"We have a magnificent group of veteran and talented young calypso and Soca artists. The orchestra, The Sunshine Band, is led by Don Diaz, son of the famed Cyril Diaz," explains Michelle Young, coordinator of the Festival & Tent. "Fans of every age and nationality will enjoy five tantalizing nights of strictly calypso and soca plus celebration of Trinidad & Tobago 51st independence birthday." "Come show love and support to our artists that live amongst us," says Yankey Boy who sang in the 2013 Trinbago Unified Calypsonian Organization (TUCO) Calypso Tent and in this year's Trinidad and Tobago (International) Soca Monarch.
"THE MIN NOW RMHN' UP... THI CROWD NOW WAK1N8 UP... THE ATMOSPHERE HAS VIRES AND... NOTHIN' CANT BREAK IT UP... WE READY FOR THE ROAD. In his seminal song for T&T carnival 20 1 3, Differentology, soca superstar Bun ji Garlin set the scene for the upcoming masquerade and Montreal Carifiesta: raisin' up... the "the sun now crowd now waking up... the atmosphere has vibes and... nothin' can't break it up... WE READY FOR THE ROAD. So it is for the multitude of revelers and spectators who are ready to enjoy Montreal's hypest, most colorful and bounciest street parade, Carifiesta, once the best this side of the Atlantic.
Washington DC's Caribbean Carnival, which is in its 11th year, takes more than 500,000 Caribbean people "back home" with its parade of life, color and unity. To the dismay of many attendees, the parade moved from its original home on Georgia Avenue to the downtown area, where the white, business-class atmosphere with its federal buildings made some feel as though their culture was an exhibit in an art museum.
On Saturday, July 3, certain sections of downtown Montreal should have been teeming with the music and vibrations of the Caribbean on what was supposed to be the 35th or 36th staging (depending on who is counting) of the annual Carifiesta parade. Instead, not a drum will be heard and the soca, calypso, reggae and zouk rythmns that should have been fueling the fire in the tens of thousands of participants and spectators along Rene Levesques Blv'd. will be replaced by the usual humdrum of Saturday commerce on the thoroughfare. So when it's all said and done as the cliché goes... it's our fault that we'll not be palancing in downtown Montreal.
Friday night also doubled as a welcome party and was dubbed 'Inferno' for all the festival patrons to party to a few of Jamaica's finest entertainers. The night's DJs straight from the rock were DJ Marvin, Christuff from Renaissance, and Fame FM's DJ Nicco, who afforded patrons the opportunity to party the night away to the latest dance hits while mingling with a few of South Florida's socialites and movers and shakers. 'Dubbed the biggest Caribbean food festival in the United States, the Jamaican Jerk Festival has the reputation for delivering an experience of the highest quality to patrons'
Would this situation make good sense to the people of Montreal or to the Irish community? Should the City of Montreal now deal with this new organization, instead of the organization which has been mandated and accepted by the Irish community as having the legitimate right to hold the parade for many years? While one part of the debate is the legitimate right of either organization to hold the parade, the other sadder part of our parade dilemma is that there is one group that is made up mostly of older folks who knew what carnival was like 50 years ago, while the other group is made up of mostly young folks who understand what carnival is like now. In 2009 we were able to see Faye Ann Lyons, the offspring of our own Superblue, win the Soca Monarch, Groovy Soca Monarch, People's Choice Awards, and the Road March titles.
Plans to celebrate Haiti's 2004 bicentennial were discussed recently by Minister Leslie Voltaire at the Center for Constitutional Rights in Manhattan NY. He said plans were underway to have a large exhibition commemorating the international slave trade and a symposium of African writers in the diaspora.
The Los Angeles Caribbean Carnival, held in late Oct 2002, featured uninhibited dancing from scantily-clad women, entertainment from Calypso Rose and other Caribbean musicians and plenty of good food.
