Michelle Loubon

Bot­tle and spoon, grater, scratch­ers and wood blocks are es­sen­tials when paran­deros go parang­ing. Con­tem­po­rary bands have in­cor­po­rat­ed the flute, elec­tric bass, Latin per­cus­sions and the steel­pan in its en­sem­ble. Now, the Na­tion­al Parang As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (NPATT) is in­cor­po­rat­ing the steep­an as the main in­stru­ment in its com­pe­ti­tions.

Michael Leza­ma, pub­lic re­la­tions of­fi­cer of the NPATT, said they are of­fi­cial­ly ex­per­i­ment­ing with the steel­pan along­side parang in­stru­ments for the in­stru­men­tal leg of the com­pe­ti­tion. The com­pe­ti­tion took place at Ari­ma Ten­nis Court, Rail­way Road, Ari­ma yes­ter­day. The ex­per­i­ment was in keep­ing with a new ap­proach to mar­ket­ing parang.

In­ter­viewed ear­li­er yes­ter­day Leza­ma said, "Over the years, some bands like Los Alum­nos de San Juan and Paramini­nos have in­clud­ed the pan as their lead in­stru­ment. For the first time we are in­tro­duc­ing the steel­pan of­fi­cial­ly as an in­stru­ment that will be judged along­side the oth­er acoustic in­stru­ments."

Leza­ma is op­ti­mistic about get­ting crit­i­cal feed­back and con­struc­tive sug­ges­tions via ques­tion­naires. "Pa­trons would have been asked to re­spond to ques­tions like: What do you think about the pan as a lead in­stru­ment in a parang band? They can give hon­est com­ments with re­spect to pan in parang. We plan to analyse the feed­back from pa­trons and what parang groups have to stay about it."

Among the bands that ser­e­nad­ed parang con­nois­seurs to Casti­lan-styled mu­sic were Amantes de Paran­da, Los Ami­gos Can­ta­dores, Los Pa­s­tores, San Jose Ser­e­naders, Re­nac­er, Vo­ces Jovenes and Los Buenos Paran­deros. Quizzed on her sen­ti­ments on pan in the parang, lead singer Ali­cia Jages­sar, Los Alum­nos de San Juan, said, "We do.

But it is not ac­cept­ed as a parang in­stru­ment. It's a plus be­cause it is our main in­stru­ment. It would be wel­come if they ac­cept­ed the pan. We are al­so for tra­di­tion­al in­stru­ments. Once it's com­pe­ti­tion time, we use a lead gui­tarist or man­dolin play­er."

Among the bands that ser­e­nad­ed parang con­nois­seurs to Casti­lan-styled mu­sic were Amantes de Paran­da, Los Ami­gos Can­ta­dores, Los Pa­s­tores, San Jose Ser­e­naders, Re­nac­er, Vo­ces Jovenes and Los Buenos Paran­deros.

Itin­er­ary

No­vem­ber 10:?Trib­ute To Icons–Tabaquite High School

De­cem­ber 1:?Tune of Choice Com­pe­ti­tion–YM­CA, St Au­gus­tine

De­cem­ber 8:?Parang in the Val­ley–Mara­cas Val­ley

De­cem­ber 15:?Peo­ple's Choice Com­pe­ti­tion, Ari­ma Ten­nis Club

Tick­ets $60. Fi­nal Night $75.

Con­tact:?355-5648/315/737-5698/772-2901