World Steelband Music Festival Winners Get Prize Money

Pan Trinbago has paid out a total of TT$1.1M in prize money to the finalists of the World Steelband Music Festival 2005.

The organization would like to thank Minister of Community Development, Culture & Gender Affairs, Senator The Hon. Joan Yuille-Williams for keeping the promise.

Receiving their prize monies earlier this week were winners Sagicor Exodus.  Also collecting their prize cheques were TCL Group Skiffle Bunch, T&T Defence Force Steel Orchestra and Courts Sound Specialists of Laventille .

The other finalists were Courts New Dimension Steel Orchestra, Grenada, CASYM, New York, Pan Masters, Canada.

WSMF Finals (Orchestra category) was staged at the Paramount Theatre, Madison Square Garden, New York, on June 19^th 2005. It was the first time that the biennial event was held outside of Trinidad & Tobago. 

According to Dr. Harold Robertson, Consulate General at the event: “The staging of this prestigious event in New York is indeed a historic occasion which affords an ideal opportunity to showcase the majesty of the steel pan as well as the mastery of the performers both local and international in all genres of music. Most importantly, the WSMF 2005 brings international exposure to the cultural richness of Trinidad & Tobago, the mecca of the steelpan”.

As in the past, the WSMF is divided into Minor and Orchestra categories. The former comprises Soloists, Duets, Quartets, Ensembles and Single Pan Bands and is open to participants in the Caribbean, Europe and North America.

The qualifying round for local (Trinidad & Tobago) orchestras will begin after Carnival 2K8 with the World Finals (Orchestra) scheduled for September in Miami, Florida.

Test pieces for the different categories are taken from the repertoire of The Mighty Sparrow, Slinger Francisco.