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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesPAN SOUNDS A-PLENTY, BUT A SMALL PAYING CROWD

PAN SOUNDS A-PLENTY, BUT A SMALL PAYING CROWD

Steelpan music fans largely stayed away from Carnival Pan-O-Rama 2000, making it an intimate festival of talented youth, their friends, parents and teachers.
About 500 people paid the newly instituted $5 child's and $10 adult's admission to the Lionel Roberts Stadium Sunday night to hear 14 steelpan groups perform. Those who stayed for the entire three and a half hour show were treated to a spontaneous tramp at the end led by the group Pan In Motion.
They also got to hear plenty of tributes played to the late calypsonian legend Lord Kitchener — Trinidadian Aldwyn Roberts, who died in February — by the V.I. Housing Authority Youth Steel Orchestra, Territorial Court Rising Stars Youth Steel Orchestra, Ivanna Eudora Kean Devil Rays and the adult St. Thomas All Stars.
Kitchener's spirit has been alive and lively at V.I. Carnival 2000. He received tributes Friday and Saturday at the Calypso Revues for his career as a performing artist and calypso composer. At Sunday's event, music group directors also acknowledged his many original tunes written for pan — dating from 1944, when he composed the first calypso for a steel orchestra..
Bands paying tribute to the "Grandmaster" launched into musical medleys with verve — bouncing, dancing, pumping the sky with outstreched hands. One young performer from the Devil Rays punctuated his phrasing by tossing a drumstick in the air, catching it and spinning it around his finger. Bands also honored the music of Antigua's Burning Flames, playing the band's recent hit "The Magician."
Almost every year a new steel orchestra joins the cast of Pan-O-Rama. This year saw the debut of the Ulla Muller Steel Band and the return — after an absence dating from Hurricane Marilyn — of the Joseph Sibilly Sun Rays. St. John was represented by the Love City Baby Pan Dragons. Private schools taking part were the Antilles Steel Hurricanes, Sts. Peter and Paul Angels of Steel (making their second appearance) and the Montessori Meteors, a perennial favorite, that performed a medley called "Celebrating in Steel."
Pan-O-Rama is a rare Carnival event in that it is a showcase, not a competition. There is no judging of the performers, and each group's organization receives a fee from the Carnival Committee for taking part.
Some Pan-O-Rama organizers expressed disappointment at the small audience turnout but also said they hoped attendance would improve next year. "I think a lot more parents could come out and support the kids," Derek Gumbs, a member of the V.I. Carnival Committee, said. "The kids are doing wonderfully, all of the bands. They put a lot of effort into it, and it would have been better if their parents came out and appreciated it."
But Carol Callwood, a former member of the St. Thomas All Stars who performed Sunday night with the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School Burning Blazers, said she believed the crowds stayed away because the admission prices would have hit household pocketbooks too hard. She said she understood that the fees were imposed to help the cash-strapped committee cover the costs of putting on Pan-O-Rama, but attendees have traditionally been made up mainly of families who already spend lavishly on snacks, rides and games for their youngsters at the Carnival Village.
Callwood expressed hope that the steelpan committee could strike a better balance in the future by securing corporate sponsorship to help cover the costs of the family-oriented musical event that promotes cultural expression among young people.

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