SAN­DRA L BLOOD

Steel­pan Month 2025, launched by Pan Trin­ba­go on Ju­ly 19, once again show­cased the heart­beat of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s cul­ture. Pan Trin­ba­go pres­i­dent Bev­er­ly Ram­sey-Moore in­vit­ed the world to join the steel­pan body “in car­ry­ing the rhythm for­ward and cel­e­brate the mu­si­cal in­stru­ment and its lega­cy through­out Au­gust.”

Un­der Ram­sey-Moore’s lead­er­ship as chair of the events com­mit­tee, the cel­e­bra­tions spanned the na­tion and the globe.

Re­gion­al ex­ec­u­tive chairs De­siree My­ers, Pre­cious Gilbert-O’Brien, Phillip Bark­er, and Ker­ron Fletch­er, along with a ded­i­cat­ed team—in­clud­ing mar­ket­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tions staff Makaila Gar­cia and Jac­in­ta Williams, PRO Kwe­si Moore, youth arm mem­ber Em­manuel Joseph, and ex­ter­nal af­fairs of­fi­cer Mar­cus Ash—en­sured a seam­less se­ries of events broad­cast through The Pan Trin­ba­go Ra­dio Show.

Be­hind the scenes, ad­min­is­tra­tion, stage man­age­ment, and street pa­rade co­or­di­na­tion were ex­pert­ly han­dled by He­len Scant­le­bury-James, Shiv­orne Mitchell, Mal­colm Gor­don, Ka­dion Moore, Gilbert-O’Brien, and Tri­cia Au­gus­tus.

Pan Trin­ba­go’s 2025 cal­en­dar fea­tured 22 events, in­clud­ing ten sig­na­ture ac­tiv­i­ties rang­ing from con­certs, jam­borees, and street pa­rades to vi­su­al arts, dra­ma, youth pro­grams, wor­ship, and glob­al cel­e­bra­tions. Twelve ad­di­tion­al events high­light­ed steel­bands, the Jit Sama­roo Doc­u­men­tary team, and MITTCO, re­flect­ing the vi­brant di­ver­si­ty of the steel­pan com­mu­ni­ty.

World Steel­pan Day, held on Au­gust 11, was a high­light of the cel­e­bra­tions. Speak­ing at Wood­ford Square in Port-of-Spain, Ram­sey-Moore thanked the thou­sands of cit­i­zens, vis­i­tors, and well-wish­ers who joined the fes­tiv­i­ties.

“The ob­ser­vance was a spir­i­tu­al em­brace of the in­stru­ment, a pro­found salute to the pi­o­neers and in­no­va­tors of the steel­pan fra­ter­ni­ty. We are one root and one tree. Pan was born be­hind the bridge, and now it is on the world stage. Pan Trin­ba­go con­tin­ues to lead glob­al­ly in the steel­pan in­dus­try and move­ment,” she said.

Cul­ture Min­is­ter Michelle Ben­jamin praised the pow­er of mu­sic to unite the na­tion, stat­ing: “Cul­ture has the pow­er to bring us to­geth­er.”

On Au­gust 20, the month’s sig­na­ture street pa­rade, Steel­pan & Pow­der, cap­ti­vat­ed au­di­ences as Ram­sey-Moore de­liv­ered a stir­ring ad­dress, joined by the Min­is­ter and Port-of-Spain May­or Chin­ua Al­leyne.

Hold­ing a tenor pan, she pro­claimed: “The pow­er of steel­pan is alive and un­shak­able. It is the heart­beat of our cul­ture, a cir­cle that unites T&T. There is no di­vi­sion by race, colour, creed, or re­li­gion. Pan rose from the bow­els of op­pressed peo­ple of Laven­tille—and now it stands proud­ly on the world stage.”

Be­yond the pa­rades, Steel­pan Month fea­tured work­shops, health and women’s fo­rums, and youth en­gage­ment pro­grammes. Pan Trin­ba­go North­ern Re­gion host­ed a Health Fair and Women’s Fo­rum ad­dress­ing Do­mes­tic Vi­o­lence In/Out the Pa­n­yard.

Friends of Pan Trin­ba­go cel­e­brat­ed the Pan Pi­o­neers, while Trinidad All Stars per­formed at Times Square. Rene­gades youths—the reign­ing U21 Panora­ma cham­pi­ons—and the NSSO show­cased their tal­ent at Bar­ba­dos Car­ifes­ta XV.

Na­tion­al Panora­ma large band cham­pi­on Ex­o­dus soft-launched their 2026 mas pre­sen­ta­tion in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Jok­ieOne, per­formed at Oil and Mu­sic, and cel­e­brat­ed XO-Cubs bass play­er Jahzara Lee Babb’s stel­lar CSEC re­sults.

In­ter­na­tion­al­ly, Ram­sey-Moore cel­e­brat­ed steel­pan in Cana­da, the UK, and the Unit­ed States dur­ing Panora­ma com­pe­ti­tions, as Pan Trin­ba­go co-spon­sored the events abroad.

Re­flect­ing on the month’s suc­cess, Ram­sey-Moore said: “Every event has been noth­ing short of phe­nom­e­nal. Crowds keep grow­ing, the vibes are stronger, and the love for our steel­band mu­sic runs deep­er than ever.”

She ex­tend­ed heart­felt thanks to the Min­istry of Cul­ture, and spon­sors NGC and bpTT, ac­knowl­edg­ing their vi­tal sup­port in keep­ing the rhythm alive.