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BIG UP TRINI REVELLERS BAND OF THE YEAR 2005
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index...ws?id=60980886

BY JOANNE BRIGGS

Trini Revellers scored a beaver-trick yesterday, after copping the Band of Year title, as well as taking the Harold Saldenha, Lil Hart and George Bailey awards in the large band category of the NCC’s 2005 Carnival competitions.

Big Mike Antoine, half of the defunct champion band Legends, was third in his solo debut with Legacy in all categories.

Masquerade’s presentation, Lion Kingdom in Soca Safari, was second.

Head of the adjudication committee, Teddy Villarroel said it was a tough call.

He stressed that to qualify for the major awards, competing bands had to go to at least four venues, including the mandatory Queen’s Park Savannah and Downtown venues.

However, he said some bands went to three judging points and did not qualify.

Regardless, Enrico Rajah, public relations officer for Trini Revellers, could not contain his glee, clapping heartily after each announcement was made at the NCC’s club house at the Paddock, Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

This is the second consecutive year Trini Revellers had won the Band of the Year title.

Last year, it won with Arabian Nights. This year, it was Conquest of the Indies.

“It feels great to win Band of the Year the second time in a row, and I want to thank publicly, Dave Cameron, Jeff Gillette, Janice Gillette, the committee members—seven of us—the masqueraders,” Rajah said after the announcement.

“And above all, I want to give thanks to Almighty God for giving us the inspiration, motivation, wisdom to bring out a historical presentation as we did this year.”

He said the theme for the band was motivated by a desire to look for a theme that would cover some aspects of the Caribbean.

“The easiest part was finding the theme Conquest of the Indies, the hardest part was all the research,” Rajah said.

“We had to go on the Internet. We got a lot of help from the St Mary’s College history department.”

Rajah said the motivating factor was to show that T&T could appreciate its culture and history like any part of the world.

“To show the world that we have something to offer them, which is our heritage our culture and our history, and we are proud of it,” he said.

Dave Cameron, producer of Trini Revellers, said it was wonderful to have a great team that worked together.

“But whatever we have to portray has to be better than the Arabian Nights and Conquest of the Indies, something spectacular again,” he said as he looked towards next year.

“Anything we do is a story. It needs research, it needs a lot of work, but the public will see something spectacular.”

Cameron said he would know of plans for next year’s presentation in two weeks’ time.

Although the band’s membership increased from 1,600 in 2004 to 2,500 this year, Cameron said he did not want it to expand too big and become uncontrollable.

He said there were other issues to deal with before Government decided to move the annual Carnival parade from the Savannah.

“There are a lot other lot of things to talk about first...such as facilities for the masqueraders, facilities for the spectators, toilets at strategic points along the parade route,” Cameron said.

“We have to expand the parade route because there are more people playing.

“We have to look to see how we could protect the small bands. The small bands cannot make that route because of the age of the people.

“There a lot of things we have to do administratively to make our Carnival better for us.”

He said the Government authorities should begin Carnival planning as early as August.

“We start too late to talk about Carnival,” Cameron said.

Harold Saldenha Award

Mini band category

1. Blackfoot Sundance

2. A Song for Minsh

3. T&T Still Sweet for So

Small band category

1. Yuletide

2. Before Europeans

3. Down Mexico Way

Medium band category

1. D Washing by Fire

2. Crossing Borders

3. The Barbarians

Large band category

1. Conquest of the Indies

2. Lion Kingdom in Soca Safari

3. Legacy

Lil Hart Award

Mini band category

1. A Song for Minsh

2. Blackfoot Sundance

3. We Bring Back Cowpatch

Small band category

1. Yuletide

2. Before Europeans

3. The Mexican Way

Medium band category

1. D Washing by Fire

2. Crossing Borders

3. The Barbaraians

Large band category

1. Conquest of the Indies

2. Lion Kingdom in Soca Safari

3. Legacy

George Bailey Award

Mini band category

1. Blackfoot Sundance

2. A Song for Minsh

3. T&T Still Sweet for So

Small band category

1. Yuletide

2. Down Mexico Way

3. Before Europeans

Medium band category

1. D Washing by Fire

2. Crossing Borders

3. The Barbaraians

Large band category

1. Conquest of the Indies—Trini Revellers

2. Lion Kingdom in Soca Safari—Masquerade

3. Legacy—Big Mike Antoine

Well congrats to them again. I only got the opportunity to see them on the road late Monday night. But it's interesting to see that the NCC gave them the big band title two years in row as well when they also did not meet the 3000 band members set by the NCC again. It looks like everybody got disqualified this year.

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