Nobody is better placed to put the focus on pan and its development, or lack thereof, than Len ’Boogsie’ Sharpe, one of this country’s finest arrangers. That new focus on pan came about last Monday night at the national awards ceremony at President’s House when ’Boogsie’ raised the issue in vehement terms, kicking off a controversy that has been raging all week. Our interview picks up on that point.

You seem to have stirred quite a hornet’s nest with your declaration last Monday night that in this country, its birth place, ’pan is dead’. Can you elaborate on that and explain for our readers exactly what you meant?

(Pan Trinbago President) Patrick Arnold and his group have been there for 12 years now. They’re going back up for election, which is due in October. And they have done nothing for pan. Long ago you used to see pan more in people face. But now? Now if you want to hear good pan you have to go to Japan or America because they (Pan Trinbago executive) have nothing in place. They’ve been there 12 years and all I see is, if you talk about the problem you get victimised. They even start to interfere with my living...

In what way?

Arnim Smith was president of Pan Trinbago once and he never introduced the kind of rules Arnold and company have come up with. An arranger, like myself, is now supposed to arrange for one conventional pan side and one single pan. But a pan tuner could work for as many bands as he wants. And Arnold is a pan tuner. Now that is not fair. I have a record dating back to 1988, a year in which I arranged for about seven bands. In those years they used to have the North Zone, the South Zone and the East Zone. Now they have Panorama and Pan In the 21st Century. What else do they have for the rest of the year? Nothing.

Do other panmen feel the way you feel about the Pan Trinbago executive?

Yes. A lot of panmen do...

So why don’t they get together and vote them out?

Because they’re afraid of vicitimisation...

What kind of victimisation?

They don’t get invited to Pan Trinbago events. They get left out of pan festivals. It’s happened to me...I was shocked to hear (Silver Stars captain) Junior Pouchet saying that pan is not dead. How he could say something like that when we’re been talking about this problem for such a long time? But I know what’s happening. He doesn’t want to get victimised...

Why do you think, as you also suggested, that businessmen should take charge of Pan Trinbago?

Because the present executive of Pan Trinbago has no vision. This thing should be run as a business...First of all, I think an audit should be carried out on Pan Trinbago. Because nobody knows what they’re doing with the money they’ve been making. And they make good money...The last time their office was on Edward Street and there was supposed to be an audit, the office burned down.

Patrick Arnold has described you as a ’spoilt child’ who insists on having things your way. What is you reaction to that?

This is not about ’Boogsie’. This is about the development of pan, which is simply not happening. You have to look at pan like a baby. It can’t walk. It can’t talk. You have to teach it these things and help it to grow. But that is simply not happening. There’s supposed to be a pan festival every two years but it doesn’t happen because they’re so disorganised.

Not that I have any doubt about your own credentials, but how long have you personally been involved with the pan?

I started playing pan when I was three years old. This house (at 21A Benares Street, St James) used to be a panyard. I left school when I was about 13 years old. I gave up school for pan. It’s been my life...But now you want to come and tell a band who to arrange for them.

That is ridiculous. It’s not fair! Nine months of the year pan should be sent out of the country. There are festivals all over the world. But these fellas just want to sit down on their fat tail. Or they want to stage pan festivals and over-charge. An example was the Pan Jazz festival in Tobago. Not everybody could afford the kind of money they were charging. It really is a whole set of wrongs going on...

But the image of the steelbandsman has changed, hasn’t it? It’s not like long ago when steelbandsmen were seen as badjohns or people who were only too willing to get involved in violence, with steelband clashes and so on...

Oh yes. In that sense,we’ve come a long way. But there are still a lot of things to be done. To keep pan active throughout the year. And as I keep saying, this is not about ’Boogsie’. It’s the truth I’m talking. I would like to have a one-on-one debate on this issue with Patrick Arnold...

Do you think he would agree to that?

Well, I was on a radio programme suggesting a debate and the station contact him and he said no...Take another example. Pan Trinbago has a pan factory. But do you know that Patrick Arnold also has a pan factory? And that is operating out of Pan Trinbago. I repeat: This isn’t about Boogsie Sharpe. It’s what is going on with the underdevelopment of pan...

I’ve read some criticism about your work habits with the University of Trinidad and Tobago...

Oh yes. They start to talk about how I don’t go to work. I’m a consultant with the UTT. I teach them how to develop their pan skills and so on. But I don’t go to work every day because they need a chance to work on what I’m teaching them. They don’t talk about how Patrick Arnold don’t be in office. Or take the Pan In Schools project. That is another big racket because they give them bad pans and what not. I have been talking about things like this for years. I’m talking the truth. And the truth offends. Now they’re talking about how I should apologise to the President. For what? I never disrespected the President. I spoke to the media...

Are you interested in getting involved in running Pan Trinbago?

No. That is not my job. My thing is to make music and help others develop their pan skills. We were the first band to win Panorama with our own composition. That is what interests me. But at the risk of repeating myself, it’s 12 years these guys have been in charge of Pan Trinbago and they have nothing to show for it. Look at that Pan in the 21st Century competition.

A lot of large steelbands just dropped out. You know why? It’s such a disrespect for the pan with the first prize for Pan in the 21st Century fixed at $50,000. And Pan Trinbago is taking 10 per cent of that. But you have to pay tuners, you have to pay an arranger and you have to pay transportation. So what are you left with? It’s total disrespect for the panman.

How many panmen make up a large band?

About 100 players. A lot of bands got up to 120 players. But on the final night of the competition, Arnold said they had to cut 20 players. You know how much confusion that caused? What is the reason for that? They never gave any reason.

That is not fair. That is wrong. You have foreigners who come to this country, the mecca of pan, because they want to get involved in playing pan and they get squeezed out. You can’t do people that. That is a wicked move. I’m telling you, just now when you want to hear pan, you have to go America or Japan because we’re not securing anything. We have nothing in place. You can’t name three events that Pan Trinbago staged that were successful. How many bands are practising during the year? It’s hard to practise throughout the year because you have no incentive. You have to do your own thing.

What about the ’G’ pan? Isn’t that a whole new development in the history of pan?

Oh sure. But Pan Trinbago has very little to do with that. The ’G’ pan in a fete is real trouble because of its volume. But you have to work with it. If you get a 35-piece of the ’G’ pan, it will be fantastic. These are the things we should be fighting for. But these guys (the Pan Trinbago executive) have no vision, they have no ambition...

How long does it take you personally to arrange a tune for, say, Panorama?

It depends. Sometimes it takes about four days. Sometimes sooner than that. It’s hard work. I mean I have to make sure that every panside I arrange for sounds different...

Can the average panman live off of playing pan?

Well, it could happen. But you have to set the stage for it. If you approach like a business, it could happen. Pan is like any other musical instrument. But with Pan Trinbago, it’s always confusion. People pay their money to get tickets for pan shows, for example, and then find that there are no tickets. People are always complaining about these guys...

How are people elected to the executive of Pan Trinbago?

Voting is based on two delegates from each band. But you have to register your whole band. So don’t you think that every member should have a vote? Patrick Arnold has it set up so he can be president of Pan Trinbago for life.

Do members of the executive of Pan Trinbago have their own bands?

Yes. They do. And of course they seek to push their own bands. Now let me tell you something else. I’m a sick man. I’m a diabetic. I’ve never asked Pan Trinbago for any money to help me with my medical bills which at one point came up to $10,000. But would you believe when Bertie Marshall, who is also a diabetic, went and asked Pan Trinbago for help in paying his medical bills, they told him they couldn’t help him because they were paying off Boogsie’s bills. Imagine that-they refuse a man like Bertie Marshall. These fellas don’t care about anybody but themselves. That’s how I look at it.

Does the government show any interest in all this?

Any time I complain to government ministers about these problems, their attitude is ’panmen have to work out their own problems’.