Pan sweet but crime continues to put a damper on our celebrations

As J’ouvert characters and steelbands occupy the streets of the major mas venues today, we celebrate the great achievements of our steelbands, calypsonians, the fetes and the pre-Carnival shows. Deeply troubling, though, is the continued haunt of criminality, challenging humane living in Trinidad and Tobago.

However, the good must always take precedence over the evil. So we commend, for the second straight year, the Republic Bank Exodus for registering its sixth Panorama victory, as well as the winning and participating calypsonians and masqueraders of last night’s Dimanche Gras.

Of great consequence for the band headquartered on the margins of St. Augustine/Tunapuna is its continuing emergence amongst the all-time great and historic steelbands of the country.

Unstinting congratulations go to the steelband, its players, and arranger Terrance “BJ” Marcelle, who put the band and its players through drills of accomplishment over the last month, as they interpreted and rehearsed Aaron “Voice” St. Louis “Cyah Behave”.

Under the administrative leadership of President of Exodus, Amin Mohammed, and sponsors Republic Bank, the band has travelled a long distance to be now numbered amongst the great steelbands of the land; no small feat.

Just one point behind the winners, and reportedly beaten on the final night, having led up to the semi-finals, BP Renegades, the band which emerged in the late 1940s, experimenting and seeking to conquer the difficult period after WW11, distinguished itself with music almost 60 years old – Sparrow’s 1969 hit, The Lizard.

The third and fourth-placed bands also have significant stories to be told about them. Silver Stars and Desperadoes, amongst the longest lasting of bands, came out of differing social areas of society. “Despers” from up the Laventille Hill, and Silver Stars, the “College Boys” band from Newtown.

A mere five points, 289 to 284, divided the first five bands; it must be an indication of the high quality of music in the competition. Congratulations to the judges who made decisions, and it is understood by all that there will never be total agreement with the decisions made.

What is undeniable is the high quality of panmanship and arrangement offered by all of the bands in the competition and the effort put into the playing by thousands of pan players across the country.

So too a signal of thanks must go to the sponsors of all the bands inside and outside of the final night for the support they have given to bands and the steelband movement for decades. It’s an acknowledgement by the sponsors that culture and social development of people are vitally important to nation-building.

Outside of the glory of the steelband headquarters and the “Big Yard” of the Savannah, last week into the present turned on our ugly side with a most inhumane piece of violence in broad daylight. Parents of a small child were slaughtered in full view of their daughter in south-central park in Couva. The shooting sent children screaming and running for their lives. For many, the trauma of the vicious killings will remain.

The year ahead, without the State of Emergency and the ZOSO bill, can determine if T&T will survive in its present form. But for today and tomorrow, “play yuh mas and have fun” as uncertainty follows.