"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.
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.
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.
