Global - Our steelband
personality award of the year goes to Mrs. Anna
Raffoul, president of the Dominica Steelband Association.
Anna Raffoul achieved through sheer determination and
innovation, a steelband first in Dominica, W.I. She,
along with her handpicked helpers and resources, organized
and hosted the highly-successful inaugural OECS Junior Pan
competition in Dominica this past April - with absolutely no
intervention from her country's government. Mrs.
Raffoul and her staff oversaw the efficacious mobilization
and attendance of competitors from several other Caribbean
islands.
Others around the
world with far more assets at their disposal - including
private companies, national and international associations,
and national governments - lay claim to lengthy titles, but
show far fewer results. For Mrs. Raffoul, the
successful output of the intensely motivated young people
who took part in the Junior pan competition, and the upward
mobility of the steelpan art form in general in Dominica and
throughout the Caribbean, are the factors that make the
difference, and her work necessary.
Additionally, Mrs.
Raffoul continues to work behind the scenes. On behalf
of the steelband movement in her country, the dynamic and
energetic woman has been sacrificing much personally and
financially, to continue the uplifting of Dominica's young
people, especially those who find joy in the beauty and
artistry of the steelband instrument. Later on in
November Mrs. Raffoul again played a major role in what
turned out to be Dominica's most successful-ever annual
Pan by the Bay steelband music festival, held around the
country's Independence celebrations.
So for achieving the
successful reality of her own brainchild - the inaugural
Junior Pan Competition - and continuing in that vein through
avenues such as her unstinting involvement in and dedication
to her country's Pan By the Bay festival,
When Steel Talks
(WST)
salutes Mrs. Anna Raffoul, and is proud
to declare her the Steelband
Personality for the Year 2006.
A look at Anna Raffoul... Contact Anna
Raffoul at: 1 (767) 448 2622 |
email:
dominipan@hotmail.com |