Master arranger Duvone Stewart intended to kill three birds with one stone when he dug deep into Trinidad and Tobago’s legendary musical vault to bring a 58-year-old classic for the 2026 National Panorama, the Caribbean’s premier music festival.

He is making a statement on the quality of the soca music offered annually, by reverting to a decades old composition with which he will, undoubtedly, light up the big stage at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain.

He is protesting against the so-called gatekeepers of the music, the radio DJs who have, for selfish reasons, denied good music from good artists on the airwaves each carnival season.

And, he will teach the young generation of arrangers about the music that was created for the steelband, especially the copy cat arrangers who have adopted his style. It’s a lesson in how to make the Panorama a “melodic musical theatre.”

To achieve all of that he will bring the “Birdie” back into the Carnival.

With reverence, Duvone selected Grenada-born Sparrow’s “The Lizard” making 2026 the first time in 50 years that the Renegades, known for its record breaking Panorama titles with the music of Lord Kitchener, will play a Sparrow classic.

The last time was 1976, when Jit Samaroo arranged “The Statue” for the band from Charlotte Street in Port of Spain.

“When I weighed The Lizard against the 2026 songs, even if I put them all in one basket, none would stand up,”  Duvone calmly stated.

 “A short season is upon us and up to Boxing Day, many arrangers in the creative space did not have three songs or even one song that they can work with,” he explained.

“Many would never go back to respect the grand virtuosos who built the bridge to where we are today.Their music was  to support the art  and craft of carnival,” said the musician, whose annual sojourn to work in England and France has deepened his respect for T&T’s sovereignty in music.

 “In our cultural space, Jerry Jemmot, Clive Bradley, Jit Samaroo and Boogsie Sharpe have taken the instrument and the music where no man had gone before,” the master arranger said, laying respect at the feet of the Grand Masters.

“I have not seen, in Trinidad and Tobago presently, where culture, sports and education has made that transition for the better,” he lamented, obviously pointing to the diminishing creativity.

“Kitchener was the most dominant voice who always put out music for the steelbands and wrote road marches. He was a hell of a guitar player and knew what he was doing. His compositions are the authentic traditional songs that Trinidad should be branded with, in presenting music to the world,” Duvone noted.

“But, while everyone gravitated to Kitchener they did not take time to see other composers like Sparrow. The Lizard has a great melody and story, it has swag and style like a lot of the music in our national vault that has not touched the “savannah”, he further noted.

“With this song, I could see people laughing and dancing and I just wanted to go back to where the music came from, especially for the young ones to respect the bridge that’s been placed for them to be where they are right now,” the record breaking steelband arranger said.

“It’s about legacy and classics with a simplicity that’s profound.

“There are players in Renegades who are not even half the age of that song, who are singing the melody,” he said 

“Once again I will remind people of the advice from Dr. Ray Holman for us to take time and compose our music”. Just a humble few did it, like Boogsie Sharpe, Ken Philmore and Jit Samaroo.,” he said.

“I am a citizen of this country and I believe in paying respect to those who did not get that respect on the savannah stage,” the master arranger declared, reflecting on his choice of the late Merchant’s calypso “Build a Better Nation Together,” for Southern Stars, one of the four bands for which he will be arranging music for Trinidad Carnival 2026. As he set the tone in 2023 when he won the National Panorama title with his arrangement of Black Stalin’s Blackman Feeling to Party.”