Bring pan out of the darkness

THE EDITOR: As one who would qualify as a pan elder, I am deeply saddened by the goings-on in the steelband fraternity. The division is causing anxiety among lovers of steelband music, pannists, arrangers and pan writers at home and abroad.

It is also tarnishing the image of pan internationally, when technological advances in pan should be on the front burner. As I always say, pan is the next frontier of electronic musical development and we better believe it.

Pan people are asking what is going on in the home of pan. They are also asking when will the pulling and tugging end, and the well-publicised issues be addressed.

Pan’s sorry business and dirty linen is all over the land and the wider world like doggie doodle. Pan cannot continue like this. There must be a way out of this darkness. We cannot continue to dance on the graves of our ancestors, the men who made the sacrifices, survived the titles “outcast,” “villain,” “hooligan,” survived being beaten by police, survived prison.

Many panmen have laboured long and hard in the vineyards and got nothing for it and today. Time to bring pan out of the darkness.

KEITH ANDERSON via e-mail

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"Bring pan out of the darkness"

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