Jesse Ramdeo

Se­nior Re­porter

jesse.ramdeo@cnc3.co.tt

The Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah came alive yes­ter­day as waves of steel­pan mu­sic rolled across the stage, rhythm sec­tions puls­ing and draw­ing crowds of pan lovers who swayed, smiled and soaked in the Car­ni­val en­er­gy.

From the deep rum­ble of bass pans to the bright, ring­ing melodies cut­ting through the air, the se­mi-fi­nals com­pe­ti­tion proved once again that the heart­beat of Trinidad and To­ba­go still echoes through steel.

Amid the vi­brant at­mos­phere and watch­ful eyes of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice, led by Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er (CoP) Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro, Pan Trin­ba­go Pres­i­dent Bev­er­ley Ram­sey-Moore ac­knowl­edged the strong turnout and high mu­si­cal qual­i­ty on dis­play, but al­so used the oc­ca­sion to high­light grow­ing con­cerns over dwin­dling cor­po­rate spon­sor­ship for steel­bands.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia at the Sa­van­nah, Ram­sey-Moore said she was dis­ap­point­ed that cor­po­rate Trinidad and To­ba­go has not been as sup­port­ive as in pre­vi­ous years, not­ing that the de­cline has been no­tice­able.

“We have tak­en a sig­nif­i­cant blow in terms of spon­sor­ship, and that is why I al­ways say as lead­ers, we have to be care­ful of the mes­sages that we send,” she said.

“Based on us hav­ing those state com­pa­nies pulling out their sup­port from the steel­band, it sends a trick­le-down ef­fect. Last year, we had over 30 spon­sors for semi­fi­nals, and this year, I don’t think we have ten.”

She was quick, how­ev­er, to com­mend the Gov­ern­ment for step­ping in to spon­sor un­spon­sored bands, say­ing that the in­ter­ven­tion helped to keep the com­pe­ti­tion alive and ac­ces­si­ble.

Ram­sey-Moore al­so de­fend­ed Pan Trin­ba­go’s stew­ard­ship of the or­gan­i­sa­tion, stress­ing that ac­count­abil­i­ty has nev­er been an is­sue.

“We know that the steel band has nev­er strug­gled un­der my lead­er­ship for spon­sor­ship be­cause we have done the work. We have cleaned up the or­gan­i­sa­tion. We have been pro­duc­ing clean au­dits, and we have been ac­count­ing for the spend,” she said.

De­spite the chal­lenges, the Pan Trin­ba­go pres­i­dent said she was en­cour­aged by the mu­si­cal ex­cel­lence on stage and the con­tin­ued sup­port com­ing from com­mu­ni­ties, even if some of the usu­al spec­ta­cle may be miss­ing this sea­son.

“For 2026, we’ve been strug­gling, and you may not see the glitz and glam­our that you want to see on stage. Mu­si­cal­ly, they are ex­cel­lent. And com­mu­ni­ty-wise, I think that the com­mu­ni­ties have been sup­port­ing the band be­cause the band is the com­mu­ni­ty’s soul, and that is what is im­por­tant,” she said.

Ram­sey-Moore al­so re­newed her call for cor­po­rate en­ti­ties and state agen­cies to recog­nise the wider so­cial im­pact of steel­band cul­ture, point­ing to youth de­vel­op­ment and com­mu­ni­ty em­pow­er­ment.

“Cor­po­rate Trinidad and To­ba­go, we need your sup­port. It’s your so­cial re­spon­si­bil­i­ty, youth de­vel­op­ment, in­vest­ing in women in at-risk com­mu­ni­ties, as­sist­ing in de­vel­op­ing that so­cial safe­ty net where we cap­ture them and em­pow­er them to be­come fruit­ful cit­i­zens who con­tribute to de­vel­op­ment,” she said.

Mean­while, spec­ta­tors at the Sa­van­nah said the at­mos­phere re­mained elec­tric de­spite the chal­lenges be­hind the scenes.