Shas­tri Boodan

Three To­ba­go steel­bands faced a pan­el of judges on Sat­ur­day night in the Na­tion­al Panora­ma Medi­um Bands pre­lim­i­nar­ies.

Pa­n­yard judg­ing on the is­land start­ed with NGC Steel Xplo­sion at the Buc­co In­te­grat­ed Fa­cil­i­ty where the band per­formed Er­phaan Alves’ So­ca Glob­al, then the pan­el went on to the Katzen­jam­mers Pan The­atre at Cour­land Es­tate, Black Rock. Katzen­jam­mers’ tune of choice out Mer­chant’s Caribbean Con­nec­tion.

The last stop for the evening was at the Carib Dix­ieland pa­n­yard next to the Mt Pleas­ant Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre where that band played Dis Par­ty is It.

Dix­ieland’s man­ag­er Le­ston Her­bert said the band has no spon­sor this year and for the first time in its 60-year his­to­ry, is fac­ing hard times. He said he plans to ap­proach cor­po­rate T&T af­ter the Car­ni­val sea­son seek­ing spon­sor­ship for 2021 and be­yond.