Small conventional finals Friday - Beverley Ramsey-Moore: Pan is safe

Pan Trinbago president Beverley Ramsey-Moore says the ticket sales for both the impending Panorama medium and large semifinals (the Savannah Party) and the large band finals are going quickly.

But generally the pan body has been seeing an uptick in ticket sales for its events.

Its small conventional finals will take place today from 7 pm at Skinner Park, San Fernando.

There will be 15 bands playing for the title of 2024’s top small conventional band.

This year’s annual pan competition is progressing nicely according to all indices, she said in a phone interview with Newsday.

These are all positive indicators that the annual pan competition held during Carnival festivities is progressing well.

She said tickets sales were going “very well” for the semifinals and the large band finals. The Savannah party semifinal is scheduled to take place on January 28 from 1 pm at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, while large bands finals will take place on February 10 at the same venue.

“Those $850 tickets for the finals are going like hot bread. Those are the tickets where you are centre stage. In terms of the tickets sales for Panorama, generally, we are seeing an uptick in that.

“We are going to have another bumper event again in 2024,” Rasmsey-Moore said.

The North Stand at the large band finals will also be back and corporate Trinidad and Tobago has been supporting this, she said.

Ramsey-Moore said she expects to see a lot more of those corporate bodies for 2024 and they were already asking for group packages.

Even though some might worry about Trinidad and Tobago’s crime situation disrupting Carnival events, Ramsey-Moore assured that pan spaces are safe.

She said there have been several discussions to ensure that the periphery of the Savannah is extremely safe.

“Steelpan spaces are always safe and sacred. These spaces are safe community, crime-free spaces.

“We have never had any major accidents, incidents at our spaces. I am not worried about our steelpan events. The Savannah is a safe space. The panyards are safe and I want to encourage our patrons and supporters to come out as usual and support the events.”

“Fear not,” she added.

The body has several of its events ongoing with the preliminaries for the Junior Panorama among them. While medium and large band preliminaries are set to begin soon. The medium band preliminaries is scheduled to take place from January 15-19 and large band preliminaries from January 20-23.

“The bands are ready. The bands are cracking,” she added.

The small conventional semifinals took place on January 6 and 30 bands competed. San Fernando band Golden Hands will start the competition.

As the year progresses, Pan Trinbago has more plans for pan.

In a media release followed by a phone interview with the media house on December 29, the body said there were plans to work closely with singers to create more songs for pan.

She said the organisation was hoping to work with local singers like Machel Montano and was even eyeing international ones like Rihanna to create more music that includes the instrument.

She said in a more recent interview that in 2025 there would be more pan songs from which bands can choose.

“So the bands can have a wider variety to choose from. You can always go back and take a classic from over the years but we would really like to see much more songs for pan.”

Ramsey-Moore-Moore wanted to really thank Trinidad and Tobago for all the support pan has been receiving thus far and wants to continue to make its patrons comfortable while giving them the best music in the world.

Here is the order of appearance for Friday’s small conventional finals:-

1. Golden Hands
2. T&TEC New East Side Dimension
3. La Horquetta Pan Groove
4. Fusion Steel
5. Tokyo
6. TT Defence Force Steel Orchestra
7. Fascinators Pan Symphony
8. Uptown Fascinators
9. Road Block Steel Orchestra
10. Panosonic Connection
11. St Margaret’s Super Stars
12. First Citizens Tobago Pan-Thers
13. Arima Golden Symphony
14. Harvard Harps Steel Orchestra
15. Our Boys