Folk and Pan tops Music Festival

JOHN BABB

FOLK singing, costuming, drumming, the steelpans, and some very good singing from Music Festival contestants topped the list yesterday morning, including the bright weather made Queen’s Hall the place to be for a good occasion.

As usual, among the steelpans, Golden Hands from the south, dished out an expression of pan to easily win the Pan Trinbago Trophy. Their tune “You raised Him up.” easily brought home the trophy for those youngsters. It was another Festival win for them, under the control of some masterful conductorship.

The day’s Championships started with competition for the Allan Forbes Trophy for Primary School choirs - Girls, Boys, or mixed (15 yrs. and under) The test piece was “The Boll Weevil” arranged by Harry Dexter. After the adjudicators had sorted out the performances, St. Gabriel’s RC School from the south was adjudged winner of the Allan Forbes trophy.

The Annastacia Radford Cup for the winner of string solos went to Alexei Chang Kit from the north. The contest involved string soloists. performing with a violin, or a viola. If there was a Double Bass player, the audience would likely have heard “Minuet in G Major”authored by Johann Sebastian Bach. This class was followed by competition for the Joan Yuille Williams Recorder Solo Trophy which went to Tobago by CAL, the trophy being won by Jaesel Jones. from Tobago.

The late morning session came alive when the St. Joseph’s Convent from San Fernando, dressed as folk singers with flowing skirts, head-ties and whatnot to win the Cheryll Rampersad Trophy, which won the hearts of the adjudicators with their tunes “I’d tell mih mama doh send me dong dey,” which was well performed in addition to the singing.

South had another trophy winner in Class JR-A5 __ Girls Vocal Solo. She got top marks for her rendition of the test piece “Silly Sally Sue” a former adjudicator __ Havelock Nelson __ piece. As a result, Taylor Lee from the south captured the Holitzia Seecharan Trophy, while Bishop’s High School of Tobago won the Trinidad and Tobago Music Festival Association (TTMFA) Trophy.

As the saying goes, the tempo hit its crescendo when the drummers took the stage. Their drumming resonated the hall __ their majority involved youngsters full of energy, and their conductors had them in tip-top shape. The festival closes on Saturday afternoon.