ttgapers.com

Carnival 2008 is over for Trinidad and Tobago. Reviews so far is that this year's shorter Carnival season was overall quite mediocre, with bandleaders complaining of small prize money, Faye-Ann refusing to ever work at the Soca Monarch, but yet handily winning the Road March. Phase II Pan Groove pipped All Stars by one point to claim Panorama champions 2008.

A quick rundown of most of the big events include:

• George Bailey Band Of The Year - Earth - Cries of Despair - Brian MacFarlane
• Road March - Get On - Faye-Ann Lyons Alvarez
• Panorama Champions - Phase II Pan Groove
• Soca Monarch - Bunji Garlin
• International Soca Monarch - Shurwayne Winchester

David Cameron of Trini Revellers while congratulating MacFarlane did take note of the inclusion of the kiddies section in his Big Band presentation. Cameron said, "Well done. But there was the fact that he did use a substantial amount of the children's band in his presentation. I am not sure if this is a good precedent to set".

In the road march race, Faye-Ann put the kids to bed and proceeded to whip the competition out of sight. Blaxx was a distant second with "Breathless", which for all intents and purposes ran out of breath. Machel Montano placed third with "Blazing The Trail".

MacFarlane in a speech after hearing of the news said, "Victory is always wonderful, not only for myself but for all of those involved. It feels wonderful to know that we won Band of the Year because we worked so hard on the project and we put so much into it, but I also feel so proud of all the people who were involved in the band-they really respect the mas, they went out there and they played mas because they know what mas is all about".