By Joan Rampersad Thursday, January 10 2013

Some 52 songs will be played by the 63 Single Pan Bands that have registered for the National Single Pan competition which begins this evening in Tobago and continues tomorrow in the North, Saturday in the South central region and ends on Sunday in the East.

Most popular among the selections is Neil “Iwer” George’s “Bubble” that will be played four times times, followed by the late Grandmaster of pan music, Lord Kitchener’s (Aldwyn Roberts) “Toco Band” that will be played thrice.

However Superblue’s (Austin Lyons) music was most popular among the bands as six of his selections will be played during the course of the National Single Pan prelims. Those tracks are “Wine on Something”, “Ethel”, “Bacchanal Time”, “Signal To Lara”, “Jab Jab” and “Unknown Band”.

The next most favoured artiste is again Lord Kitchener with eight bands playing his songs, including “Toco Band”, “Jericho”, “Kaka Roach” and “Iron Man.” Kitch is followed by Christopher “Tambu” Herbert whose “Rant and Rave”, “No, No We Eh Going Home” and “This Party Is It” will be played by three bands in the Eastern Region.

Noticeable among the selections is that the majority of songs selected for the 2013 competition are yesteryear calypsoes by a vast number of artistes, with bands opting for only five new songs of the season. Those new numbers are De Fosto’s (Winston Scarborough) “We Come Out To Play”, Kees Dieffenthaller’s “Yuh Body Wukkin”, “Shock Attack” by Alvin Daniell/Edwin Pouchet and sung by Denyse Plummer, Destra’s “Call My Name” and Iwer’s “Bubble”.

The Tobago leg of the prelims takes place at the bands’ respective panyards from 7pm. Four bands will be vying for a spot in the National Single Pan Bands and Small Conventional Bands Semi-Finals scheduled for Saturday January 26 at the Queen's Park Savannah, Port- of-Spain, from 12 noon. The order of appearance is listed below: