Walking into a stadium crowded with people, media scrambling to get good shots and hundreds of band members banging their pans to get ready for the competition of the year can be quite deafening. But once those pans start harmonizing and intertwining to make a beautiful melody it's hard to resist the temptation to get up and move to the music. This year's Pan Alive was held at Lamport Stadium on Caribana Friday. Way to kick off the weekend! 

Tracey Soman, 19, from Pan Masters danced her butt off while she played like there was no tomorrow.

"My hair is destroyed," Soman says, laughing after her performance.

The Western University classical voice student says she spent about five to six hours practicing every week along with her group to come up with the finished masterpiece. Although she followed her brother's lead on pan, taking initiative to approach the leader of the band about joining Pan Masters was all her.

"... It always looked like so much fun and last year I thought I'd get in on the action and I finally did," she explains.

They placed seventh last year out of the 15 bands. Led by Tommy Crichlow, the band has about 30 members and its biggest accomplishment was playing at the World Steelband Music Festival at Madison Square Garden in New York in 2005. As far as practice Pan Masters has a lot of it but the confidence the band has gained comes from within.

"... Right before you're about to play you get a few butterflies in your stomach but then you start playing, you dance it out...," Soman says and shares a dance move reassuring herself that everything will turn out A-okay.

On the flip side wherever there is girl power there has to be boy power lurking around. Rocking white collared shirts, mouths open and full of expression, The Golden Harps take in the moment while they stop in the middle of the routine to show the audience how to move to the Caribbean notes. While they maintain a relaxed expression they enable themselves to have personality while they exchange a few smiles, laughs, nods and words.

Coming to visit a new country for the first time is always a thrill. Ricardo Marshall, 35, represents the Golden Harps International of Brampton led by Ed Peters. Back in Trinidad he teaches at a pan school. He decided to leave for a few weeks to perform at this year's Pan Alive and do some workshops in Barrie.



"The performance was excellent. We expect a trophy to bring back to Brampton tonight," he says confidently.

While the bands went head-to-head there was a large audience shouting and hooting for their favourite performances of the night from the bleachers in Lamport Stadium. Dawn Fox has been coming for the last two years to watch. Watching the bands play brought back the memories of the relationship she had with her own instrument. Although she doesn't play anymore, she still enjoys the sounds of Pan Alive.

"My boyfriend plays so that's good enough for me. He didn't compete today but he competed last year," Fox says.

Words By: Ranjit Dhatt + Photos By: Priya Ramanujam