2020 International Pan Ramajay Results - Soloists, Duos, Quartets - FINALS

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Global - Beginning with a mini pre-show before the official 8:00 p.m. EST start time, Exodus Steel Orchestra’s 2020 International Pan Ramajay featured brief words from the four judges who were on hand throughout the competition from preliminaries through finals. Adjunct Professor Victor Provost, Dr. Eugene Novotney, Professor Liam Teague and Professor Ron Reid all appeared virtually, generally expressing pleasure at being selected adjudicators, and encouraging the participants in their respective musical quests.

By the end of the evening, it would be a clean sweep for the USA as all three categories – soloists, duos and quartets - were topped by that country’s representatives. And moreover, champion arranger André White partook in each of those wins, triumphing on his own as a soloist, and then being part of the champion duo and quartet contingents.

The competitive segment had begun immediately at 8:00 p.m. with Kareem Thompson from the USA first up in the soloist category, playing Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You.” He was followed by Maico Miyamoto proudly hailing from Japan with selection “Bridge Over Troubled Waters.” Representing Barbados, Domenic Lewis also performed “Rock With You,” and then the USA was back in the spotlight with eventual winner André White taking his turn in the finals with “Jammin.’” The music focus remained on the USA with Kobie Alleyne ‘drawing’ “Just The Two Of Us,” switching from the tenor to double seconds for the finals. “Rock With You” was once again ‘pulled’ and this time it was Trinidad & Tobago’s own Mikhail Salcedo’s turn to put his own musical ‘stamp’ on the classic R&B song. The lone St. Thomas, V.I. finalist Eljhaie “LJ” Brathwaite was up next with “Ramajay” as his test piece.

With Antigua & Barbuda’s Khan Cordice, it would be the fourth time in the Soloist finals that the four judges, and the global audience would get to hear yet another Ramajay version of ‘Rock With You.” The penultimate final soloist was Keisha Codington of Trinidad & Tobago, and from her, flowed her ‘imagery’ of “Bazodee.” The final finalist in the category was USA’s Khuent Rose. Whew! Is best suited to describe his presentation, going with not one, but three different voices of pans. Tenor, double seconds, and double guitar were Rose’s musical palette, as he illustrated his vision of "All The Things You Are.”

The first of the five duos was from the USA in the persons of Tristan Japsi (tenor) and André White (double seconds) and no doubt had music lovers grooving and “Jammin’” with the track of the latter name. Teenage twins Deja and Dejean Cain, who turned seventeen just one day prior on June 26, were obviously still celebrating, evident in their broad smiles throughout their performance and effervescent delivery of “All The Things You Are,” while they represented Trinidad & Tobago beautifully as the second duo in the finals. The USA returned with Jahlani Roberts and Khuent Rose going through their musical paces for “Masquerade,” with Roberts on tenor while Rose completed the twosome on double guitar.

Keeping it ‘all in the family’ for the second time in the category and also from Trinidad & Tobago, were father and daughter Cary and Keisha Codrington, doing “All The Things You Are.” Kareem Thompson and DoMoJOAT were the final of the five duos, and once again the USA had a shot at staking its musical claim in the duos category of the 2020 International Pan Ramajay. And so the second of the three segments in the finals was completed around 9:12 p.m. Of note when the results were revealed, it was seen that all the Duos remained in the same position coming out of the semis; that is, positions one through five were unchanged, with André White and Tristan Japsi retaining their lead and winning their category.

Immediately after, it was time for the Quartets to shine, as the first of five took up the musical challenge in the form of twins Deja and Dejean Cain, this time joined by their father Martin Cain and Shovon Brown. Tenors were the instruments of choice for two, with Deja on double seconds, while Shivon opted for double guitar, as they rendered “Masquerade” - interestingly enough, also their piece in the semi-finals. From the USA, playing "Mas Que Nada," the foursome of Kendall K. Williams, Edward Clarke Jr., Marc Brooks and Tristan Japsi was up in second position. Tenors (Kendall and Tristan), triple guitar (Eddy) and double seconds (Marc) were the instruments featured in this performance.

The competition returned to the ‘home turf’ of Trinidad & Tobago with Terrance “BJ” Marcelle, Marlon White, Sheldon Peters and Shivon Bourne showcasing their combined musical skill set via “All The Things You Are.” Once again the Exodus panyard with its arresting stack of basses was the impressive backdrop. The Codrington Pan Family featured four of their members for the quartet presentation.  “Jammin’” as delivered by siblings Keisha, Kaijah, Khari along with dad Cary was a worthy final night presentation.

Fittingly, the last tune rendered in the 2020 competition was “Ramajay” – and that honor fell to the USA quartet of Iman Pascall, André White, Khuent Rose and Kareem Thompson, who would be judged best in this category. The curtains came down musically just after 9:41 p.m. with the full results delivered shortly after.

Following are the full Finals results, in the three categories of the International 2020 Pan Ramajay Competition.  Exodus Steel Orchestra is the producer of Pan Ramajay.  The performances of the finalists were streamed online on Saturday June 27.

For steelpan aficionados, this night of performances was just what the doctor ‘ordered’ during a [COVID-19] Pandemic lock down - and it was a prescription which had been dispensed beginning June 13, with the final musical dose taken June 27.

Have a look back at the Preliminaries’ results in the three categories, and also revisit those for the Semi-finals for the Solos, Duos, and Quartets.

Click for the FINALS Results - -- SOLOISTS  ---  DUOS  ---  QUARTETS

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