Dear Editor
I am one of those individuals who is a firm believer that a person who has made a name for themselves, in academics, politics, sports or culture, should get their flowers & accolades while they are alive, so that they can enjoy the aroma & beauty of the accolades rather than receiving the praises after the person is no longer with us.
During my travels I have seen several persons along the way who have quietly made a invaluable contribution to the development of our landscape and hence deserve a national recognition but unfortunately, they have been overlooked. In my view, Eustace ” Gatoux ” Harris is one of those persons.
Gatoux who is well known to many has been into steelpan building & tuning from since the early 70’s. He has built & tune pans for many steelbands such as Halcyon Steel Orchestra, Superstars, Geomonites & Harmonites, just to name a few. He has also worked in many schools in the various communities.
Building & tuning a pan is not an easy feat. It is a profession that is not very popular and it requires alot of hard work, great skills & a considerable degree of concentration especially when preparing the pans for a steelband competition.
Although, pan builders are not usually seen on the front line within the music industry, similar to song writers, their talent and skills are crucial components required within the music industry and hence, should never go unnoticed.
For our nation’s 44th anniversary Independence celebration, I am hoping that Eustace Gatoux Harris will get a national award and at the same time be given full recognition from the Cultural Department for all the great works & dedication that he has put into the development of our cultural landscape. He certainly deserves it.
Alex
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Yes, yes and yes, am with you on this all the way. I’ve known Gatux throughout his career as a pan builder, tuner and player. You mentioned the many steel Orchestras, schools and communities, but you forgot about churches and do you know his career stretches far across the region? As a matter of fact Tortola can now say thanks to Gatux for pan evolution in the BVI. Yes we often heard of Manning, Veron and Vincent, but not too much about Gatux, so lets honor him this independence.
I 100% agree with you. But why why wait until Independence is two weeks away when the last of honorees have been selected to bring this to the forefront. If my memory serves me correct, the names for the selection of awarded were to be submitted in late July early August. The time now is past due. I sincerely hope that this esteemed son of the soil is around next year so that you can put his name forward to the selection committee, that he may get his just reward. I also explore you to be the one to se d his name in for selection.
Panman is definitely a national icon I agree
Now that this has been raised on ANR it will eventually happen. But the process is that you must know someone, pay the toll under the table or have an intervention by a ruling politician. National Awards are a joke and all of this started under the UPP. They did about 50 in their first year rewarding all their supporters and ended the same way the year before they lost government.
It is mind buggling to hear that this man has not received a national award….. According to the song writer, somebody got to be joking
Glad to see he’s looking well. He taught me to build pan 25 years ago. Now I’m a church keyboardist.
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