Fusion Steel and New Age Trendsetters claims pan supremacy in South/Central

IN AN unexpected turn, Fusion Steel, the junior band of NLCB Fonclaire, whipped its parent into third place to take home the coveted inaugural Ken “Professor” Philmore South/Central Pan Champs title, in the conventional category, on Thursday night. For their efforts, the junior band players also took home $100,000.

In jubilation, players who performed with both bands – Fusion and Fonclaire – swarmed the stage when T&TEC Tropical Angel was declared second place winner shortly before 3 am on Friday, upon realising they had emerged victorious in the conventional category.

As they posed with the trophy, only then did they recognise they were wearing the wrong T-Shirts. They wore green for Fusion, but blue for Fonclaire which performed ninth out of the 13 bands.

It is the first major title for the Tarouba-based junior band, led by Chasez Webb, which performed a Darren Sheppard arrangement of Christopher “Tambu” Herbert’s Free Up to amass 275 points.

Just one point separated Fusion from the Enterprise, Chaguanas Angel Harps, which scored 274 points with a Clarence Morris arrangement of Mical Teja’s smash hit DNA.

Coffee Street, San Fernando-based Fonclaire, performing another Sheppard arrangement of another Tambu selection, This Party is It, secured 273 points from the judges Khion De Laws, Michelle Dowrich, Kyle Noel, Damion Phillip, Victor Prescod and Joanna Shortt, but was only good enough for third place.

In the single pan category, Enterprise band, New Age Trendsetters which opened the curtains on the Skinner Park show after an absence of 19 years, remained in pole position when the results were announced. Trendsetters took home a cash prize of $35,000.

The return of the show saw 16 bands competing in two categories – single and conventional – for pan supremacy in the South/Central region. The show was dedicated to Philmore the late pan pioneer and visionary known simply as Professor.

In an interview immediately after the show, Pan Trinbago president Beverly Ramsey-Moore congratulated all the participating bands, especially Trendsetters and Fusion.

“It was a fantastic performance. We have one more river to cross which is the large bands finals.”

She predicted, “That will be a magnificent show. We have had a wonderful season. It entailed a lot of hard work from preliminaries to semifinals to finals, but this has been a beautiful and fantastic season.”

She agreed with the suggestion of the Ken "Professor" Philmore Foundation that this event will become a permanent fixture in the south.

“It is going to be a permanent fixture to Professor, and I want to thank the foundation for the work they are doing to continue his legacy. It is the foundation which approached us to have this event. Pan Trinbago supported it.

“We have pumped $1.4 million into it and we are so proud to do it for the bands from the South/Central region. Look at what happened to Fusion Steel. I don’t think they were in any finals, but this platform provided another opportunity for our pannists and musicians to go on the big stage.

The show which was scheduled to begin at 7 pm, got off to a late start and ended just before 3 am.

Ramsey-Moore acknowledged that the centre of three columns holding up the stage covering proved to be challenging for the bigger bands to manoeuvre their racks, which proved to be time-consuming, delaying both entry and exit off the stage.

As a commissioner on the board of the National Carnival Commission (NCC) Ramsey-Moore said this is an issue she intends to bring to the discussion as they need a more open space for the free flow of the bands.

“They were aware we were going to have this function and infrastructurally, they did not prepare for us. I am not satisfied at all about the logistics in terms of the execution of this event and I am going to raise it at that level," she said.

In terms of the actual event, Ramsey-Moore said the showing was fantastic.

“The revenue from the gates, from this show would have been more than the small finals, so we are very happy for the turnout.

WINNER'S ROW:

Single Pan category

• New Age Trendsetters – 259
• La Romaine Super Vibes – 228
• Jah Roots – 291

Conventional category

• Fusion Steel – 275
• T&TEC Tropical Angel Harps – 274
• NLCB Fonclaire – 273
• NGC Couva Joylanders – 267 (tie)
• Pan Elders – 267 (tie)
• Panasonic Connection – 265
• Heritage Petroleum Siparia Deltones – 261
• Tornadoes – 260
• Heritage Petroleum Skiffle – 259
• NGC La Brea Nightingales – 255
• Cadenza – 250
• Kalomo Kings - 241
• Old Tech 236