Date: 16 March 2001
Contact: Kanchan Paser
Tel: 212-963-0343
Fax: 212-963-1395
For Immediate Release
EXODUS STEEL ORCHESTRA FIRST RECIPIENT OF LORD KITCHENER SUNSHINE AWARD
Teaneck, New Jersey, USA, 16 Mach 2001….The SUNSHINE Awards™
organization today issued the following statement:
The
Lord Kitchener SUNSHINE Award was established in 2000 to recognize and pay
special tribute to the late Grandmaster of calypso for his immeasurable
contribution to steel band and calypso music. It is the very first award of its
kind to be established by the SUNSHINE Awards™ and it honours a category of
music for which Kitchener had a special affinity. There is perhaps no other
calypsonian, who has played such an important role in the evolution of calypso
and steel band music. Kitchener used his extraordinary talents as a lyricist and
composer to showcase the beauty of this indigenous Caribbean art form. The Lord
Kitchener SUNSHINE Award will, therefore, be awarded each year to the
outstanding steel orchestra, which wins the coveted title of Panorama Champions.
The
first recipient of this very special award will be the 2001 Panorama Champions,
Exodus Steel Orchestra. A steel band with an impressive record since its
formation in 1981, Exodus has reached the finals of 18 Panorama competitions.
Only nine months after its formation in June 1981, Exodus reached the finals of
its very first Panorama. They were the winners of the 1998 Steelband Music
Festival and they walked away with seven prizes in the World Steel Band Festival
of 2000. Exodus is clearing making its mark on steel band, with its Pan Ramajay
bringing a new vibrancy and dynamism to the music scene.
In
announcing the recipient of the Lord Kitchener SUNSHINE Award, Gil Figaro, Sr.,
Founder and Chairman of the SUNSHINE Awards, added, "This is a particularly
gratifying moment for me knowing that through this special award we are
acknowledging the rich and enduring legacy of Lord Kitchener's music and, at the
same time, paying tribute to the art form to which he dedicated his career.
There is no doubt that his contribution to calypso and steel band music will
continue to be a source of inspiration for future generations of musicians and
performers. I am, therefore, very pleased to congratulate Exodus Steel Orchestra
on being the 2001 Panorama Champions and on being the very first recipient of
the Lord Kitchener SUNSHINE Award."
Mr.
Figaro also congratulated, on behalf of the SUNSHINE Awards™, all participants
of this year's Trinidad & Tobago's Carnival, noting particularly those who
had walked away with titles. This year's winners were Legends, Band of the Year;
Shadow, Road March and Int'l Soca Monarch; Denyse Plummer, Calypso Monarch and
Calypso Queen; Colin Lucas, Pan Kaiso Monarch; Rikki Jai, South Calypso Monarch,
Chutney Soca Monarch, Young King's Calypso Monarch and Unattached Calypso
Monarch; and Bunji Garlin, Raga Soca Monarch."
