Department Of Culture Supports the Sweet Sound of Pan for the Second Year Running

Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 08, 2016 (SKNIS): For the second year in a row, the Department of Culture will be hosting “Pan in Splendour,” providing an opportunity for residents to learn the art of playing the Trinidadian-created steel pan instrument.

The steel pan, the only musical instrument crafted in the 20th Century, has been adopted by St. Kitts and Nevis, as one of the cultural means of playing music, initially used for playing the cultural art-form of calypso.

“It (Pan in Splendour) is basically a pan camp for persons that are interested in learning how to play pan,” Stanley Knight, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture said, during the Government programme ‘Working for You.’ “The focus is introducing pan to a broader cross-section of the society to enhance the skills of the art-form, to positively occupy our young people, to promote good discipline again amongst our youth, preserving our musical culture and heritage, providing a path to entrepreneurship and helping to build our tourism.”

Mr. Knight informed that the steel pan workshop sessions will take place from Monday, July 11 – Friday, July 29, 2016 at the FLOW grounds, Needsmust. He said that last year’s camp consisted of 111 participants. Forty-eight were primary school students, 37 were high school students and 26 were adults. The sessions for the primary school students take place from 9 a.m. – 12 noon, high school students from 1 – 5 p.m. and adults 5 – 7 p.m.

“There is a small registration fee of $10 for school children and $20 for adults,” Mr. Knight said. “Out of this, they will also be learning the theory of music and at the end of it on the 29th (July) there is going to be a grand pan recital ‘Pan in Splendour’ at the Treasury Apron, where all the graduands will show off what they have learnt.”