I have sat and watched the Campers and participants blossom, and grow in confidence, day by day, as increasingly they found their voices and engaged more and more with their mentors during the afternoon sessions. From “A” to “Z” – from Nicola Alleyne, from the Roxborough Police Youth Club (who we saw smiling and gliding behind the tenors this afternoon), to Benjamin Yearwood, as bright and as talented, from the Scout Association – Her Excellency and I marvelled at how, in just one (1) short week, the Camp’s participants came into their own, joined in discussions with the mentors and presenters, and built a camaraderie among themselves that we have no doubt will last for years to come. And here, let me, on Her Excellency’s and my behalf, say how extremely grateful we are to all of the presenters and mentors who gave of their time and came into Camp to relate with the Campers and the afternoon participants. Mr. Derron Sandy; Dr. Machel Montano; the Honourable Justice of Appeal Gillian Lucky; Mr. Joshua Regrello; Dr. Ray Holman; Mr. Keishaun Juline; Ms. Vanessa Headley; Dr. Mia Gormandy-Banjamin; Ms. Faith Gellezeau; and Dr. Len Boogsie Sharpe – you moved Her Excellency and me deeply by your contributions, and we know (as Antonia has told us) that, far more importantly, you moved the Campers even more deeply. Like Her Excellency and me in relation to the Technical Committee, Campers who met as strangers, now leave as friends.
Earlier this week, one of the editorials in a daily newspaper had some less than kind words to say about this Pan Camp and about the panyard model. Yesterday, on the Office of the Presidents’ Facebook page, there was a comment that I suppose one might describe as a back-handed compliment about the Camp. No one who participated in the Pan Camp can possibly feel anything but sorry for those who weren’t part of this Pan Camp and who, as I have said, have missed out on one of the most amazing experiences that Her Excellency and I, and the Technical Committee, and the educators, and the mentors, and the Campers themselves, have ever known. The Pan Camp has been an unqualified success. The panyard model works. Those of us who know it, and those of us who have lived it for this past week, now have to reach out to those who do not know that which we know, and who did not experience that which we did, and show them all – editorial writer and social-media commentator alike – the truth about the steelpan and the power of the panyard model to transform lives. When we encounter opposition or sarcasm about the power of the steelpan and the panyard model, let us not meet them with bitterness or strife. Rather, let us be kind and gentle. After a week like this week, we know that there is no room for contestation in our hearts when it comes to the steelpan. There is only the love for and the devotion to the instrument and to its transformative power, that all of us in this room have been lucky enough to experience.
Once again, Her Excellency and I say thank you to all of you for having made this last week possible. We wish especially to thank the hard-working and dedicated staff of the Office of the President, without whom none of this past week would have been possible. You know who you are; and you know what you mean to Her Excellency and to me.
With grateful hearts, we say thanks to all. And may God bless our nation.
