Charlie Boys wins tassa competition

Charlie Boys Tassa Band and Bri-Ann Sylvan Bharath Youngstars Tassa Band are the two top winners of this year’s National Tassarama Virtual Competition.

Charlie Boys won with 2,547 points while Qualitech Sanjay Boys Tassa Band was second with 2,382 points and Tri-Stars Tassa Band third with 2,379 points.

In the junior category Bri-Ann Sylvan Bharath Youngstars Tassa Band was first with 1,336 points while Moving Stars Junior Tassa Band placed second with 1,311 points.

Young Maestro Tassa Band took third place with 1,290 points while Venom Young Stars Tassa Band was fourth with 1,244 points.

The competition’s final was held on Independence Day (August 31).

The Tassa Association of Trinidad and Tobago hosts the annual event. It decided to host this year’s competition virtually as it did not want to go another year without having the event, president Dr Vijay Ramlal Rai said. The association did not host the event last year because of the covid19 pandemic.

The competition – which started more than 20 years ago – was crafted to gain recognition for the instrument and the artform.

“The competition was extremely intense,” Ramlal Rai said.

There was not a semi-final this year and all bands were required to send in a three-minute audition video from which the finalists were chosen.

This year there were 15 senior bands and four junior bands competing for the winning titles.

The association has plans to reshape the competition in 2022 and will have three categories going forward – small, medium and large – as opposed to simply seniors and juniors.

The junior category will instead become a school-based competition held at both the both primary and secondary levels, Ramlal Rai said.

He said the inspiration for having the three categories was drawn from the pan movement. In the national Panorama competition steelbands are judged according to the size of their ensemble with small, medium and large being the defining categories.

Ramlal Rai said there are many tassa bands with more than 12 to 15 players which would constitute a large band.

Over the years, tassa bands were limited to four people. However, there was a call by the tassa community for that to be improved and so the idea of having three categories was birthed. The small bands will be a minimum four people.

“We will have that new category and you will be seeing more skilful drumming. It is going to be great and more exciting.”

This was the first time the competition was hosted virtually and organisers ensured it adhered to covid19 protocols and regulations.

“Because of the pandemic we had to give bands a certain time to reach. They all could not be there at the same time. We had to have three bands at a time. And distancing as well. They could not be next to each other.

“It was quite an occasion for us for our first virtual,” Ramlal Rai said while also saying that he enjoyed it.

“The responses that we got from yesterday were tremendous.”

He said the event drew about 4,000 to 5,000 views on its YouTube channel.

He thanked its sponsors such as the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts; National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB); First Citizens Bank (FCB) and Xtra Foods.

Ramlal Rai said the event did not have a lot of sponsors this year simply because the pandemic was a deterrent.

“We have managed to have a very good corporate sponsor for this year and we were happy about that…”

He said it was not easy to get this year’s competition going because of the pandemic. It was streamed from the Divali Nagar site, Endeavour, Chaguanas, which has been used by the Ministry of Health during the ongoing covid19 vaccination process.

The space was large enough to get the streaming done within the covid19 guidelines and regulations, Ramlal Rai said.

A small, 20-by-20 stage was erected where the bands would come, perform and leave, and there were no supporters or no props and only two dancers per band, he said.

He believes TT would have to devise some formula to preserve its artforms should the pandemic continue like it has been going.

TT’s artistes and performers may also have to look at opportunities outside of the county simply to keep the artforms and skills alive, he said.

He does not think that TT having no Carnival will go beyond 2023.

“We have to come up as a people, as the Government, with a new formula for our arts and entertainment. We cannot continue to have it suppressed like this all of the time. We don’t want our artforms to die,” he said.

He hoped people can come together and do something so TT’s cultural institutions are not left in darkness forever.