Pan Trinbago boss: Stage set for medium band final

PAN TRINBAGO president Beverly Ramsey-Moore says the stage is set for the fourth edition of the National Panorama Medium Conventional Final on February 23 at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, Tobago.

“The venue is all set and ready and things are going pretty well,” she told Newsday.

“Most importantly, we now have the Tobago drag well-paved. So the bands will get it much easier than last year in terms of rolling up their racks on the stage. So I am really, really excited about the event.”

Two-time defending champions Katzenjammers Steel Orchestra is hoping to secure a hattrick with its rendition of the Mighty Sparrow’s (Slinger Francisco’s) Lying Excuses.

The band, known as the pride of Black Rock, will come up against nine other bands in what is expected to be a keenly contested competition. Another Tobago band, Carib Dixieland, from Mt Pleasant, is also in the final.

Katzenjammers and Dixieland will perform in positions two and ten, respectively.

Ramsey-Moore said she was pleased with the continued involvement of young people in pan.

“We will always see young people involved in pan because the school’s Panorama is the nursery and then we have the junior bands from most of the major bands.”

She added a lot of the bands also have pan camps during the July-August vacation.

“So pan will never die. It is intergenerational and we just continue to see a large amount of young people.”

Ramsey-Moore said pan music was infectious.

“When young people see their friends on stage really performing and getting on, you want to be there also. So in terms of new participation, they will always be there.”

Ramsey-Moore was re-elected Pan Trinbago president during an election of the central executive officers at Mucurapo Secondary School on October 6, 2025. Her executive will serve a four-year term.

As part of their agenda going forward, she said the organisation will focus on strengthening pan groups regionally and internationally.

“We are going a bit further because we really want to build out the global institutions, where we can strengthen all those groups in the region and in the outer world.

“So we have a lot of steelbands all over but we are now going to formalise relationships with these associations, having them onboard as affiliate members, not only as groups but we will also be looking at individuals, opening up for them to become affiliate members of the organisation.”

Ramsey-Moore said the organisation also will continue to use pan to help transform society.

“We will continue to build out here in Trinidad and Tobago. There is no season for pan and what we have done is to link pan as the vehicle for continued social transformation.

“So that, in itself, is a big thing for us working with both the musical instrument and also all those people that come in the yard. There is something in terms of transforming lives, having our young people lead meaningful lives. So that will continue to be the focus here on the ground.”

Meanwhile, Don Soverall, Dixieland’s captain, said the band was ready. They will be performing Arrow’s (Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell’s) Long Time.

“Playing in the last position, that is a good feeling. The arranger is there doing his thing. So hopefully they will please the judges. That is the most we could do.”

Soverall said he had no qualms about playing last in the competition.

“It is a nice spot. When everybody else finishes we will come from behind and mash up the place. We plan to come from behind and just mash up the thing one time.”

He said the band was also celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.

“So we are trying our best to really make a claim this year by achieving something significant.”

Maxson Ramsey, Katzenjammers’ captain, said the band’s arranger, Kersh Ramsey, made some last-minute changes to the song “to add some more niceness.”

He said the players were excited and ready to reclaim their medium band title.

The show is expected to begin at 7 pm.

Order of appearance

1 Arima Angel Harps

2 Katzenjammers Steel Orchestra

3 NGC Couva Joylanders Steel Orchestra

4 Pan Elders Steel Orchestra

5 NGC La Brea Nightingales

6 Sforzata Steel Orchestra

7 Courts Sound Specialists of Laventille

8 Pamberi Steel Orchestra

9 Curepe Scherzando Steel Orchestra

10 Dixieland Steel Orchestra