POND ISLAND, Sint Maarten – “The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) will host a steel band concert on Tuesday, April 21 in Carnival Village as part of the 2020 Carnival festivities. Entitled “Carnival Pan Explosion 2020”, the event will showcase three of St. Maarten’s best steel bands and a prolific drum band of youngsters.
On stage that night will be the Ebony Steel Orchestra and guests, The Gunslingers Steel Band from French St. Martin and Sweet Pan Entertainment SXM. All three steel bands will be complimented by the presence of the youngsters that form Generation New Status Drum Band. The SCDF is also planning some other activities for the event. The event is sponsored by TelEm.
“We are working hard on re-instilling large parts of our culture back into Carnival activities. This is not a new process for us,” President of the SCDF Alston Lourens said. “We have started a few years already with our official culture nights, our cook-up competitions, our focus on local bands, involving more youth, efforts to re-start junior Calypso which is still a work in progress, and more. We can’t get it all done in one year, but we are getting there,” he added.
Lourens said he expects an energetic show from all steel bands. “These are the best in the business. Our best pan players in one place. It’s culture, it’s music, it will be a good time and we are looking forward to great support from the public for all of these great players,” he said.
