Gemonites cry foul at Barbados Pan Festival

Thursday June 10 2004

by La-Verne Jackson

Antigua & Barbuda's reigning Panorama champions, Gemonites Steel Orchestra, were plunged into darkness and were robbed of sound during their performance in the recently concluded Barbados Pan Festival.

The two-day festival was held last Saturday and Sunday.

During an interview with the SUN, Gemonites Vice-Captain Robin Margetson said they encountered a few problems relating to the organisation of the festival, which he said resulted from the promoter, Michael Murray, trying to spread himself too thin.

In addition to the organisation of the festival, Margetson said the root of the problem began with the signing of a release granting the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) the permission to film the festival including their performance

Another problem arose when a member of Gemonites asked someone to video tape their performance.

Having been told by Murray that they would not be permitted to do so because the CBC reserved all rights, they sought further advice from a CBC representative.

They were told by the representative it would be better if CBC filmed the festival and in return they would receive a copy.

Having agreed to this, Margetson said minutes before their performance on Sunday evening a representative from the Barbados Pan Festival came backstage requesting they sign the release granting CBC the permission to film the festival including their performance; however it was time to perform so the Captain Joseph Henry agreed to sign it after their performance.

According to Margetson, within five minutes of their performance the sound was shut off, which was followed by the lights. At first, they thought it was a technical problem but were eventually told to stop playing by the captain.

Roots Steelband, which was also scheduled to perform, walked off the stage during their first song in support of Gemonites.

However after renegotiations Gemonites returned to the stage where they performed for the pan lovers.

Despite the controversy Margetson said they were pleased with their performance.

"In no way has this experience clouded our mind towards Barbados but we will turn it into something positive. Being the host of our own Moods of Pan Festival it highlights some of the things we have to protect ourselves against," Margetson said.

"We would certainly be very cautious with entering into negotiations with this gentleman again," he added.

Margetson also said the Gemonites Steel Orchestra is very grateful towards Roots Steel Band for the solidarity they showed as an Antiguan band as well.

The Steel Orchestra will now be focussing on the upcoming Carnival celebrations as well as making preparations for Moods of Pan 2004.