Heavy showers wash out Pazzaz pan jazz show

RAIN STOPS PLAY: Members of the Westside Steel Orchestra carry their instruments
after their performance was cut short by rain. They were among the artistes at Pazzaz,
 a show produced by Pan Trinbago at the Pigeon Point Heritage Park on Saturday.
—Photo: Wayne Bowman

The incessant rains of the past weekend wreaked havoc upon the Tobago Jazz Experience in Tobago, halting the World Music Night at the Pigeon Point Heritage Park on Friday for over three hours. 

The showers, however, completely washed away the Pazzaz steelpan jazz show at the same venue on Saturday. 

The show was produced by Pan Trinbago and was supposed to feature a mix of steel orchestras, jazz musicians and soca acts including Birdsong Steel Orchestra, West Side Symphony, The Codrington Pan Family, Duvonne Stewart, Raf Robertson, the Roy Cape All Stars and reigning International Soca Monarch and National Road March Champion, SuperBlue.

With rain falling all day on the island and based on what happened at the previous night’s event people were wondering whether the Pazzaz would have been called off, but Pan Trinbago persisted hoping that by show time at 7.30 p.m. the skies would have cleared up. That did not happen and the first band, Westside Symphony, did not begin to play until about 9 p.m. before fewer than 200 people who braved the rains to attend.

The band was able to play two tunes before technical difficulties because of the rain forced them to stop and it was announced that the show was cancelled. People began heading out of the venue some of them saying that they hoped that they would be refunded their money. 

There were reports yesterday that refunds would be given. However, Pan Trinbago general secretary, Richard Forteau yesterday told the Express that no decision on that issue has yet been made.

“No decision has been made on that as yet. The show actually started and was rained out, so we have to consider that. We are having a meeting on Tuesday and we will see what we will do about that. It’s unfortunate that the show had to be stopped, but the rain was not letting up and there was nothing else that could have been done. We will have to make some decisions at the meeting on Tuesday,” Forteau said.

The persistent rains more than placed a damper on the final three days of the Tobago Jazz Experience, causing shows to either be stopped for hours at a time or as in the case of Pazzaz outright cancelled. 

Patrons were yesterday concerned that the Jazz Experience’s finale, the Beach Jazz Fiesta featuring Dionne Warwick, India Arie and other local acts at the Pigeon Point Heritage Park could also be affected by bad weather.

Source:Trinidadexpress