World Steelpan Day – Needs national embrace

I preface this week’s column in support of World Steelpan Day, August 11, by offering my sincerest condolences to the wife and family of one of our unsung sporting and cultural icon, Donald “Duck” Llewellyn, who departed this life last week. Talk sport, of all type and you engaging ‘Duck’ and that enthusiasm extended to his love for pan, a love shared by his brother, ‘Pess’, another local pan legend.

Many will be the tributes to be poured on ‘Duck”, his participation in and passion for sport and our cultural art forms, the pan being prominent among his activities. He was also a fierce debater on all such topics and his sharp wit and unyielding debate made his presence and leadership in sport and culture very well-known. Rest in peace my brother!

Turning now to World Steelpan Day. It may be historical coincidence but one of significant proportions, that August, 11 was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly two years ago as World Steelpan Day. It is not just an historical coincidence, for August, for millions of people of African descent primarily in the Caribbean and its diaspora, is Emancipation Month.

Though that month was influenced by the decision of British imperialism to end what was called chattel slavery and activate the Emancipation Proclamation, it was a major victory for Caribbean people, physically ending one of history’s worst human atrocities. So great was its effect that it was also felt in non-English speaking slave colonies. American slavery became one of its biggest victims three decades later.

The recognition of World Steelpan Day was not just a major achievement but a major challenge to Caribbean society in general. How are we, still struggling with mainstream acceptance of the steelpan, to justify such global recognition when we have not been able to do anything comparable at the national or regional levels?

Two years ago, to mark the first World Steelpan Day, I wrote an article both hailing the significant development and acknowledging the enormity of the challenges.

Among these challenges were some very formidable ones with no apparent easy solutions. Thus we live in a rapidly modernizing world, and it is not easy in such circumstances to make a steelband viable.

Yet it is at the very heart of our claim to Emancipation. The enormous costs involved in organizing and outfitting steelbands from communities, rural and urban, must come from somewhere. What about attaching it as a central element of our Reparation Claims? Its justification speaks for itself as an essential element of our being. Governments will never be able to afford the expense, and the business community will only go as far as suits their commercial interests. It would be interesting to get a response from governments and the respective Reparations Committees on this.

It is a critical element because much as we promote the steelpan cause there is, besides its profound historical and cultural significance, the reality that it is also a means of entertainment, but a costly one at that. It is far easier, given modern technology, for a group of four or five young people to find ways of establishing a musical band than a small steelband. Romanticism and all the commitment of pan lovers will not change that. We are being given the opportunity, at least in theory, to make the steelpan truly a global instrument. The challenge is to make this into a reality. While the financing is paramount there is much more which must be addressed as well. For instance, are we as Caribbean societies convinced of the value in proceeding in this direction? How does such a commitment relate to our education system for instance? Where does Pan fit in our Carnival of today?

These are issues which ought to be seriously addressed. Occasional community and street functions are needed of course, but we must go much further, much deeper. Pan and Carnival have only survived and blossomed because of the tremendous sacrifice of those pioneers who benefitted little from their sacrifices. If we want to see the flowering of our cultural seeds we must be prepared to cultivate them.

I salute the pioneers of the Pan Movement and those who continue in their footsteps. But the reality is that if Steelpan Day is to be a reality worldwide, we must start at home. Emphasize its roots in and contribution to Emancipation and let it be high on the masthead of our Emancipation claims.

• Renwick Rose is a Social and Political commentator.