http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-669420,36-769737@51-767855,0.htmlTranslation:
FIFA has confirmed that steelpans will be prohibited from the stadiums during the World cup in Germany. For Europeans, it is an obvious decision. The Trinidadian instrument is a kind of metal barrel on which the musician supporters beat as on a drum, and its volume is strong enough to give cold sweats to any security service.
But with Trinidad-and-Tobago, in the Caribbean, cradle of the steelpan (also called steeldrum), FIFA's decision raises indignation among supporteurs of the smallest team qualified for the 2006 World Cup (June 9 - July 9). Dwight Yorke, the captain of the Soca Warriors, still has not got over it. Learning the news, Saturday May 6, he still doubted: "It would be a pity really that they prohibit them. For us, it is an enormous support... It is a part of our culture!" The steelpan was born with Trinidad-and-Tobago, at the end of 1930, the evolution of the drums of the African slaves, passing from skin and bamboo to metal. The story goes that an inhabitant of the ghetto of Laventille recovered in bad condition the barrel which he had lent. He decided to hammer it back into shape to repair it but thus created four notes. Today, the instrument is divided into various tonalities and largely exceeds the borders of the small State of the Caribbean. With Trinidad-and-Tobago, the passion is such that it has acquired the status of national emblem. "Everyone has a bond with the" pan "", ensures Terry Joseph, member of the local committee of organization of the World cup.
Vincent Benjamin, known as "Benji", plays since he has the age to hold a rod. Member of the steelband (group of steelpans) since 2003 which accompanies Soca Warriors in all their matches, he tells this particular relation with his national football teaml: "We are inspired mutually. By hearing our rhythms, they move better!" Within the repertory, one finds the traditional ones, from the national anthem to the songs dedicated to the team. But most popular remains My Way. "it is interpreted when they have a fall in their level", Benji ensures. June 10, day of the entry of the Trinidad and Tobago team in World cup football history, against Sweden, will mark the first absence of the Trinidadian fans and their steelpans from the Soca Warriors. Already, November 16, 2005, at the time of the last qualifying match of the 2006 World Cup, the authorities of Bahreïn had tried to make Benji and his/her eleven colleagues "panists" shut up. But the ratio of force had quickly turned on the side of Trinidad-and-Tobago, because a sizeable asset was present that day in the stadium: Jack Warner, president of the Confederation for the Central America and North and the Caribbean (Concacaf), vice-president of FIFA and... Trinidadian. "It was a last minute tactic to decrease the level of our support", he affirms. The FIFA official however could not do anything about the World cup: "
prohibition was inevitable." On their side, Benji and his friends ended up being resigned to the idea of supporting the run of their team at the time of the first round of the competition (against Sweden, June 10 in Dortmund, against England, June 15 in Nuremberg, then on June 20 against Paraguay in Cologne) without their instruments: "most important, it is that we are qualified", they ensure. They however have not yet given up making the voyage to Germany without their "pans": "We will play outside the stadiums, if needed. And the Germans literally will fall in love with us! Listen to this music: one cannot stop oneself from moving!" All hope that during the matches Trinity-and-Tobago, the spectacle will move from the field to the doors of the stadium.
