‘More honesty’ to rebuild pan

After giving a history of Invaders, its past players and arrangers, Minister of Tourism Shamfa Cudjoe called for more transparency, more accountability, more honesty and all that is required to reignite and rebuild the true meaning and energy of pan.

She told the gathering last Wednesday evening: “We must not play Monopoly with the heart of our culture, the livelihood of a people and the pulse of our nation. Pan is synonymous with Carnival, pan brings the energy to Carnival.

We have created something great out of nothing. We live pan, we breathe pan, Trinidad and Tobago is pan. Pan and Carnival is critical to our tourism thrust bringing thousands to Trinidad and Tobago.

“But before we can ask the panman to appreciate pan, we must first respect and appreciate pan ourselves, each and every one of us. We must respect our instrument, we must respect our stalwarts who shed their blood, sweat and tears for the advancement of the industry.” Caribbean Airlines (CAL) chairman Shameer Ronnie Mohammed spoke about the relationship between his company and Invaders.

He told members of Invaders that the sky was the limit and CAL was behind them as they worked towards winning Panorama.

Mohammed also boasted about CAL having 200 international flights and bringing 25,000 passengers to TT for Carnival. The evening was not all talk, as MX Prime was on hand with the Ultimate Rejects to perform Full Extreme. He proved to be the hit of the party, as everyone wanted to get a picture with him.

While he was singing, the sound system went down, but Invaders provided the music for the rest of the performance.

MX Prime said he truly appreciated all the love and support the Ultimate Rejects was receiving from the public.

CAL Invaders is going to the National Panorama final on Saturday playing Arddin Herbert’s arrangement of Full Extreme.