Pan Trinbago in Firing Line of Pan Players - Boycott Threatened
for Panorama 2017
Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - In what can only be described as a total lack of confidence in Pan Trinbago to represent the interests of the players of the steelpan instrument - the players themselves have decided to take matters into their own hands. Brewing for months now, has been the massive discontent; the pan musicians and Pan Trinbago have been on a collision path.
There has been no shortage of words by the Trinidad and Tobago steelpan community articulating their anger, frustration and displeasure with Pan Trinbago, the governing body of Pan in Trinidad and Tobago. In what many have described as a blatant display of gross disrespect by the organization, to date these musicians have not been paid for their participation in the 2016 Panorama competition - while the 2017 Panorama is mere weeks away.
The anti-Pan Trinbago sentiment across the social media landscape has been building at a feverish rate. Highly-respected standout player Dane Gulston called for the removal of the executive board of Pan Trinbago in his passionate Facebook post. The post was received with hundreds of likes and shares in support of his position, and continues to garner attention and comments.
With preparations for 2017 Panorama already underway, many have threatened a boycott by the players of the 2017 edition of the annual competition, phases of which are slated to begin in earnest in less than two weeks. The embattled organization has been continuously embroiled in controversy with accusations of incompetence and mismanagement leveled against it recently by a member of its own executive.
The pan body called an emergency meeting, held on the evening of Wednesday December 28th, where representatives of the steel orchestras in attendance were told that checks for outstanding monies for the 2016 Panorama would be paid out on December 29th and 30th. After the meeting and addressing local media, Pan Trinbago president Keith Diaz placed the blame for the threat of a boycott, squarely on the government and the Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts. “The Minister (Dr. Nyan Gadsby Dolly) don't want to have no meeting with us - all the meeting is with the NCC (National Carnival Commission) - and we have written to the Prime Minister (Dr. Keith Rowley) asking for a meeting, and we have not received a meeting. And we are asking for our allocations and to discuss Panorama, and we have a lot of things to discuss.”
