SAN­DRA L BLOOD

With a new in­ter­im ex­ec­u­tive led by Richard Forteau and pow­ered by sup­port from An­gos­tu­ra Lim­it­ed, Pan­land Lim­it­ed, the Min­istry of Cul­ture, and the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion (NCC), this year’s Laven­tille Steel­band Fes­ti­val (LSF) promis­es to be a spec­tac­u­lar show­case of T&T’s na­tion­al in­stru­ment.

The 2025 pro­duc­tion will fea­ture per­for­mances from 25 steel­bands, mak­ing it the largest pan event in Laven­tille. A cor­ner­stone of Steel­pan Month cel­e­bra­tions, the fes­ti­val aligns with Pan Trin­ba­go’s tagline, Pan Fuh So, and true to form, pan lovers can ex­pect an un­for­get­table evening of rhythm, cul­ture, and com­mu­ni­ty.

This year’s theme, Itun­bi – Ilu Awon Ba­ba Wa (Re­birth – Rhythm of the An­ces­tors), draws from Yoru­ba tra­di­tions and will be ar­tis­ti­cal­ly ex­pressed through the bands and their dy­nam­ic flag wa­vers as they pa­rade along the East­ern Main Road, Suc­cess Vil­lage, Laven­tille—from Leon Street to Es­pinet Street.

A cer­e­mo­ni­al pause will take place at the VIP zone lo­cat­ed at the TI­WU Head­quar­ters, where spe­cial­ly in­vit­ed guests will en­joy ex­clu­sive ren­di­tions by the bands be­fore the rhythm rolls on.

Vet­er­an broad­cast­er Jem­ma Jor­dan will serve as mas­ter of cer­e­monies. The fes­ti­val of­fi­cial­ly opens at 5 pm with an in­vo­ca­tion, brief ad­dress­es from dig­ni­taries, and a cul­tur­al pre­sen­ta­tion by the Mal­ick Folk Per­form­ers Road Show, which will re-en­act scenes of Eman­ci­pa­tion. A spe­cial pan per­for­mance by Road Block will set the stage for the grand pa­rade.

Now in its third decade, the open-air, sev­en-hour fes­ti­val con­tin­ues to at­tract over­seas-based na­tion­als who re­turn an­nu­al­ly, with many tim­ing their fam­i­ly re­unions to co­in­cide with the event. Once plagued by safe­ty con­cerns, the LSF has trans­formed in­to one of the safest and most an­tic­i­pat­ed pub­lic gath­er­ings on the lo­cal cal­en­dar, with re­cent edi­tions re­port­ing no crim­i­nal in­ci­dents.

More than just a cel­e­bra­tion, the fes­ti­val serves as a cul­tur­al in­vest­ment in Laven­tille and its sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ties, show­cas­ing the steel­pan as a sym­bol of re­silience, uni­ty, and na­tion­al pride.

Among the bands par­tic­i­pat­ing this year are na­tion­al Panora­ma and Mu­sic Fes­ti­val cham­pi­ons, Bomb Com­pe­ti­tion win­ners, and reign­ing Panora­ma ti­tle­hold­ers and run­ners-up. At­ten­dees can look for­ward to per­for­mances by:

Des­per­a­does

Trinidad All Stars

Rene­gades

Phase II

Cou­va Joy­lan­ders

Sound Spe­cial­ists of Laven­tille

↓High­landers (in their sec­ond ap­pear­ance)

Uni Stars

Phoenix

Tokyo

Laven­tille Rhythm Sec­tion

Be­hind the scenes, a ded­i­cat­ed team is en­sur­ing the smooth ex­e­cu­tion of this mam­moth event. In ad­di­tion to Forteau, the or­gan­is­ing com­mit­tee in­cludes Robert Her­nan­dez, Michael Coop­er, Pe­ter Ray Blood, Coun­cil­lor Adana Gor­don-Grif­fith, Kei­th Har­ris, Ka­reem Browne, Avis Bruce-Browne, James Hen­ry, Stafford “Rap­per” Pierre, Av­ery Am­mon, Car­ol deRoach, Wayne Jor­dan, Wayne Sci­pio, Denise Der­ry-Har­ry, and Col­in Mitchell.

Forteau ex­tend­ed heart­felt thanks to all vol­un­teers and part­ner or­gan­i­sa­tions, in­clud­ing the San Juan/Laven­tille Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion, the Fire and Po­lice Ser­vices, Pan Trin­ba­go Inc., and TI­WU.

To­day all roads lead to Laven­tille—for a re­birth in rhythm, and a cel­e­bra­tion of com­mu­ni­ty, cul­ture, and the en­dur­ing lega­cy of pan.