Exodus scores a double

EXODUS has scored a double for 2003.

After taking the National Panorama title on Saturday night, the St Augustine-based band returned at the Dimanche Gras show one night later to capture Pan Trinbago’s 40th anniversary competition at the Queen’s Park Savannah. There were special rules for this competition. Bands had to play compositions published or sung between 1963 and 1983. They had to have no less than 50 members and no more than 75 and had to remain on stage no longer than six minutes.

Exodus, playing in position number two, delivered Short Shirt’s “Tourist Leggo” and walked away with the title and $50,000. Petrotrin Phase II Pan Groove, which placed second in the National Panorama finals, was second, earning $30,000. Phase II chose Sparrow’s hit “Natasha”. Solo Pan Knights collected $25,000 for third place with Sparrow’s “Obeah Wedding”. Tobago’s Our Boys also collected $25,000 for fourth place with another Sparrow composition “Pussy Cat.” BWIA Invaders placed fifth with “Bassman” by Shadow. The Woodbrook band earned $20,000. The sixth and final place was taken by Arima Nutones, which played “This is Madness” by David Rudder. That placing earned the band $20,000.

A steelband competition returned to the Dimanche Gras for the first time since the 1980s. But its inclusion on the Dimanche Gras ensured that the programme went on longer. The time taken up by the six bands to perform was exactly 85 minutes. While the audience accepted the six bands and the tunes of choice, many felt the competition should not have been held on Dimanche Gras night. The decision to have this competition was taken by the National Carnival Commission (NCC).