JENSEN LA VENDE

Se­nior Re­porter

jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt

Ac­com­pa­nied by the sounds of the De­fence Force Steel­band, scores of pan lovers walked through the slight driz­zle in the cap­i­tal yes­ter­day, from Massy All Stars pa­n­yard on Duke Street to bp Rene­gades pa­n­yard on Char­lotte Street for the an­nu­al an­ces­tral walk.

The brief walk, which was more of a chip, formed part of the cel­e­bra­tions com­mem­o­rat­ing World Steel­pan Day and ho­n­our­ing the pi­o­neers of the pan fra­ter­ni­ty.

At the start of the walk, pan play­ers gath­ered at All Stars and ser­e­nad­ed those in at­ten­dance. The mu­si­cal in­ter­lude con­tin­ued at bp Rene­gades, pow­ered most­ly by the youths.

One pan play­er, Ja­da Suther­land, en­cour­aged all youths to get in­volved in pan. The play­er with Kim­ber­ly’s Roy­al Steel Or­ches­tra said she came just for the love of pan.

“The mu­sic and the vibe from it re­al­ly en­rich­es my soul. Pan is a part of our cul­ture in Trinidad and To­ba­go, and I find that every­one should learn to play,” the 16-year-old said, adding that every­one should learn to play the na­tion­al in­stru­ment.

While not a pan play­er, 14-year-old Ki­mani Re­ece, who ac­com­pa­nied his moth­er, a pan play­er with the De­fence Force, said he just en­joys the cul­ture of pan mu­sic.

“Some­day I will. Some­day I want to be a pan play­er,” he said, adding that the at­trac­tive­ness to the steel­pan for him is the to­geth­er­ness it brings.

As for Pan Trin­ba­go pres­i­dent Bev­er­ly Ram­sey-Moore, yes­ter­day’s walk was the largest since its in­cep­tion in 2013 when the Unit­ed Na­tions first recog­nised World Steel­pan Day. The pan boss said the youth turnout demon­strat­ed that pan is in good hands.

“It’s al­ways good to bring in youth en­er­gy be­cause they are the fu­ture, they are in the spring­time of life, and so once you have that pres­ence, you know that pan will con­tin­ue to live on and on.”

She said while there are pan com­pe­ti­tions in oth­er coun­tries, there is none like those held in Trinidad and To­ba­go. She said with the steel­pan be­ing trade­marked, it is hoped that there will be an up­lift­ing of the in­stru­ment’s pro­file.

Ram­sey-Moore added: “Steel­pan is com­mu­ni­ty soul; it is in­ter­gen­er­a­tional, there is no sea­son for pan, and so I thank Trinidad and To­ba­go for stand­ing there in the gap with us, and we look for­ward to greater things and big­ger things as we con­tin­ue to roll out our plans, lead the de­vel­op­ment of the Steel­pan move­ment.”