PAN TRINBAGO president Beverly Ramsey-Moore expressed her satisfaction with the strong turnout of steelbands at the Neville Jules J'Ouvert Bomb Competition, which marked the final event of the season for the organisation.
"We had a fantastic season and the bands really closed it off beautifully."
After a notably slow start to the competition on March 3 at Victoria Square in Port of Spain, 11 steelbands took to the stage and performed two styles of music.
The first, considered a "bomb," is a classical piece of music or a non-calypso song arranged and played to a calypso tempo.
The other style, considered a "King of the Road" is a calypso or soca song.
The bomb competition, now in its 62nd year officially began in 1963, but was born out of World War II.
During the war, Carnival was banned owing to violent rivalries. This made steelbands play non-calypso music to calypso tempo.
As the war ended, steelbands continued the rivalry through the music. They practised in secret and on Carnival Monday morning (J'Ouvert morning) steelbands would drop a "bomb" on their rivals to gain popularity from middle-class onlookers.
Ramsey-Moore was happy to keep that rivalry alive.
"We are very pleased to have been keeping up with tradition of the Neville Jules J'Ouvert Bomb Competition.
"We continue to really execute and support all our steelbands in the community."
In 2023, the competition was renamed the Neville Jules Bomb Competition in honour of the pan pioneer who also founded the Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra and invented the bass pan.
He was credited in the late 1950s and early 1960s as the pioneer of the "bomb."
Royal Stars Pan Symphony was the first band of the morning and took to the stage around 4.55 am.
They performed Tears in Heaven and Black Man Feeling to Party.
The crowd, some who had been there since 3.30 am, had to wait another hour and five minutes before Massy Trinidad All Stars took the stage.
During the wait, some in the crowd were disappointed the competition did not live up to previous years. Their disappointment quickly disappeared when the bands started flowing shortly after 6 am.
As the steady flow of bands took to the stage, the crowd thoroughly enjoyed the performances, singing along, tapping their feet, and bobbing their heads to the melodic tunes played on the national instrument.
The competition also saw the likes of 13-time Panorama champions, bp Renegades and 12-time champions WITCO Desperadoes.
Other bands competing were Phase II Pan Groove, Musical Gems Steel Orchestra, Stardust Steel Orchestra, D'Veterans Pan Ensemble, Belmont Hi-Larks, Laventille Pashphonics and Proman Starlift Steel Orchestra.
While the competition took place on Carnival Monday, Ramsey-Moore said the bands would have to wait until Ash Wednesday to find out the winners.
The competition was broken down into two categories. The Single Pan category sees the winner walk away with $20,000, while second and third place earn $15,000 and $10,000 respectively. Fourth place will earn $5,000.
