Los Alumnos de San Juan Parang champions of 2003

Los Alumnos de San Juan sang and performed their way to the top on Saturday night at Arima to win the judges nod and reclaim the title of parang champions for 2003.

The band, which is led by Alicia Jagassar,  scored 494 points to win the title in the competition run by the Parang Association of Trinidad and Tobago. On three previous occasions they won the title. A crowd of close to 5,000 people were on hand singing, dancing and chipping away as the various bands performed.

Los Alumnos tunes — “Gabriel a Maria,” “El Cristo Nacio,” went down very well with the crowd, but their performance, dramatised with shepherd staffs during their tune of choice “Tribute to Daisy” won the most thunderous applause. Their win was an actual shoo-in. Runners-up, Los Paranderos de UWI, featuring lead singer Joanne Briggs, scored 486 points. They sang “Vamos Celebrar,” “Sabaneando” along with their tune of choice.

Last year’s champions, Los Pastores, led by Philip Salazar, were third with 463 points. Guest performers at Saturday night’s finals were Lara Brothers, Robert Munro and Friends, and Los Jovenes de San Juan. The competition was spread out to other venues in Trinidad. They included Lopinot, Paramin, Palo Seco, Port-of-Spain and St Joseph. Newsday photographer Ralph Banwarie was at the venues and captured some of the performances of the competiting bands.