St. Vincent National Panorama 2023 Results - Starlift Steel Orchestra Triumphs with Arranger Danté Pantin

Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, W.I. - One of the two large steel orchestras in the country - title defender Starlift Steel Orchestra, maintained its championship status for the 2023 National Panorama competition. This year, their arranger was Danté Pantin of Trinidad and Tobago’s Starlift Steel Orchestra.  His work with Winston Soso’s How Some Men Love They Women aka “Big Bottom” led the band to a first place score of 275 points. 

The orchestra had been the final band on stage at Victoria Park for the night and closed out by 11:36 p.m.  It is another good year for the music organization as its youth arm—Starlift Steel Orchestra Juniors—won the Junior Panorama four days earlier at the same venue.  Now with the senior band’s accomplishment, a snapshot of last season’s triumph was created, where both the junior and senior Starlift steel orchestras also copped the titles in the steelband Panorama arena.

Sion Hill Steel Orchestra, the country’s other large legacy band took second place, with Symphonix Steel Orchestra rounding out the top three. In tribute, four of the evening’s seven competing bands opted for tunes of choice made popular by Winston Soso. And three of those bands went on to take the top spots in the Panorama. Soso, the late national cultural icon and soca bard—whose real name was Trevor Lockhart—passed away on July 18, 2021. 

The sounds of steel began just before 8:40 p.m. with Epic Sounds Steel Orchestra sounding out a Johnny Pompey-arrangement of Move It by Johnny Rebel, who was on stage with the band as they performed his song. Genesis and South East steel orchestras followed, then made way for Sion Hill and Elite as they next threw their hats in the musical ring - all in a quest to dethrone the band which played in the final position for the night, Starlift.

The second phase of the show, billed as it has been in the last few years as Steel and Glitter, got underway after the Panorama competition circa 12:15 a.m., featuring sections from select mas bands.  Results were announced in the early morning hours, at 1:50 a.m. Scores and placements of the top three steel orchestras were given,  but not for the remaining four competitors. Pan lovers not able to be present in person at Victoria Park had the option to listen in ‘live’ on NBC Radio SVG, or, purchase a Live Stream on “VC3” - the Vincentian Cultural Connection Channel.

Some in the country’s steelband fraternity have said the combination of COVID-19 and the last volcanic eruption which ended in April 2021 - has since made for some challenging times in the art form.

Following are the results with scores, where provided.

 

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