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For obvious reasons, this is an appropriate time to point out that the vision for the panyard model did not just reach; and also to remind readers of how long I have been advocating for the panyard model, which I met already established on the ground.
A little over 17 years ago, in a column published in February 2007 entitled Potential Peacemakers, I wrote what is quoted in the next four paragraphs concerning the panyard model.
Photo: Supernova
“[…] The panyard is akin to a home. Its hierarchical structure is akin to a family. Elders in their seventies and eighties mix with four generations below them. All members of the family come together for a common beneficial purpose.
“The discipline of pan playing is so deep that it is almost unfathomable. It is not discipline bought with money reward because most pan players make little money. The only foundation of the discipline established in panyards can be love for music and pride in the tradition that is carried on through generations.
“Why has the tradition survived in a disposable oriented culture? How come the young men in pan are panmen and not gunmen? What is it in pan that diverts attention from the fatal lure of the gun?
Photo: Akeem Charles
“We may not be able fully to answer these questions. What is urgent now is the design and implementation of a proposal, perhaps the Lloyd Best version, to take the panyard model into the schools to draw many more young people into music.
“It is imperative at the same time to take into the pan yard model the harmonium and tabla so that each primary school orchestra is a blend of pan and Patasar.
“I am thinking of year-round music festivals, with and without competition, rank gained from music, with the payment of a stipend to each child who meets the attendance and proficiency requirements of the orchestra.
“I am thinking that the children will learn to read music, to play calypso, bollywood, popular and light classical music on pan and other instruments to which they will be drawn.”
I add that I wrote specifically about the Birdsong model (2012) and the St Margaret’s panyard teaching model (2015) and I emphasized “the peace dividend of music instead of guns”, stating the case that “pan is an instrument of peace, a productive labour intensive, potentially sustainable occupation involving youngsters on the margin”.
From my observation of the panyard model, it requires of participants long hours of dedication, discipline and accomplishment. It easily meets three of the requirements set out in an editorial in the Trinidad Express newspaper last Wednesday, namely “status, purpose, brotherhood”.
The status gained by accomplishment as a pan musician includes a critical lift in self-esteem.
Photo: Pan Trinbago
Money earning opportunities will greatly increase if, as advocated, a cultural tourism and promotion policy was designed and implemented—particularly to take advantage of the rapturous reception that I have seen pan concerts receive abroad.
Unfortunately, a photo-op is not a policy. The lack of implementation of credible policies to advance the panyard model has cost us dearly in some panyard communities. Moreover, violent crime now threatens the viability of visits to the yards.
As a result of last weekend’s 14 murder spree, the Trinidad All Stars family were grieving for two of their own.
I was in that yard a month ago to celebrate the achievements of the students of the All Stars Academy at the presentation of certificates and to take in, as the announcement indicated, “the display of their hard work and commitment to their musical development”.
On that occasion I was delighted to see Bukka Rennie, whose excellent book on the birth of the steelpan and the history of All Stars I will be soon reviewing.
Against the current background, I share the sarcastic observation of a friend of mine. He was appalled by the latest utterances of Police Commissioner Erla Christopher, after the 14 weekend murders.
Photo: TTPS
The Commissioner’s utterances included that the police “have not lost a handle on crime”.
My friend’s observation was: “How she could say they have not lost a handle on crime. The whole door gone. The handle gone with the door.”
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Martin G Daly SC is a prominent attorney-at-law. He is a former Independent Senator and past president of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago.
He is chairman of the Pat Bishop Foundation and a steelpan music enthusiast.
