Curry Tabanca
by Leon Edwards

The annual Panorama Competition was launched in 1963 to celebrate Trinidad and Tobago’s Independence. The format of the competition calls for an eight-minute arrangement of a calypso of the current competition year. Winsford Devine composed the piece Curry Tabanca in 1987 for the calypsonian Robert “The Mighty Trini” Elias. Leon Edwards arranged this calypso for the Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra in that year’s Trinidad and Tobago’s National Panorama competition. To arrange any panorama tune, I meet with three members of the band during the evening. To one, I give the soprano part; another would receive the bass part; and I use the third player to provide a rhythm from which I get an accurate sense of the direction I wants to take the band. This trio provides the foundation and structure of the piece. The trimmings, balance and colour would be provided during practice session at night, to the other sections when the full band is present.

Despite placing fourth, it has become one of the most well-known productions from that era. The calypso is about a man yearning for his ex-lover’s curry. The strength of the desire for the curry is reflected in the beat of the East Indian Tassa drums that feature in the presentation. The combination of these East Indian rhythms with the African rhythms of the calypso caused an uproar in the savannah and was the highlight of the event.

It must be said here, that Ioriginally rejected this piece because of the tonal quality of the singer’s voice. It was not the common practice for an East Indian to sing calypso so, the ‘intrusion’ of this voice in the genre was disturbing; and contributed to my rejecting the piece. However, just before I chose to arrange another selection that was conducive to the norm, a member of the band convinced me to hear the song on the instrument firstly, instead of pure reliance on the singer’s voice. I followed the member’s suggestion and by the middle of the first verse, I realized that the tune, Curry Tabanca was indeed a gem.

In 2015, the International Panorama competition was launched and stipulated that bands could play any tune of choice. Not satisfied with the placing in 1987, I re-entered the piece with a few modifications to meet the international criteria and was rewarded with victory. The piece features extensive motivic development both melodically and rhythmically, and many modulations that drive the energy and movement of the arrangement. The innovative use of the sections of the steel orchestra to mimic a full tassa drum ensemble is among the best moments in this work that has become a classic in steelpan music literature.