Pan Elders scores 4th victory

The band from Carib Street, San Fernando served thousands of pan music lovers and the judges a sumptuous meal of Roti and Talkarie, a song composed and sung by Sugar Aloes (Michael Osuna) in a performance beyond comparison at Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain.

Playing in position number eight, it was just on 9 pm when the players arrived on stage dressed in traditional Indian wear and took the count. Arranger Duvonne Stewart then stepped forward and commanded the players in seven minutes and fifty-one seconds of musical magic.

After the introduction and first verse, it was clear that Pan Elders was the band to beat. The front line pans were haunting, begging listeners to have a taste of the meal while the bass pans laid it out clearly. This was a well balanced performance with tassa drums also rolling from within the band.

When the band’s performance was over there was a loud roar or approval from the audience.

Pan Elders went into the final with a lead of nine points ahead of its nearest rival Curepe Scherzando.

When they were finished on Saturday they were still seven points clear.

Curepe Scherzando improved their performance by five points from the semi-finals with their rendition of (Winston Bailey) Shadow’s Stranger as arranged by Yohan Popwell. Playing in position six, they too held the audience captive for seven minutes and thirty one seconds with their riveting rendition.

Except for two men, their front line consisted of female players and they executed the arrangement on point. This was well complimented by the bass lines and the command “wave it” was heard throughout the performance.

Coming in third was NLCB Buccooneers with a performance of Seion Gomez’s arrangement of Rhythm Run Things, a song composed by Mark Loquan and Gomez. This too was a good arrangement with the instrument producing a very clear and balanced sound.

Playing in position nine, Petrotrin Katzenjammers produced a performance of Good Morning arranged by BJ Marcelle which took them to fourth place alongside two rivals.

They tied with Melodians which performed (Dennis Franklyn Williams) Merchant’s Um Ba Yao arranged by two young arrangers from the east, Amrit Samaroo and Marlon White. This performance produced a marriage of African drums and pan which compliment each other smoothly. The melody was heard throughout the song never leaving one to guess what they were playing. These two bands also tied for the fifth position in the semi-final round.

Joining them in the three-way tie was NLCB Valley Harps with their performance of Michelle Huggins Watts’ arrangement of (Kelvin Pope) Mighty Duke’s Total Disorder.

Rounding off the evening in the medium final was NGC Couva Joylanders with Kareem Brown’s arrangement of Band of the Year placing them seventh, NGC Steel Xplosion in eighth position with their performance of Wet Meh Down as arranged by Arddin Herbert. Johnny King, the singer and composer of the song, appeared on stage with the band.

Pan-Demonium and Courts Sound Specialists of Laventille tied for ninth place with their rendition of Cheers to Life arranged by Akua Leith and Dangerous arranged by Rudo Forteau respectively.

Congratulations must go to the stage crew as they worked very hard against the clock to run off the first half of the finals.

Conventional Medium Bands Results
1. Pan Elders........................... Roti & Talkarie.......... Duvonne Stewart............282
2. Curepe Scherzando......................Stranger..............Yohan Popwell............275
3. NCLB Buccooneers.......Rhythm Run Tings................Seion Gomez............272
4 Petrotrin Katzenjammers.......Good Morning...Terrence “BJ”Marcelle............270
4. Melodians ................Um Ba Yao.........Amrit Samaroo/Marlon White.............270
4. NLCB Valley Harps............... Total Disorder.Michelle Huggins Watts............270
7. NGC Couva Joylanders...Band of the Year..............Kareem Brown............268
8. NGC Steel Xplosion...........Wet Meh Down.............. Arddin Herbert............267
9. Pan-Demonium.................... Cheers to Life.....................Akua Leith............264
9. Courts Sound Specialists of Laventille.Dangerous......Rudo Forteau............264