DAVID CUFFY

Tamana Pi­o­neers Steel Or­ches­tra topped the semi­fi­nal round of com­pe­ti­tion in the small band cat­e­go­ry of the Na­tion­al Steel­band Panora­ma Com­pe­ti­tion 2012 held at the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah, Port-of-Spain, on Sun­day. The band scored 265 points for its in­ter­pre­ta­tion of the late Kitch­en­er's (Ald­wyn Roberts) To­co Band, two points ahead of the Co­dring­ton Pan Fam­i­ly which earned 263 points for its ren­di­tion of Machel Mon­tano's Vibes Cyah Done. Nu­tones fol­lowed with 260 points, play­ing All­rounder's (An­tho­ny Hen­drick­son) Body Wine.

Oth­er or­ches­tras ad­vanc­ing to the fi­nal are:

Gold­en Hands - Sweet Mu­sic (256); Su­per No­vas - Gie Dem Tem­po (255); Ari­ma Gold­en Sym­pho­ny - God Is Ah Tri­ni (255); LH Pan Groove - To­co Band (254); Tor­na­does - Prophet of Pan (252); Mer­ry­tones - Sailors On The Road (250); and Sim­ple Song - Vibes (249).

That fi­nal, cou­pled with the Sin­gle Pan Bands fi­nal, takes place at Skin­ner Park, San Fer­nan­do, on Feb­ru­ary 16, start­ing at 6 pm. In the medi­um band cat­e­go­ry, two or­ches­tras out of To­ba­go scored the high­est points. They are Katzen­jam­mers 275 for This Is Bac­cha­nal, sung by Eu­nice Pe­ters, and NL­CB Buc­cooneers 271 for De­stra Gar­cia's Vibes.

Oth­ers go­ing on to the fi­nal, with their re­spec­tive scores, are:

Val­ley Harps: 270;

Courts Sound Spe­cial­ists of Laven­tille: 270;

Pow­er Stars: 264;

Pam­beri: 264;

Curepe Scherzan­do: 263;

West Side Sym­pho­ny: 258;

Melo­di­ans: 257; and

San­gre Grande Cordettes: 256

These bands would join qual­i­fiers from the Large Band cat­e­go­ry to com­pete in the fi­nals on Feb­ru­ary 18 at the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah, Port-of-Spain, start­ing at 7 pm.