We’re going for a fifth

Interviewed at the band’s Carib Street, San Fernando pan yard yesterday, Smith said Saturday’s win had been “fully expected” by the band.

“We were working hard on doing a beaver trick to bring some more pride in the pan fraternity for San Fernando and it worked out for us as we had planned,” Smith said.

“From since 2014, we realised that we could dominate this category because of the arranger’s ability. He, Duvon Stewart, is one of the best in the country, if not the best. From the day we kicked off the preliminaries in the pan yard, we were wondering what kind of sound we would get from our yard.” Pan Elders yard is located on the southern side of the San Fernando Hill.

“But it worked out where we were in front again by about four points and then the semi-final we went to nine points and then for the final, the victory was by about seven points.” Asked what made the difference on Saturday, he said “The performance of the band, the band is a show band, because Panorama is not just the music alone, its how you interpret and how you perform on stage.” However, Smith said the absence of a full sponsor is proving to be a hindrance to the band’s development should it decide to move into the Large Band category.

“People are saying why don’t we go Large, but going Large is more money. We’re surviving in the Medium category but even the prize money is not sufficient to carry you through because when you pay everybody, the band comes back down to zero again.” Smith said the band is assisted by Petrotrin, TECU Credit Union and some smaller businesses and they are grateful for the help they have received.

Asked his feelings about the band remaining unsponsored considering its successes over the past few years, he said, “Well sometimes I really wonder what we could do.

All we could really do is just keep creating this history and hope that one day somebody would come on board as a full sponsor because we need it. If you watch the pan yard, people getting sick from the dust and we need to restructure the band even better than how it is now.”