Can the steelpan be used as a tool to fight racism that still exists in the world?
That was the rhetorical question posed by award-winning novelist Earl Lovelace in delivering the keynote address on opening day of the first major international conference on pan at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, on Wednesday.
Lovelace’s address was titled “Resistance and Rebellion: The Socio-Historical Development of the Steelpan Movement.”
It explored how the culture of rebellion became a people’s response to brutality from the slave-masters and one that gave an affirmative expression of themselves.
The steelpan movement, he contended, recorded that the history of pan involved a series of negotiations between different ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes and social organisations, all of which have attempted to define and use the music according to their own values and interests.
Speaking to a large audience of local and international steelband representatives and industry stakeholders gathered in the hotel’s main ballroom, Lovelace said:
“I note, with pride, that the steelpan has given our youths a chance to express themselves, musically and otherwise and also allows them to make full use of today’s technology in further development of the instrument.
“In addition, it has served to strengthen family life in many of our communities. We observe, however, that the scourge of racism still exists in the world today.
“Perhaps, this will change only when the world employs what we, in this country, have brought in creating the steelpan - imagination, dedication, and the capacity for problem-solving.”
Presented by Pan Trinbago and the International Conference and Panorama (ICP) Secretariat, the three-day conference brings together pan scholars and researchers and practitioners from all over the world, and is a lead-up to the International Panorama competition to be held on Sunday from 3 p.m. at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain.
The exercise is structured to explore seven major pan-related themes ranging from history and development of the steelpan, science and technology, social dimension, education, performance, economic and industrial development and steelpan organisations.
Further exploring the first theme – History and Development of the Steelband - former Pan Trinbago president Melville Bryan presented research on the History of Pan.
Professor Louis Regis from UWI gave calypso accounts of the art and origins of the steelpan. Dr Andrew Martin presented research on the history of the US Navy Steel Band which had a major impact on pan in the United States, and Janine Tiffe of Kent State University, USA, spoke about Ellie Mannette and his Impact on Pan in the United States.
The spread of pan in Europe is another major focus of the conference. Today Matthias Kauer, the current treasurer of Steelpan European who started playing pan in Switzerland in 1977, and has since gone on to edit the Swiss Pan News (a newsletter for the over one hundred steelbands in the region), and operates Panorama Steel Drums, the first European business specialising in pan music and instruments, will discuss the evolution and proliferation of the pan movement in Europe, and lead a discussion of instrument layouts and standardisation.