As a pannist who often performs solo and never with backing tracks, it is clear that there are pannists of the solo performing persuasion who consistently use backing tracks when performing. Often, these backing tracks are of the midi variety and inherently produce a significant cheese factor as far as solo performance goes. How great this particular cheese factor ultimately is depends upon the individual performer. Backing tracks produced using live instruments are a somewhat different story, but for the sake of staying on topic, let us stick with the overall idea of solo steelpan performers who use backing tracks in general.
The Ultimate Cheese Ball
For the readers who are fond of cheese balls, one of the main ingredients of this popular snackfood as you may know is corn, and rightly so. The word ''corny'' has been used in this blog in the past in order to refer to the general handpan community. As this blog has an international audience, there have been some readers who have failed to grasp the meaning behind the word, ''corny''. For those readers who may not be familiar with American slang, the word ''corny'' is used to describe anything lacking coolness, or anything uncool for all intents and purposes.
With that being clarified, the epitome of steelpan cornball cheesiness is definitely Bob Lyons.
So much for merit based views on YouTube, as if a meritocracy ever existed in the first instance as far as steelpan videos on YouTube are concerned. With over 2 million views to date, the above video is apparently the most viewed steelpan video on YouTube. KaribPAN has published some recent articles concerning this pan disparity; Questionably Low YouTube View Counts of Stunning Steelpan Videos as well as Three Important Things We Can Learn From These Throughly Underrated Pan Videos.
Solo Pannist With Backing Track and a Splash of Class
Clocking in with just over 1 million views is a pannist hailing from St. Martin who is performing the standard, ''Yellow Bird'' along with a backing track and unlike Bob Lyons, this pannist's 1 million views are well deserved as he definitely has the talent and the touch to back up his numbers.
Although the preceding video features a backing track, there is no cheese factor evident with this particular pannist and the reason for this is as stated earlier, namely that the cheesiness of performing with backing tracks as a soloist is strictly dependent upon the individual performer. This can be said for any musician utilizing backing tracks, regardless of what instrument is being played.
Performing on the Pan With a Hawaiian Shirt And Straw Hat is Corny
Apparently Bob Lyons never got the memo that donning a Hawaiian shirt and a straw hat and adopting this outift as his steelpan performance uniform is not cool, especially in light of the fact that it is hard to find a photo of Bob Lyons in an outfit other than a Hawaiian shirt and a straw hat.
It seems as though there is a consensus among certain pan performers regarding Hawaiian shirts and the role that they play as standard steelpan performing attire. Hawaiian shirts and straw hats are one thing, but Hawaiian shirts topped off with an old, beat up, snapback baseball cap is almost another issue entirely, yet still closely related enough to the issue at hand to be relevant.
Terry Baber is another steelpan cornball who appears to have a comfortable airport gig, and while he may do a poor job representing authentic steelpan culture to airplane travelers, he does it with heart. All of this in spite of the fact that his pan sounds out of tune, and his backing track sounds like something that was recorded from a child's karaoke toy.
Closing Out With Class, Freddy Harris III
Freddy Harris III is one of those up and coming young pannists who is carrying the steelpan torch for the current younger generation of pannists. It is virtually guaranteed that Freddy Harris III will never perform with a Hawaiian shirt and a straw hat. And although he is sporting a fitted baseball cap, it is far from worn out. Hence, pannists of a Caribbean background who perform solo with backing tracks, will not usually come across with anything corny about them, and naturally so.
Stay Tuned For Our Next Article:
‘’How the Steelpan Went From Being a Poor Man’s Piano to an Elitist’s Toy’’
I hope you commenters are feeling better now that you let out all of your hot, stale air. You all do not want the truth, you can’t handle the truth.
Rudy, youre final secret is out.
You are not trinny.
You are white.
You were committed to a mental health institute in 1992 for multiple personality disorder.
May god save your sinning soul.
Wow, I would think someone who is in the business of selling pans and related equipment would take a smarter approach to promoting yourself. Your disparagement of other players and your attempt at shaming them for not adhering to your concept of “cool” is a very poor decision and reflects on your own self-esteem and confidence. I was once told by a great and famous musician that it is the people who haven’t yet “made it” who display a negative attitude towards others in their area of performance simply out of their own feelings of inadequacy. Those who have “made it” and are highly accomplished only work to encourage others to improve their art and craft in a positive and nurturing way. Your blog post here says more about you than you may realize and I, for one, would never choose to support someone of such questionable character.
By the way, I am a professional musician of over 40 years. I’m not a pan player at all. Instead, I teach and perform with brass, woodwind and percussion. I have known Terry B since our college days way back in the 70’s. I’ve known him as a friend, a fellow musician, a fine bass trombonist and overall great entertainer in every musical endeavor. Everything he does with music is done with passion, honesty and integrity. But what raises him far above your insecure reproach is his sincerity and genuine love of our art and his respect for those who share that love of music with others.
You should take some time to reflect and consider your intent in trying to shame others in order to advance your own idea of what is “corny” and what is “cool.” It is an immature perspective that looks at the world and their fellow man with such a narrow focus. Authenticity does not come through the shirt or hat one chooses to wear, but from one’s knowledge and depth of understanding of art and humanity.
Perhaps you are trying to feel better about your own shortcomings, or perhaps you feel you have some divine right to criticize others. Regardless, shame on you for trying to advance your own idea of what is good and what is not good by putting down others.
Pan is for the worship of Ogun, and I accept all and everyone who would pay tribute to Me with iron and steel. The wearing of Hawaiin shirts does not affect a Believer’s piety or sincereness. All pans ring out in the worship of Me.