Single Pan champions: San Juan Chord Masters wins first Carnival title

San Juan’s Chord Masters Steel Orchestra has clinched the first official title for Carnival 2023 – the Panorama Single Pan title. The band won $250,000, with a total of 282 points.

The final of the Single Pan Panorama was held on Wednesday at the Queen’s Park Savannah.

Owing to bad weather on November 26, the semifinal of the competition was cancelled and all bands moved to Wednesday’s final.

Pan Trinbago’s president Beverley Ramsey-Moore said the event was a magnificent start to the annual competition’s diamond jubilee.

“All 30 single-pan bands came out and they put on a grand show. From the start we had the TT Defence Force Pan-Around-the-Neck band with our old-time characters, as we tried to depict single-pan bands of yesteryear.”

These bands are the foundation on which the modern pan movement stands, she added.

“The single-pan bands were the bands responsible for producing the music for the street parades in the early days.”

Ramsey-Moore said the bands were on fire from the word go.

“As president I am extremely pleased by what took place at the Queen’s Park Savannah, and it is a signal event to our Diamond Jubilee celebration of our 60th anniversary of Panorama.”

San Juan East Side Symphony, one of the 2019 winners, grabbed second place with 279 points and won $200,000.

Tragarete Road’s Newtown Playboys came third with 278 points and won $150,000.