Memories of your favorite steelband ..

[bigzack]

Bobby Mohammed .. (spelling?_

in 1965 ... Guiness Cavaliers came to town that year and everybody bawl ... Cavaliers won that year .. i left Trinidad in August .. you know he was down an out for awhile .. but made a great comeback .. he won the Humming Bird Medal Gold ... he was the man who 'invented' the South sound .. bas playing rhythm ... and stopping an starting ... man he was great ..

that is why I love me Joylanders ... sweet pan .. simple small band ... Winson Cumberbatch and them use to go down by Bobby to get tips .. because he was arranging and composing music for pan way back then ... i think it was in 1967 when he beat Pan Am North stars .. Zack will know .. he older than me..

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Bobby Mohammed and Guinness Cavaliers beat Pan Am in 1965 with a tune called "Mas" by Lord Melody. I don't know if they ever recorded that tune with the full panorama side, but it is basically the tune that changed Panorama for a very long time.

Pan Am had won in 1963 (Dan is the man in the van) and 1964 (Mama dis is Mas). Pan Am style was a lot of change keys that used to have the people bawling. Then up come Guinness in 1965. They full up the stage with pan. I could distinctly remember a fat Indian fella that night on ah six base. I feel that he alone coulda drown out any band.

What Guiness did that year is this, they would reach a part in the tune where they lowered the sound of all the pans in the band. It almost lulled you to sleep. Then Bobby would raise his bell (or a iron that resembled a bell) and when he raised that bell, the bass pans and the whole band would kick into a rumbling sound. I would never forget that night. I was standing to the back of the bass section.

It is probably one of the few panorama result that I never hear nobody argue with.

And fuh the younger folks on the board. Let mih drop this piece of memorabilia on allyuh.

In 1964, three bands not only played "Mama dis is mas" in the panorama, they also recorded it.

Pan Am, Despers and Highlanders all recorded "Mama this is Mas". People used to go in them clubs and play all three versions one after the other in ah jukebox. Them days yuh getting 3 tunes for 25 cents. But yuh talk about argument with supporters of them three bands.

[bigzack]

Talking about pan and jourvert....do you remember those 'Bomb Competitions' in Marine/Independence Square? to me that was the best part of Jourvert.... sweet pan fer so ...I guess once Panorama made the scene.... there was no need for steel bands to compete for ..... bragging rights.

Snow, Gypsy said it last year and people cuss him, but I fully agree with him. Panorama, though well intentioned when it first started, has evolved into a format that has caused the demise of the steelband.

Mind you, the old time arrangers, pans, and players, cannot even come close to the skill and sweetness of the bands and players today.

Now hear why I say that the modern day evolution of the panorama has been the demise of the steelband. Steelband used to play and make money in fetes. Steelbands used to belong to communities. Steelbands used to play the same tunes for panorama that everybody used to hear Bob Gittens, June Gonzales, or even Dave Elcock play in the morning when you were going off to work or school. So the same tunes that you whistled, hummed, and dance too in the day, you could hear any number of steelbands going through in their nightly repertoire.

Now the bands play one tune a night if yuh lucky. Sometimes they play one part of the one tune all night. And worse of all, if you are not in the pan fraternity, you don't have a clue what the hell they are playing.

Steelbands now have captains, arrangers, and drill masters among other officials.

[snowbird]

Snow, Gypsy said it last year and people cuss him, but I fully agree with him. Panorama, though well intentioned when it first started, has evolved into a format that has caused the demise of the steelband.

Mind you, the old time arrangers, pans, and players, cannot even come close to the skill and sweetness of the bands and players today.

Now hear why I say that the modern day evolution of the panorama has been the demise of the steelband. Steelband used to play and make money in fetes. Steelbands used to belong to communities. Steelbands used to play the same tunes for panorama that everybody used to hear Bob Gittens, June Gonzales, or even Dave Elcock play in the morning when you were going off to work or school. So the same tunes that you whistled, hummed, and dance too in the day, you could hear any number of steelbands going through in their nightly repertoire.

Now the bands play one tune a night if yuh lucky. Sometimes they play one part of the one tune all night. And worse of all, if you are not in the pan fraternity, you don't have a clue what the hell they are playing.

Steelbands now have captains, arrangers, and drill masters among other officials.

Right on.... I know what you mean about this 'new style' of pan..... Clarkie once tried to explain the point system the judges use at Panorama to do their judging..... I had to say...... "Stop, Stop...yuh bussin meh brain wid dat".

What ever happen to just ....ponging out Kitchener tune...and adding your little touch to it.... The only time we ever heard something ....different was at 'bomb competition'.....and then, that was it.... they drop their bomb....wow the crowd...then it back to 'Kitch'

.... I'll tell you why Gypsy get cuss.... he is speaking to the new pannist....who does not have a clue what he is talking about.... he is trying to take them back to a time....when they were not even born yet.