No Pan in the 21st Century for Carnival

Terry Joseph
THE crunch of a short Carnival season has claimed at least one major casualty, with yesterday’s announcement of a postponement of Pan Trinbago’s Pan in the 21st Century competition.

Instead of taking place during Carnival, the competition has now been moved to the Easter weekend and will likely take place on Easter Sunday at the Queen’s Park Savannah.

The contest, which required participating bands to play a non-calypso tune in calypso tempo and offered a $50,000 first prize, was introduced three years ago and last year enjoyed good audiences.

Pan in the 21st Century was the pioneer in having its preliminary round judged in panyards, a format introduced to the Panorama competition this year.

Pan Trinbago president Patrick Arnold yesterday said: “For all the plans we have made to accommodate this particular competition, implementation of the judging schedule, reconciliation of points, the physical movement of the orchestras and even the draw for positions are appointments that many people involved may find difficult to keep.”

Reigning local and regional Panorama champions Exodus steel orchestra had already pulled out of this year’s contest for the same reason.

Exodus manager Ainsworth Mohammed told the Express he could not bring his band to the Queen’s Park Savannah final on February 6, then move it back to Tunapuna the next day to complete rehearsals for the National Panorama final, which takes place at the same venue just two days later.

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