On Wednesday, the first globally-oriented examination of the steelband in this century began at the International Conference on Pan (ICP) at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain.
The ICP is a monumental project and one with the potential for having a pivotal impact on the state of the steelband movement in Trinidad and Tobago.
Not least because it will bring this country's pan musicians face to face with the global spread of the steelband, often with little reference to the country of its origin. That double-edged sword is the true meaning of making the musical instrument our gift to the world. In much the same way that the British had to come to terms with the fact that they may have birthed cricket and football, but they no longer own those sports either in terms of achievement, passion or–recent Ashes victory excepted–specific, accomplishments in the contemporary game.
This is a difficult thing to come to terms with and while the evidence of the scope of the steelpan's influence has been before us for decades now, the scale and scope of the effect of that has been invited home and there are likely to be surprises.
When Matthias Kauer dared to suggest at the conference that our tenor pan should, more appropriately be described as a soprano pan and offered his thesis in support of that, it was not seen, in some quarters, as an opinion offered by a player and supporter of the movement for the last 38 years but as an arrogant attempt at asserting European authority on a native movement.
The programme of the conference reads more like a historical justification for the current state of the movement than the forward-looking, research-focused agenda that today's pan players so desperately need. Even the climax of the event on Sunday was framed in the terms and language that the movement has found itself mired in for almost a century now, placing musicians in competition.
For many of the musicians coming to this country to compete yesterday, it is a pilgrimage and an honour to perform in the land of the steelpan's birth. There is also no question that there is need for more formal documentation that gathers the history of the steelband movement and makes it accessible to future generations in forms which are both age-appropriate and designed to motivate participation in this most critical element of our culture.
But it's unclear what, exactly, the ICP, budgeted in 2014 at $25 million, was designed to accomplish. The mission statement that it was organised under was "Towards the Globalisation and Development of the Steelpan." But the development of the steelpan, as an instrument to be reliably duplicated and refined, as a movement organised within the communities that have supported it for generations, and as a concept that demands more of its early inventiveness, remains the most critical mission facing Pan Trinbago.
Knowing where the movement has come from is undeniably important, as is understanding where it is today through far more methodical study. But charting its future needed to be more firmly front and centre in the planning of the ICP.
It's simply embarrassing that in 2015, there are still conversations about properly siting panyards and developing more manufacturing capacity for the instrument. T&T pannists must participate more decisively in its rapidly evolving future if they are to remain decisive players on that cultural stage.