Put pan, tassa onnew coat of arms

THE EDITOR: The decision by the new UNC government to halt the printing of currency notes with a revised coat of arms is welcomed at this time for many justifiable reasons.

Firstly is the issue of financial incompetence because the country cannot afford such an expensive change at this frugal time. TT badly needs the money to alleviate the exceptional and damaging flooding which the country is now grappling with.

Secondly, I am of the view that the coat of arms should include the two instruments which are, in my view, indigenous to TT – the steelpan and the tassa drum.

The drum that came here with the indentured labourers was not a tassa drum. That drum was a simple unrefined goat skin drum, nothing more than that.

The tassa drum in our country is of a different DNA and caters to a new orchestral expression of fantastic drumology not known anywhere in the wider world, and was refined over the years by the Indo-Trinidadian musicians, just as the steelpan was refined by the Afro-Trinidadians – no different, same khaki pants.

To put only the steelpan on the coat of arms is discriminatory and may even be considered political. The inclusion of both instruments would also help to fuse these two main diasporas to become a unified national body through a cultural art form. So why not?

I believe most people in the country would like to see this happen.

PETER S MORALLES

Cascade