Panorama Break for Ray Holman

By Caldeo Sookram
February 19, 2003
Trinidad Express

Ray Holman, the man who changed the history of the Panorama Steel-band competition did not arrange for any band this year.

When Holman composed “Pan on the Move” to compete for Panorama in 1972, a furore was raised by a number of calypsonians.

It was the first time that a steel-band arranger had composed a piece for pan to play in a Panorama competition. The season was long, since Carnival celebrations were postponed to May because of a threat of a polio epidemic.

“Some people claimed it was not a calypso because it had no lyrics,” said Holman. “We get Alvin Daniel to write lyrics for the tune and we tried to get Baron to sing it. Baron declined because he was threatened by the management of the tent where he performed,” Holman added.

“The steel-band fraternity supported me but some calypsonians opposed the move because they felt threatened,” said Holman.

The song was eventually sung by a female calypsonian, said Holman. It won for Starlift the North Zone Panaorama title that year. Again in 1973 Holman composed his own tune for Panorama. This time it was “Pan on the Run”. By then the “own tune” controversy had led to splits in the steel-band movement itself, with the famous Starlift spilt resulting in the formation of the Phase II and Third World steel bands.

“I write my music and sometimes make on-the-spot changes to the scores during rehearsals,” said Holman who started his career as a steel-band arranger with Invaders in 1960.

“I was 16 years old at the time. The first tune I arranged was Pat Boone’s ‘April Love’ for Invaders”, Holman recalled.

Three years later (in 1963) Holman’s arrangement of the son “I Feel Pretty” from the Hollywood musical West Side Story became a big hit. The only radio stations at the time (Radio Trinidad and Radio Guardian) played the tune regularly while jukeboxes around the national blared it daily. [MORE]