If you don't know local politics by now, you'll never know it. Our political soap operas can easily top the international bacchanal scene.As a result, the average citizen clearly understands politics and political correctness–including the politics of Pan. In the wake of this year's Emancipation celebrations, if you research the news like I did, then you too would have been overjoyed and politically informed by the musings/blogs of similarly opinioned citizens.
Reference Messer's Martin Daly's Putting MJ (ie the Minister of National Security) To Rest and Raffique Shah's If only Pan Music were the Food of Love. Both blogs carried parodies and mirrored critical aspects of the evolution and revolution of the steelpan, which included the fact that it is African and it is the fruit of the womb of the ghetto. Pan has endured the stigma of rioting and hooliganism as a young adult, and–for those who believe in karma–in its adulthood, is threatened with non existence by varying forms of violence, including the current gang violence syndrome. This was such a clever method of political commentary, all packaged in the context of pan.
In keeping with that Pan hypothesis, and taking into consideration the following words: policy, principles and beliefs, which form part of the broad definition of the term politics, why not explore the politics of pan, and its positive or negative effects? Observation and research have shown that the elements of secrecy, hidden treasures and surprises were very evident in the founding and shaping of steelband and mas making. In the case of the steelpan, panmen had to hide the instruments from the police, and their inventions and music from their rivals. All new inventions or innovations were proverbially dropped like bombs.
Records were kept on people's minds, not micro chips, hence the distortion and loss of the history and heritage of the instruments, and the individuals who were truly responsible for their creation.
We are not certain who are the firsts in pan, but what we are absolutely certain about is its birthplace. No one can dispute or change the fact that it was born in the ghetto. Besides East Port-of-Spain and behind the bridge, there were ghettos in other areas back then–Belmont, Woodbrook and St James all had ghettos–where many influential and successful families resided in one-room apartments, with shared latrines, one tap, and open-air galvanize showers.
What we affectionately call the ghetto now, George, Nelson and Duncan Streets, had one, two and three-bedroom apartments with personal face sinks, toilets and baths, garbage disposal and fire escapes. Nevertheless, the village, the parenting and the inherent values made the difference, not the location of the ghetto. The solutions to the questions of total protection, copyright infringements, sound management and leadership, also emanated from these ghettos, and the major resulting negatives were steelband riots and gang warfare.
This badjohn era was in no way limited to the above districts. In fact, the more recent perpetrators of gang violence are from tremendously different eras, but share very similar traits–like illiteracy–with the badjohns of the primitive past. We are into much more modern times now. Law and order have taken care of most of the administrative matters. However, although we have made such remarkable progress, much is left to be desired in terms of sound management, judgement and leadership.