Chord Masters tops Pan Is More Beautiful prelims

Pan Trinbago president Beverley Ramsey-Moore says the single pan category of the newly re-introduced Pan Is More Beautiful has set a very high standard for other categories and participants to follow.

The pan body released the official results of the single pan preliminaries on July 17. The reigning single pan Panorama champ, Chord Masters, sits atop of the list of those moving on to the finals.

“The festival has started off on a bang. I am pleased with the participation and the contribution from all our single pan bands. They have set a very high standard,” Ramsey-Moore said in a phone interview on July 17.

She said she visited panyards along with Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Randall Mitchell as well as National Carnival Commission (NCC) CEO Keiba Jacob-Mottley and deputy speaker of the Senate, Nigel de Freitas.

She added, the Prime Minister – who is the event’s patron – will also visit at some point during the competition.

All of the players were well-dressed, their confidence and discipline on display, she said.

“You see a higher standard of discipline in this competition, the skill and talent of all the players, in terms of the execution of the music. That was amazing and we are so grateful.”

This high standard prompted the pan executive to add two more bands to the finals. Originally, eight bands out of 17 were supposed to move on to the finals.

There were many enthused young people in the preliminaries, she said.

Ramsey-Moore also thanked the communities for supporting their bands.

The 2024 Steelpan is More Beautiful Single Pan Final competition will take place on July 27 at 7 pm at Queen's Hall, St Ann's.

The festival will now move on to the preliminaries of the ensemble and orchestra categories. The qualifying round for the ensemble begins on August 2 while for the orchestras it begins on August 13.

When the last festival was held about 11 years ago, some of the pannists would have just been born or at a very young age.

“As some of them indicated to me, they are so proud to know that they could at least play classical music on steel and it provided another opportunity for those graduates from University of Trinidad and Tobago and the University of the West Indies to create their own arrangements,” Ramsey-Moore said.

One of the bands played the 1986 Len “Boogsie” Sharpe's composition Dance of the Douens.

She added that it was amazing to hear local classical pieces being created by a number of young professionals out of the universities.

“Again, another avenue is created out of Panorama for them to practise their craft.”

She said this competition lifts the profile of every pannist in the country.

The festival will be biennial. Pan Trinbago plans to host Pan in the 21st Century one year and then Pan is More Beautiful the other.

Next year, it also plans to host the Youth Music Festival alongside Pan in the 21st Century.

She called on TT to buy the tickets and support the country’s young musicians and single pan bands.

Here are the results for the 17 bands:-

1. Chord Masters - 566

2. Uni Stars - 562

3. La Famille United - 551

4. Platinum - 545

5. Trinidad East Side Symphony - 544

6. Trinidad and Tobago Police Service - 538

7. Pan Elites - 535

8. Nostrand Symphony - 526

9. Scrunters Pan Groove - 523

10. New Age Trendsetters - 510

11. Marsicans - 488

12. East Phonics - 481

13. San Juan All Stars - 477

14. Natural Mystic - 470

15. World Wide - 466

16. Spree Simon Harmonics - 458

17. Stardust - 451