Cling to what brings us together

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Happy Sunday and thank you for opening this week’s #TheLifeOfJLOWE newsletter! 

After a week of intense, but super fun rehearsals, I am happy to report to you that I have returned to you this Sunday as the Miami Panorama 2024 CHAMPION! Our band called “Sticks ‘n Tones” placed first in this year’s steel band competition in Miami out of the 6 bands that competed! WOOHOO!! 🥳🥳

I’m super happy, grateful and blessed to be a part of the band, that really is more like a little family more than anything. It blends together people from all over the world to create a special group of talented musicians that share a love for pan music. Our hard work in the past few weeks paid off!

A bit about Panorama

For my non-Caribbean readers, Panorama is a steel band competition that originated in Trinidad & Tobago, and usually happens during Carnival season. The steelpan is the only instrument invented in the 20th century, and is a touchstone of Caribbean and especially Soca music.

Here’s a video of our performance for some more context:

Why I love my Steel Band

I joined the Sticks ‘n Tones band for Miami Carnival for the first time last year, and we placed second. I got into the band through a friend of mine from Trinidad & Tobago who had been a part of the band for a few years prior. 

It’s always been a dream of mine to play at a Panorama, and so to be sitting here telling you today that I’m a Miami Panorama Champion, it honestly feels pretty surreal. Little me from back in 2009 when I first played a steelpan is definitely looking at this moment with pride. 

My band brings together people from Trinidad, Jamaica, Japan, Guadeloupe and all over the US to create a dynamic group of pan players, connected through music.

If you know your Caribbean history, you’d know that Guadeloupe is actually a French speaking territory, so in our rehearsals, we really all communicate through music (and an English to French translator 😂).

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Music as a language

A couple months ago, I wrote about clinging to the things that bring us together as humans. Whether that be music, sport, art or embracing nature, there are things in this world that transcend nationality, language, ethnicity or anything that seemingly divides us. 

For me, playing with non-English speakers in the band is particularly special, because the relationships that we build - largely unspoken because of the language barrier - are through a shared love of music. It reminds me of the fact that we can be brought together in the world by things more than we can be divided by them, because we are alike in so many more ways than we are different.

For example, if there was a section of the song that I wasn’t sure of, I’d turn to the French-speaking pan player beside me, hum the part that I wasn’t sure of and ask him to play it for me to confirm. Or better yet, as we play together and jam throughout the song, we can enjoy ourselves through dances and rhythms where not only are words not an option, but these unspoken ways of communication are a better option.

Conclusion

This week, think about the things in your life that connect you to the people that you love. Then, think about things that connect you to people that you don’t know.

Somehow, there’ll be some sort of overlap between the two - whether that’s a memory of you smiling and laughing together, a shared favourite artiste or a favourite sports team. 

In this world that so often is abstractly divided - whether by struggles of power between states, wars over borders, discrimination, racism, hatred and violence fuelled by differences in ideology or ways of thought - it’s so immensely important that we cling to the things that bring us together.

Remember this week that you have much more in common than you think with that stranger that you walk past. Remember that there is so much more that can connect us in this world than can set us apart. 

Think about those things, and cling to those things. Today and always.

Until next Sunday,
Justin