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NIGEL CAMPBELL

On August 6, inside the Lord Kitchener Auditorium at NAPA, Port of Spain, the Trinidad and Tobago Youth Philharmonic (TTYP), under the baton and direction of Kenneth Listhrop attempted a grand idea of moving the local appreciation of classical music up a notch by celebrating the music of Black Stalin outside the context of a calypso tent.
This nearly 25-year-old organisation, with 127 members onstage at times comprising the youth, junior and senior orchestras playing strings – violin, viola, cello and double bass – French horns, reeds, and orchestral percussion, ultimately presented a limited programme that defied the harmonic promise and rhythmic adventures that re-arranged calypso can offer. The loud applause that night belied what actually happened onstage.
Trinidadian composer and arranger Kerry Brent Henry, based in the UK, was approached by Listhrop before the beginning of this year to collaborate and provide orchestral arrangements for calypso. Henry accepted the challenge acknowledging that Listhrop was aware of his worthiness. A diverse range of topic, tone and tempo was the goal of Henry with the caveat that his new musical arrangements would succeed in projecting a new individuality to the songs that may otherwise be presumed to have a sameness in composition.
Henry completed nine songs including Caribbean Man, Burn Dem, and Wait, Dorothy Wait, which he ultimately hand-delivered to TTYP at the beginning of May. The possibilities of performance progress and discovery seem to have been stymied by a communication breakdown that did not allow the arranger to be present at rehearsals at anytime prior, thus not be able to hear his music until the night of the concert.
Coupled with this turmoil was a delay in TTYP receiving authorisation from the estate of Black Stalin to perform his music. Back in May, the Calliste family’s attorney, Rondell Donawa, issued a statement and a warning that the commercial use of Stalin’s intellectual property without authorisation would be met with legal action. He further stated that, “(t)his authorisation is essential to uphold the integrity of Black Stalin’s legacy and to ensure that his work continues to be honoured and celebrated in a manner that aligns with the family’s wishes. Furthermore, any organisation or individual wishing to organise a tribute concert or event dedicated to Black Stalin must seek the explicit consent and authorisation from the family of the estate. This includes obtaining proper licences, permits, and adhering to any conditions set forth by the family to protect the integrity of the late artist’s image, music, and reputation.”
This set the stage for a slow response for authorisation leading to a limited time-frame for rehearsal of the songs. In the end, only three songs, Play One for Winston Spree, Bun Dem, and Wait Dorothy were performed. Unimpressed, Henry told Newsday that the music “did not get the time, attention, and respect it deserved.” He also noted that what was presented was “glossed over and edited,” and that he was “anxious” to endorse something he had not heard.

Before the calypsoes of Black Stalin, the audience was treated to nine fanfares and marches of composers of the classical age, from Handel, Wagner and Bizet to Tchaikovsky, Elgar and Wagner, and the Olympic Fanfare of film composer John Williams of Star Wars fame.
Ideation and execution are two separate things in the realm of performance art. Perfection is a goal, oft times fleeting and unfulfilled. That night, the strident tones of the orchestra dominated. The dissonance heard too often suggested that the programme was either beyond the technical reach of this young orchestra, or that there was not enough rehearsal before showtime. The Sunday night performance was the second night of a packed weekend for the TTYP, as it put on a separate show of religious and Christian music for orchestra and voice the night before. All this was a culmination of an intense three-week summer music programme.
The audience was left to note that this concert was able to throw up a number of ideas about its ability to expand its music appreciation. Public domain works by the European composers are free to be performed with music charts available widely and easily. Interpretation of the written music is the opportunity of the modern arranger to excel, as it was that night for three TTYP arrangers. The commercial exploitation of music still within copyright – within 50 years post-mortem – is the business of music that either enhances or inhibits. The struggle to expand the availability of our late calypsonians’ music does not begin and end with Black Stalin, as other recently passed calypsonian’s families have put up almost impenetrable protective barriers to access the music. Newsday was recently told that steelbands playing the music of Black Stalin for Panorama don’t pay pre-performance licences or negotiate permission and authorisation with the estate.
The Trinidad and Tobago Youth Philharmonic, formerly the St Augustine Chamber Orchestra, is a great idea existing in a place where ideas sometimes die. Indifference borne on the continual aping of fads, and lack of will, foresight and money are stumbling blocks to expansion of creative industries here. To its credit, the TTYP has acquired land for the building of a music academy, and its mission to establish an orchestral tradition in the Caribbean beginning with youth development is laudable. The chauvinistic appeals for financial support and home-grown action were noted that night. The similarities to the Venezuelan El Sistema project and its music for social change are clear. The National Philharmonic Orchestra of TT rode a similar path of trial and error, but they have the sustenance of a Ministry of Culture. This concert, part of a weekend of performances, points to the reality that a lot more music has to be listened to by audiences, that more rehearsal and practice by the players are a must, and that the local songbook, while brimming with potential, would only reap commercial rewards with engagement beyond cynicism and appeals for instant grand reparations.
The post TT Youth Philharmonic concert – a muted fanfare and tribute appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.