Trinidad, W.I. - The executive of Pan Trinbago’s South/Central zone has scheduled a meeting with the San Fernando Mayor Kenneth Ferguson to discuss arrangements for the hosting of the South National semi-final competition at Skinner Park on February 6.

Both parties admitted yesterday that all that needs to be sorted out will be issues dealing with the stage and the ramps.

Ferguson, in an interview yesterday, said a lot of work had been done at Skinner Park, over the last two years, since the southern city hosted the National Panorama Finals in 2007 and 2008. 
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Antigua & Barbuda, W.I. - While When Steel Talks was visiting the panyards on our recent trip to Antigua we caught up with the country’s Prime Minister, the Honourable Baldwin Spencer who was in Halcyon Steel Orchestra’s panyard taking in a practice section for the 2008 Moods of Pan Festival. We posed three questions to the Prime Minister which he very graciously answered.

“...as leaders and so on, we ought to be identifying with the art form and to give it as much encouragement and exposure as possible, so that it can grow and flourish not only in the Caribbean, but throughout the world....We as leaders need to be paying great attention to what this is, and to make sure that we hold it - while we give it to the world, we hold it as ours.”
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Trinidad, W.I. - Pan Trinbago has received an allocation of more than $20 million for the 2009 Carnival season, according to Pan Trinbago president Patrick Arnold.

Arnold said while this year’s total allocation to the National Carnival Commission (NCC) from the Ministry of Culture for Carnival has been increased to $120 million, the allocation for Pan Trinbago remained the same.

“Every year before the end of April we are supposed to submit budgets,” Arnold explained in a telephone interview yesterday. “We did not ask for any increases for the prizes, so the total amount we have been allocated is almost the same as last year.” He estimated the allocation to be more than $20 million, which is to include $11 million in prize money, appearance fees for steelbands, and players’ remittances.  
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2008 was an extremely interesting year for the steelpan music instrument. Our When Steel Talks travels, coverage and stories took our site visitors literally all over the globe. We saw the emergence and coming of age of the youth movement as two young and very talented arrangers (André White and Khan Cordice) - both still in their teens - captured major titles against stiff competition in the New York Panorama and the Antigua & Barbuda Moods of Pan Festival ‘25-A-Side,’ respectively.

On the flip side, we lost noted Trinidad journalist Terry Joseph, pan pioneers Oscar Pile in Trinidad and Antigua’s Leroy “Jughead” Gordon. The untimely passing of Trinidad and Tobago’s Desperadoes and New York’s D’Radoes premiere bassist Frank “Crawl” Findley and former Phase II captain Edme Gibbons - among others who also impacted on the steelpan art form during their lifetimes - left us with a giant void.
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New York, USA -   As 2009 comes into focus, for André White - 2008 has been that ‘year to remember.’ For this young musician who set the steelband world on its ear, life will never be the same. New York steelband panorama veteran arrangers – some previous competition winners themselves - had to respectfully duff their hats to André White in the early hours of Sunday September 1 - when his arrangement of Amrit Samaroo’s Heat as executed by his band, Long Island’s one hundred-strong ADLIB Steel Orchestra, made them New York Panorama champions for the first time ever, and by default conferring upon him, the title of ‘champion arranger.’ But the additional history-making element is André’s age. He was a mere eighteen years old.
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United Kingdom  - Brent Holder, World Champion Soloist, formed the Caribbean Steel International steelband in 2004, after obtaining invaluable experience from working with some of the top steel bands in the UK, Trinidad and Japan with three members owing to the demand for small gigging bands. After ensuring that their small steel band was well established on the gigging circuit, CSI founding members decided to start a community group which would involve their local communities in the steel pan art form.

....CSI felt classes would be especially beneficial to those who are disabled, socially excluded and an advantage for the youths in the borough as it would keep them off the streets and teach them a culture they may not already know about, also giving them the opportunity to enhance their teamwork skills and take pride in themselves and what they can achieve.
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Trinidad, W.I. -  Pan lovers organising a big lime for the Panorama semi-finals at the Queen’s Park Savannah next year may have to rethink their plans after Pan Trinbago made the decision on Monday evening to hold three separate semi- finals to accommodate small, medium and large bands in south Trinidad and Tobago.

President of the pan body, Patrick Arnold, said several major decisions were made by members of Pan Trinbago at Monday’s meeting, including the days on which shows will take place, a change in the number of band members in each category, and the final decision on the venue for the Panorama finals.

Two weeks before the finals in Queen’s Park Savannah on Carnival Saturday (February 21), semi-finals will be held, one on Friday (Feb. 6) at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Tobago; one on Saturday (Feb 7) at Skinner Park in San Fernando and the last one on Sunday (Feb 8) at the Queen’s Park Savannah.
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