Tag Archives: steelpan

Culture, General T&T

Pan and T&T’s coat of arms

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 18, 2024

PART II

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn 1962 when Trinidad and Tobago went into business as a nation, it formed a committee “to select the symbols that would be representative of the people of Trinidad and Tobago”. It produced our coat of arms.

Those representative symbols consisted of a palm tree at the top that was taken from Tobago’s coat of arms (Tobago was annexed to Trinidad in 1889), three gold ships that Columbus is reputed to have used when he visited (or saw the island in 1498), two hummingbirds (Trinidad was sometimes referred to as the “Land of the Hummingbird”), and its motto, “Together we aspire, Together we achieve.”
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Culture, General T&T

Pan and the coat of arms: the imaginary

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 11, 2024

PART I

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI am always amazed at the presumptions that we, African people, make about the cultures of others and why we feel that they should adopt them as their own.

The Leader of our Grief says that pan, our national instrument, should be placed on our coat of arms because it’s T&T’s cultural gift to the world. Without consulting anyone, he goes to a PNM convention and declares that by Republic Day (September 24) the measure would be brought to the Legislative Council and it would be a done deal.
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Carnival, Crime in T&T, Culture, Entertainment, Music

Opportunities lost

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By Raffique Shah
September 07, 2020

Raffique ShahEarly morning Independence Day. I switch on the television, remembering that there would be no military parade this year, thanks to Covid-19, the Great Destroyer. So what is there to watch? On CNC3, I catch the last few words of the Prime Minister—rerun of an interview he’d done with Natalee Ligoure a few days ago. Then the host excitedly introduces 2020 Panorama champions, Desperadoes—their winning performance on Carnival Saturday night.
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Carnival, Carnival, Crime in T&T, Culture, General T&T

Pan Potential

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By Raffique Shah
February 17, 2020

Raffique ShahAs I savour some of the best offerings from this year’s Carnival from the comfort and safety of my home, I cannot help but think of the thousands of performers and revellers out there who, even as they immerse themselves in the gaiety of the festival, must ponder the possibilities that they might become victims of some criminal act before the day or night is over.
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Carnival, General T&T, PNM, Politics

Funding culture vultures

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By Raffique Shah
January 11, 2018

Raffique ShahThe Government missed a good opportunity to impress upon the population the gravity of the country’s economic circumstances, and consequently the dire need for all segments of society to make sacrifices on the expenditure side of the equation, when it capitulated by doling out millions of taxpayers’ dollars to fund private promoters whose sole interest in Carnival is to profit off it.
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Culture, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Play mas

By Raffique Shah
February 18, 2012

Raffique ShahNOTHING that I wrote last Sunday should be misread as the lament of an “ole geezer” who has had his Carnival day and who now wants to deny others the joy of the festival. Quite unlike some “sourpusses” who see nothing good in Carnival, I believe ours is a unique mix of music, artistry, colour, spontaneity, high-energy, sexuality, conviviality and more, much more. So, as this year’s festival comes to a climax over the next two days, I encourage Trinis-to-de-bone and our foreign guests to “play mas”. Have a whale of a time, but be safe.
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Culture, Entertainment, General T&T, Music, Security

Total disrepect

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By Raffique Shah
February 12, 2012

Raffique ShahI HAVE been nursing a not-so-quiet anger since last Sunday’s Panorama Semi-finals, and no, it has nothing to do with Despers being omitted from the finals, although I feel “a how” about that. I have asked fellow pan-fans, many of whom, like me, no longer make the pilgrimage to the Savannah, but who, nevertheless, do not miss a note, “How could they show total disrespect to pan, to the thousands who labour in panyards to produce one of the world’s biggest musical extravaganzas?”
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Complaints, Culture, Entertainment

Carnival: one foot in the grave

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By Raffique Shah
February 21, 2010

TriniSoca.com Carnival 2010CARNIVAL Friday night and I am driving to Port of Spain, my mind working like a Pentium computer chip. Which route do I choose to reach St James, my regular liming spot? Over the years I have learned that bumper-to-bumper traffic, not to add a virtual sea of early-bird revellers, transforms the city into a motorist’s nightmare. So once one decides to enter the epicentre of Carnival activities, one needs to plan one’s route with a GPS-mind.
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Culture, Entertainment, General T&T, Tourism

If only pan music were the food of love…

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By Raffique Shah
August 09, 2009
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

SteelpanEver so often I wish I can forget the sad state of my country and instead enjoy the luxury my columnist-colleague Keith Smith does. I can see Keith’s eyes “open wide”, blurting out: “Luxury? What luxury? Dis man mad or what?” No, I’m not mad. Over the past week, to use one example, Keith has focused on his community, Laventille, on the tenth anniversary of its pan festival, a feast I enjoyed in its early years, but which, sadly, I have not attended for maybe five years.
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