As the Na­tion­al Parang As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (NPATT) marks its 55th an­niver­sary this week­end, the or­gan­i­sa­tion will host an af­ter­noon of com­mem­o­ra­tive ac­tiv­i­ties, in­clud­ing a Thanks­giv­ing Ser­vice and cul­tur­al cel­e­bra­tion.

To­mor­row, mem­bers, sup­port­ers and spe­cial­ly in­vit­ed guests will gath­er at St Michael’s RC Church in Mara­cas for the ob­ser­vance, which be­gins with a Thanks­giv­ing Ser­vice at 3 pm. Light fes­tive re­fresh­ments will fol­low, along with a se­ries of ac­tiv­i­ties, in­clud­ing a fash­ion show trac­ing the evolv­ing styles of par­ran­deros and par­ran­deras over the years.

The pro­gramme will al­so fea­ture live parang per­for­mances from Los Buenos Par­ran­deros, The Lara Broth­ers, Vi­va Jesús and San José Ser­e­naders.

Re­flect­ing on the mile­stone, NPATT pres­i­dent Ali­cia Jag­gasar said the an­niver­sary is an op­por­tu­ni­ty to reaf­firm the as­so­ci­a­tion’s mis­sion and cul­tur­al im­pact.

“Our vi­sion is to build one uni­fied parang fam­i­ly that pre­serves tra­di­tion, ex­pands op­por­tu­ni­ties, and strength­ens com­mu­ni­ty among par­ran­deros lo­cal­ly and in­ter­na­tion­al­ly,” she said.

“We look for­ward to strength­en­ing a parang bond that will en­dure for an­oth­er 55 years and be­yond. This year, we give thanks to our found­ing mem­bers, our icons, our groups, our sup­port­ers and our spon­sors. Their ded­i­ca­tion, sac­ri­fice and love for this art form have helped to shape and sus­tain this as­so­ci­a­tion.”

NPATT was es­tab­lished in 1971 by parang afi­ciona­do Er­rol Mo­hammed, along­side sev­en found­ing groups: The Lara Broth­ers, San José Ser­e­naders, Readymix Parang Group, Rio Claro Parang Group, San­ta There­sa Parang Group, Uni­ver­sal Ser­e­naders and Va­len­cia Hand­i­craft Group. The col­lec­tive ef­fort was dri­ven by a shared com­mit­ment to pre­serv­ing and pro­mot­ing the parang art­form.

More than five decades lat­er, the as­so­ci­a­tion has grown to in­clude 40 mem­ber bands, with five re­cent ad­di­tions, as well as a strong ju­nior arm in­volv­ing more than 50 pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary schools.

Jag­gasar de­scribed the an­niver­sary as a cel­e­bra­tion of re­silience and con­ti­nu­ity.

“We cel­e­brate our love for an art form that con­tin­ues to unite us and fill the hearts of every cit­i­zen and every per­son who hears its mu­sic. We are proud to be the cus­to­di­ans of parang mu­sic in Trinidad and To­ba­go,” she said.

She al­so reaf­firmed the ex­ec­u­tive’s com­mit­ment to safe­guard­ing the tra­di­tions of parang while en­sur­ing its con­tin­ued rel­e­vance for fu­ture gen­er­a­tions.