CRITIQUE – Pan In The City

By DSC student Annisha Aaron.

On the 14th of February 2015, the annual Pan in the City was held on the busy streets of Roseau. The event entailed performances from the different steel drum groups of Dominica, all in different locations around the city, with a surprise appearance of a steel pan group from St. Thomas.

It was appalling and sad to see that there were only three local groups performing, but those three groups must be complimented for their on going involvement in steel pan on the island. The three local groups were none other than the NBD Possie Culture Pan,  Pan in Harmony and the Mahaut steel pan group. These groups portrayed the hidden talents which lies within our Dominican villages and they did a magnificent job in blessing our streets with sweet, vibrant sounds. The St. Thomas group also did a splendid job; they were great performers and displayed an aspect of steel pan which is lacking in our Dominican groups.

Although, overall all the groups were superb, there were a few issues, that if worked upon in the future, will help enhance the quality at which each group plays.

These include but are not limited to (a) stage presence, when performing the players should captivate their audience, and make them enjoy the music they are playing. The players should show confidence in themselves and show a love for the pan, thus allowing the audience to also enjoy and love the performance. (b) Dynamics – this was an issue with some of the groups, the varying levels of volume of sound in different parts of one performance were uneven and some of the accompanying steel drums (the guitars, double seconds etc), over powered the tenors causing the main lyrics of the songs performed to be low, unheard and lost. Another issue was the lack of local music (calypso’s etc), although, a few Dominican songs were performed by the NBD group and surprisingly the St. Thomas group, who played ‘Dominica Nice’. There should be a larger amount of our local songs being performed through out the performances.

Overall the ‘Pan in the city’ was a fun and exciting event and it was a great and unique way to liven up the streets of Roseau. Many thanks, to the Pan Organization for organising the event, and a job well done to the few groups who performed, and portrayed their talents.