Newsday -- GARY CARDINEZ
Minister of Culture Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly among her constituents at Laventille Road, Febeau Village, San Juan, on Thursday night.- Gary Cardinez
AFTER being an all-female band for the last three years, Platinum Steel Orchestra has opened its doors to male pan players.
Band leader Lauren Pierre said, “It was difficult to get female players to come to the panyard at Upper Sixth Avenue Malick, Barataria, so we decided to forego the all-female idea.”
The new-look band opened the Eastern Region 2020 National Panorama Preliminary Single Pan competition on Thursday evening. Chairman of the Eastern Region Anthony Walker welcomed everyone before Dejohn Cain played the national anthem.
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"The next stop was Laventille Road, Febeau Village, San Juan, where judges Michele Dowrich, Damion Phillip, Jeanette Johnson and Kenrick J Noel proved themselves true lovers of the national instrument. Accommodations at the Laventille Road venue were not the best and the judges had to sit in the middle of the road, with vehicles passing mere inches from their backs. It took some doing before the traffic was stopped for the band to perform Preacher’s Jump and Wave, as arranged by Kyshon Frit."