PAST MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS


Winners - National Parang Association Instrumental Competition 2005

Best Mandolin Player - National Parang Association Instrumental Competition 2005

Best Guitarist National - Parang Association Instrumental Competition 2005


Winners - Chaguaramas Development Authority Parang competition 2005

Best Dressed Band - Chaguaramas Development Authority Parang competition 2005

Best Lead Vocalist - Chaguaramas Development Authority Parang competition 2005


4th Place - Lion’s Parang Competitionn 2005
Best Dressed - Lion’s Parang Competitionon 2005

3rd Place - National Parang Association Finals 2005
People'’s Choice - National Parang Association Finals 2005


Completion of first CD "‘Es el Tiempo"’ 2005
Both the CD and the single "‘Chinee Parang" remained at no. 1 on dance charts for 5 weeks.







A brief history

Paramininos Parang Band was established in 2001 by a group of young people from Paramin whose objective was to reestablish Paramin as the bastion of parang that it had been in previous years. Their experience only amounted to the annual tradition of "‘house-to-house"’ parang, but they were nevertheless willing to face the challenge of becoming professionals. The ages of the players at the time ranged from 14 to 19 years of age, and included the necessary vocalists and instrumentalists required to launch such a venture.

Their manager and musical director, Mr Richard Mendez, arranged for the launching of their professional career as paranderos, and performances began in October of 2001. All of the income that was collected was used to finance the purchase of the necessary equipment, instruments and uniforms, as the band was not sponsored. This trend continued through 5 parang seasons, where all of the revenue was so spent to best promote the growth of the band as an institution. The band would also hosts fund raisers which included parties, All Fours competitions, and fashion shows in an attempt at procuring additional funding.

Paraminiños joined the National Parang Association of Trinidad and Tobago(NPAT) in 2004 and made several guest appearances at their many shows as bands are not allowed to compete in their first year. By this time the band had become hugely popular and had cultivated a large following. This however, did little to add to the finances, and the members continued to sacrifice much of their earnings.

They entered various competitions in 2005, where they were extremely successful, winning the National Parang AsociationÂ’s Instrumental competition as well as the Chaguaramas Development Authocompetitiong Compettion . Additionally, the band placed third in NPAT'’s National Parang competion, and fourth in LionÂ’s National Parang competition. They also managed to secure a great deal of special prizes, such as best mandolin player guitarist in the Instrumental competion, and best lead vocalist and best dressed band in Chaguaramas. In 2005, the band'’s first CD entitled Es el Tiempo was recorded and was deemed to be a huge creative and artistic success, but the sales of which was seriously affected by piracy. Our projection for 2006 is to become fully equipped in terms of instruments and sound reproduction equipment. We also intend to continue competing at the various national competitions with hopes of achieving even greater succes