Pan goes silent

National Carnival Commission officials halted the competition around 6.30 pm to allow the purge, and the Fire Service give the all clear to continue, sometime later.

It was the only hiccup to the event, which got off to a smooth start despite the controversy between Pan Trinbago and the National Carnival Commission.

Pan Trinbago’s secretary Richard Forteau confirmed all was well earlier in the day.

From as early as 8.45 am a small crowd gathered yesterday at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of- Spain, to witness the musical event.

This year’s event saw 30 small, 15 medium and 15 large bands competing to get a spot in the finals, which will be held on 23rd and 25th February.

The Small Bands category started a little after 9 am rather than the scheduled start time at 9 am.

First small conventional band, Fascinators Pan Symphony hit their first note at 9.30 am, playing Kewin Du Bois and Patrice Roberts song Unforgettable, and was off the stage in less than eight minutes.

While each band played their tune to capture the judges’ attention, another band followed quickly behind in order to have a steady flow. The bands played a wide selection of vintage songs, from Austin “Super Blue” Lyons’s 1980 song “Soca Baptist” to Dr Leroy “Black Stalin” Calliste, 1987 “Burn Dem” and “Um Ba Yao” sang by Dennis Franklyn Williams the “Merchant.” As the bands moved quickly into their position, Forteau told Newsday a lot of people questioned why the small band competition was not kept separate from the big bands.

He said, “We know people come out to support and like the big bands. As you can see they have not started to come out as yet and are at home viewing the show on the television. I know by later on in the afternoon we expect to see a much larger crowd. They will come out just around the last five of the small bands.” Forteau further explained that if the show was kept on the day before, it would not have had the amount of spectators they were expecting.

“We would have had nobody here to support the event. Most people are going to come out later.

From what I have seen this morning with respect to the bands and their performances, I am satisfied with the show. We had no problem this morning, and the show was ready to start on time.” A Grand Stand patron from Diego Martin who only gave his name as Kyle said, “I came out early this morning because I enjoy this part of the Carnival season. Even though it is a longer part of the event, I am really enjoying the show.” Natalie Wilson, from Chaguanas said, “I look forward to Panorama every year and I was a little surprise to see that hardly anyone came out this morning to support their culture.

I have no problem with the competition so far and I am here until it ends.” In the North Stand, the crowd grew thicker at around 2.30 pm where several groups of rhythm sections were seen moving the audience with their tempo on the drums.

At the Greens, the usual crowd it would usually attract, was not in sight. One vendor who did not want to give his name said, “Normally over here would be packed with people but this year it is very quite for now. Most of the spectators are in the North Stand, and maybe later on in the evening people will come out to take in the pan.”