Steel Bands Plan Boycott of Brooklyn's West Indian Parade by By Nichole M. Christian - The NY Times

See the article in its original context from July 19, 2001, Section B, Page 3

By the calendar, it is pan time in Brooklyn, the annual rite of summer when hundreds of Caribbean immigrants and their American-born children turn sidewalks, vacant lots -- any sliver of concrete they can find -- into late-night practice yards for Panorama, the popular steel band showdown that begins the West Indian American Labor Day weekend carnival.

But as this year's season gets under way, the bands are producing as much controversy as they are good music. The group that represents 22 of Brooklyn's best-known pan, or steel drum, orchestras says it will boycott Panorama and stage its own competition on Sept. 1. It has accused the parade's organizers, the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (Wiadca for short), of ignoring its pleas for a larger venue, a professional sound system and a share of the profits from the event, which typically draws crowds into the thousands, usually at $20 a person.

''Every year, we are losing money left to right, for the love of this music,'' said Keith Marcelle, president of the group, the United States Steel Band Association. ''And every year we ask them to sit down with us, to give us a voice in helping to make the show better.''

The top prize in Panorama is $9,000, but band leaders say they spend a year trying to come up with the $10,000 to $30,000 per band it takes to pay for ornate costumes, the handmade oil drums and the travel expenses of music arrangers who have to be flown in from Trinidad. Some bands have as many as 100 players.

''The organizers are not interested in our concerns,'' said Mr. Marcelle, whose group has been lobbying for changes for the last two years. ''And we are no longer interested in being ignored.''

So on Sept. 1, instead of piling into the parking lot of the Brooklyn Museum, the official site of the more than 30-year-old Panorama, bands like Despers USA, Pan Rebels and NY Nu Tones are planning to be miles away beating their drums in a separate competition. City Councilman Kenneth K. Fisher and Brian Figeroux, a prominent Trinidadian immigration lawyer who owns The Immigrant's Journal, a community newspaper covering Caribbean issues, recently helped the group secure the Thomas Jefferson High School athletic field in East New York as the site of the new competition. Tickets have also gone on sale; Mr. Figeroux's newspaper is sponsoring and advertising the event.

Peter Abraham, chairman of the Panorama committee for the carnival, dismissed the boycott as merely talk by troublemakers. ''I don't understand what they want,'' he said. ''We are a nonprofit organization. The money that Wiadca gets from sponsors is for all of carnival, not just Panorama. It's ludicrous for them to think we could pay the amount of money that is required for a steel band to come together. We give the best we can.''

Mr. Abraham insisted that the carnival would also play host to a Panorama on Sept. 1. He said his committee had recruited seven bands from Boston, Connecticut and Washington, as well as eight local groups not represented by the United States Steel Band Association. Mr. Abraham added that the competition's top prize this year would increase to $10,000, and that a $1,000 appearance fee would be given to each band that competes. ''If there has to be two Panoramas this year, let it be two,'' he said. ''This group is not going to disrupt our record.''

Some carnival supporters worry that the friction between the two groups could spoil the event. ''A second panorama has the potential to cause a lot of confusion,'' said Roi Hastick, president of the Caribbean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a trade group that represents 1,500 Caribbean businesses around the state. ''It's not something we're endorsing. We would rather both sides sit down and iron out their differences.''

The steel bands do not have a major presence in the parade, where hundreds of thousands of people line Eastern Parkway from Utica Avenue to Grand Army Plaza to watch the extravagant costumes and dance to musical styles like socca, Haitian rara and Jamaican reggae. But Panorama is one of the major events of the celebration and a moneymaker for the carnival, typically clearing about $100,000, Mr. Abraham said.

The bands that are boycotting the event concede that they are fighting an uphill battle. Their association wants to offer each competing band $2,000 just to enter its competition, while the top three bands would compete for a $20,000 first prize. With the remaining proceeds, the group intends to set up steel drum clinics at local schools and lobby for the inclusion of pan studies at state universities. So far, the group is struggling to find other sponsors who are not already committed to financing the carnival.

Earlier this month the band's trade group paid $2,800 to the radio station WLIB-AM (1190) to broadcast live from an event that was supposed to preview its separate Panorama. However, last Sunday, the day of the event, WLIB, a longtime sponsor of the West Indian Day weekend, refused to show up.

''We did not want to be caught in the middle of a fight between the West Indian Day carnival committee and this upstart group, that frankly duped us,'' said Kernie Anderson, the station's general manager. ''We were led to believe they were having an event to support kids and soccer but it became clear they were actually trying to recruit people for an event competing with the West Indian Day festivities.''

Mr. Figeroux denied the charges. He said WLIB, like many other local businesses, was simply afraid to rock the boat.

''All these bands are trying to do is empower themselves,'' he said. ''They've given a lot to the community, teaching the music to our kids and performing for Wiadca. No one has the right to tell them to keep settling for bread crumbs.''

See the article in its original context from July 19, 2001, Section B, Page 3