Pe­ter Ray Blood

pe­ter.blood@guardian.co.tt

When the first In­ter­na­tion­al Pan Ra­ma­jay Com­pe­ti­tion is staged in June, more than US$16,000 will be up for grabs to the win­ners in three cat­e­gories—So­lo, Duet, Quar­tet. Pan­nists from around the globe are be­ing in­vit­ed to reg­is­ter to com­pete in the first vir­tu­al pan com­pe­ti­tion of its kind. With com­pe­ti­tion days set be­tween June 13-June 27, reg­is­tra­tion clos­es at 6 pm, on Wednes­day, June 3, via email: ex­o­dussteel­band@gmail.com

An in­no­va­tion by Re­pub­lic Bank Ex­o­dus Steel Or­ches­tra, the first Pan Ra­ma­jay Com­pe­ti­tion was held in 1989 with its pri­ma­ry ob­jec­tive be­ing to pro­vide a plat­form (oth­er than Panora­ma and the Steel­band Mu­sic Fes­ti­val) for pan mu­si­cians to show­case their skills.

In­ter­na­tion­al Pan Ra­ma­jay Com­pe­ti­tion 2020 is open to pan mu­si­cians in­ter­na­tion­al­ly, re­gard­less of time zone/coun­try and is de­signed to fea­ture soloists, du­os and quar­tets us­ing any in­stru­ment in the steel­pan fam­i­ly.

The vir­tu­al pre­lim­i­nary will be held on June 13-14, with the se­mi-fi­nal sched­uled for Sat­ur­day, June 20, and the fi­nal on Sat­ur­day, June 27. Mu­si­cians may en­ter any and/or all cat­e­gories. Reg­is­tra­tion is free and mu­si­cians may en­ter any and/or all cat­e­gories. On­ly acoustic pan in­stru­ments are al­lowed in this com­pe­ti­tion.

On Mon­day, June8 and Tues­day, June 9 (at a time to be de­cid­ed), soloists, du­os and quar­tets will per­form via a pri­vate live feed and will al­so sub­mit a video which should be tak­en from the front for ad­ju­di­ca­tion. One song will be per­formed from a list of five which will be pro­vid­ed to all mu­si­cians. For each mu­si­cian the host will make the mu­si­cal se­lec­tion via a pri­vate live feed.

Ad­di­tion­al­ly, ac­com­pa­ni­ment tracks for the per­for­mance will be pro­vid­ed by the or­gan­is­er on June 1 and mu­si­cians will per­form for the du­ra­tion of the track. The track for soloists will not ex­ceed four min­utes. The track for du­os and quar­tets will not ex­ceed five min­utes.

All mu­si­cians in all cat­e­gories are re­quired to im­pro­vise.

Soloists and du­os will sub­mit one video. Quar­tets will sub­mit two videos. Du­os and quar­tets must record to­geth­er. Video sub­mis­sion is due im­me­di­ate­ly af­ter your per­for­mance via What­sApp to 1-815-757-3245. Pre­lim­i­nary per­for­mance will be aired on Sat­ur­day, June 13 and Sun­day, June 14, at 8 pm and 6 pm, re­spec­tive­ly, via Face­book and YouTube. An­oth­er pre­lim­i­nary date may be added de­pend­ing on the num­ber of en­trants.

From the pre­lim­i­nar­ies 20 soloists, ten du­os and ten quar­tets will ad­vance to the se­mi-fi­nal. Based on the num­ber of en­trants, this may be re­vised. The list of songs for the se­mi-fi­nal will be dis­trib­uted on Wednes­day, June 10.

On Mon­day, June15 and Tues­day, June 16 (at a time to be de­cid­ed), soloists, du­os and quar­tets will per­form via a pri­vate live feed and will al­so sub­mit a video which should be tak­en from the front for ad­ju­di­ca­tion. For each mu­si­cian the host will make the mu­si­cal se­lec­tion via a live feed.

Ad­di­tion­al­ly, ac­com­pa­ni­ment tracks for the per­for­mance will be pro­vid­ed by the or­gan­is­er the day be­fore their per­for­mance and mu­si­cians will per­form for the du­ra­tion of the track. The track for soloists will not ex­ceed four min­utes. The track for du­os and quar­tets will not ex­ceed five min­utes. All mu­si­cians in all cat­e­gories are re­quired to im­pro­vise.

Soloists and du­os will sub­mit one video. Quar­tets will sub­mit two videos. Du­os and quar­tets must record to­geth­er. Video sub­mis­sion is due im­me­di­ate­ly af­ter your per­for­mance via What­sApp to 1-815-757-3245. The se­mi-fi­nal per­for­mance will be aired on Sat­ur­day, June 20, at 8 pm, via Face­book and YouTube.

From the se­mi-fi­nals, ten soloists, five du­os and­five quar­tets will ad­vance to the fi­nals.

On Mon­day, June 22 and Tues­day, June 23 (at a time to be de­cid­ed), soloists, du­os and quar­tets will per­form via a pri­vate live feed and will al­so sub­mit a video which should be tak­en from the front for ad­ju­di­ca­tion. For each mu­si­cian the host will make the mu­si­cal se­lec­tion via a live feed.

Ad­di­tion­al­ly, ac­com­pa­ni­ment tracks for the per­for­mance will be pro­vid­ed by the or­gan­is­er the day be­fore their per­for­mance and mu­si­cians will per­form for the du­ra­tion of the track. The track for soloists will not ex­ceed four min­utes. The track for du­os and quar­tets will not ex­ceed five min­utes. All mu­si­cians in all cat­e­gories are re­quired to im­pro­vise.

Soloists and du­os will sub­mit one video. Quar­tets will sub­mit two videos. Du­os and quar­tets must record to­geth­er. Video sub­mis­sion is due im­me­di­ate­ly af­ter your per­for­mance via What­sApp to 1-815-757-3245. The fi­nal per­for­mance will be aired on Sat­ur­day, June 27, at 8 pm, via Face­book and YouTube.

The qual­i­ty of au­dio and video may im­pact the ad­ju­di­ca­tion and there­fore par­tic­i­pants are en­cour­aged to en­sure that your record­ing is of high qual­i­ty.

A pan­el of four judges shall ad­ju­di­cate through­out the com­pe­ti­tion, and the judges’ de­ci­sion is fi­nal.