THE three medium bands topping Sunday’s Panorama semifinals are preparing each, to become Sunday’s winner. The road to get there was easy for some and not so easy for others.

But one thing was clear to them all: Panorama is back, with resounding success. There were 15 bands competing for a spot in the finals which will be held on February 12, at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Tobago.

Of the 15 who battled in the semis on Sunday at the Queen's Park Savannah, the top 12 bands move on to the finals.

Katzenjammers, NGC Couva Joylanders and Sforzata placed first, second and third in the semis.

[caption id="attachment_999681" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Sforzata pannists placed third in the medium bands semifinals playing Johnny at Sunday's Panorama. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]

Katzenjammers took top spot playing Timothy “Baron” Watkins’ Tell Me Why, which earned them 282 points. NGC Couva Joylanders (the reigning medium band champions) played Sylvester “Poser” Lockhart’s 1993 song, The Fete Ain’t Over Yet, which earned them 279 points. Sforzata played Colleen Ella’s 1987 song Johnny, which earned them 272 points.

Pan Trinbago president Beverley Ramsey-Moore is also band leader of Katzenjammers.

Ramsey-Moore said the band is a community band and the majority of its players are from Black Rock. She said it was easy to have that consistency at pan practice on evenings.

“Even though we were home during the pandemic, when the country was reopened, the players found themselves back in the panyard,” she said.

She added that the band was an institution and believes this helps the band to stand out. This is not the band’s first time topping the category.

The band won the medium Panorama title back-to-back in 2011 and 2012. It is also not unusual for the band to place first from preliminaries to semifinals and then winning the title, she said.

She commended the band’s management and its players.

She said in 2020, when the first medium band finals was held in Tobago, as Pan Trinbago president she was under a lot of pressure and even though the band always placed in the top five in this category, she did not want them to win. The band did not win that year and NGC Couva Joylanders took home the title.

She did not want the band to win because she was concerned about people making comments that were not “so nice.” However, this year, she does not think anyone can doubt the quality that Katzenjammers bring.

Joylanders’ executive manager Richard Gill said the band was hoping to make its transition to a large band within the next five years and winning the medium band title would help them do so.

He said the band was happy it qualified to defend its title in the finals, was looking forward to the judges’ comments via score sheets and then to winning the title again.

Gill said the players are excited to return to the competition after being away because of the pandemic.

The downtime gave the band an opportunity to work on its strategy and the things it hopes to achieve in the next five years such as becomin