Grenada -- Panorama

So this week is Carnival week in Grenada. All kinds of events have been going on, starting with Children's Carnival, the Soca Monarch competition, and ending with two days of parades and events (Mon 13 & Tues 14). Earlier in the week I headed into town on a quest to find tickets to the big steel pan competition, the aptly titled Panorama. I stopped at a tourism booth and they weren't able to give me much information, the girl knew it was on Saturday at the National Stadium but had no idea what time it started or where exactly to buy tickets. I went to two tourist stores and finally found the tickets being sold in a shoe boutique of all places. I now had a ticket which claimed that the show started at 7pm, and a paper schedule that said it started at 8pm. Hmmm. I asked around -- other cruisers, locals on the bus, the people I work with at the GSPCA -- and no one could tell me for sure what time to be there. So when Saturday rolled around, I called the cab to pick us up around 6pm just in case the thing started "on time". (Grenadians reading this should be laughing uproariously at that.) So sure enough we arrive at the stadium at 6:37 and even as we are coming through the gate, I ask the security lady what time it'll start and the answer was a shrug and a nonchalant "Not too sure...". So as it ends up we are pretty much the only people there, other than the bands. We are even there earlier than the vendors who have yet to set up their beer booths (GASP!). Okay, I exaggerate, there were other people there. Of course they were other white tourists, sitting patiently in their seats in an empty stadium, waiting for the show to start.

But the nice thing about being there so early was that we got to walk around and get up close to the bands as they practiced. I should explain that this is not simply a steel band competition, it is a steel orchestra competition. There were 8 bands ranging in size from 30 to 75 kids, with sometimes 150 instruments. Back in July these kids (grade school age to high school age) competed with other orchestras to win a spot at Panorama, so they are the best the island has to offer, and they are truly amazing. They play an original piece, and if you look closely at the videos (which we'll post) you'll see no sheet music whatsoever, and no conductor in front of the band. The competition finally started (at 9:30pm -- needless to say, the local Grenadians somehow knew not to bother showing up before nine!). Kevin and I got right up close to the stage so we could get the full sound experience (there was no amplification so back at the stadium seats you couldn't really hear very well) and I've never seen anything like it. It was intense -- there was so much energy and the kids were all jumping around to the rhythm as they played each piece, really something to see. Hopefully the video will do it justice. Unfortunately we couldn't stay to hear all 8 bands, by midnight they were only through band number five, but it was still a great experience.