Patriotism is devoted love, support and loyalty to one's country.
The impassioned call by President Christine Kangaloo, during the ceremonial opening of the fourth session of the 12th Parliament on September 11, for the steelpan to be firmly and irrevocably declared our national instrument was indeed patriotic.
Pan historians recorded 1890 as the beginning of the steelpan evolution. African drums were replaced by the tamboo-bamboo ensembles, which included different lengths and sizes of bamboo which simulated the four main voices of music: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.
In the 1930s, metal bands with instruments made from metal drums, cans and other metal objects replaced the tamboo bamboo ensembles.
Immediately, a generation of young men focused on that discovery and by pounding created different notes on the pan, symbolising the intelligence and ingenuity of TT’s youth.
Today, the steelpan is a chromatically pitched percussion instrument, the music of which enthralls millions of pan aficionados all over the world.
The steelpan logo on BWIA aircraft came about because of political mistrust and insularity among Caribbean countries.
The West Indies Federation was established by the British Caribbean Federation Act of 1956 and came into effect in 1958.
[caption id="attachment_1036254" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A BWIA Lockheed L1011-500 aircraft with the steelpan logo.Photo courtesy Ramesh Lutchmedial -[/caption]
The federation comprised ten territories – Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, the then St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, St Lucia, St Vincent and TT – with the aim of establishing a political union among its members.
One of the federation's first tasks was inter-regional air and sea transport. It established the West Indies Shipping Service to operate two multi-purpose ships, the Federal Maple and the Federal Palm which were donated by Canada. Negotiations started for the acquisition of British West Indies Airways (BWIA), then a subsidiary of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).
There were several areas of disagreement among the federation territories, the main one being the strenuous objections by a particular country to the location of the federal capital in TT. The withdrawal of Jamaica from the federation after a 1961 national referendum led to the now famous statement of Dr Eric Williams, "One from ten leaves nought." TT later withdrew from the federation.
It collapsed in January 1962, and Jamaica and TT gained political independence from the UK on August 6 and August 31, 1962 respectively.
On November 1, 1961, the TT government acquired 90 per cent of the shares of BWIA from BOAC.
The Jamaican government spurned overtures by TT to invest in BWIA. Instead, in August 1963, Jamaica Air Service Ltd was formed, with its shareholders being the government of Jamaica (51 per cent), the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), and BWIA (16 per cent).
In 1964 the jet era began at BWIA with the purchase of three new Boeing 727-100 tr
