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Carnival now start
Published:
Friday, January 27, 2012
Pulse
Carnival 2012
Work It! Publicist and T&T Guardian contributor Aba Luke easily earned the title “Mrs Fete” on demonstrating her gyrating skills at One Fete, held at the Queen’s Park Oval on Sunday. Photo: SEAN NERO
With the exception of mas, T&T Carnival 2012 is now in full swing as all components that comprise our annual national festival—pan, calypso, fetes—dominated the entertainment scene nationwide last weekend. It began on Friday evening with the opening of three calypso tents, namely Kalypso Revue in Arima; Cro Cro Icons at The Ambassador in St James; and, Kalypso Revue at the Port-of-Spain City Hall. That evening’s agenda also included Pan Trinbago’s East Zone Single Pan Panorama preliminary in Arima, as well two schools—St Francois Girls’ College and Holy Name Convent—having their annual fund-raisers.
The St Francois do, held at St John’s Hall, continues to grow and it wouldn’t be long before it is as established and as popular as other similar school events. With performances by the likes of Kes the Band, Iwer, Dil-e-Nadan, Swappi and Michelle X, several of the partygoers in attendance were overheard commenting as they left the venue: “Dat was the best fete for the year.” Then came Saturday, with Bishop Anstey’s annual all-inclusive party holding stellar position. Held for the first time at 02 Park in Chaguaramas, this proved to be a perfect alternative to the school premises on Keate Street. The girls deserve total marks for the ambience they created visually and, despite incessant rain throughout the fete, patrons enjoyed themselves to the max, feasting on exotic cuisine like stewed horse meat and a variety of meat kebabs, and imbibing premium liquor like Moet, Kettel, Nuvo and Johnny Walker Blue.
The evening also saw the Tuco East Zone open its Kaiso Karavan tent at the Eric Williams Auditorium, in the La Joya Complex, EMR, St Joseph, and Southex stage its 2012 International Chutney Soca Monarch Semifinal, at Rienzi Complex, Couva.
Sunday was giddy with options, ranging from Zangalewa, It’s Time for Africa, the annual UWI Endowment all-inclusive party to the over-the-top ONE Fete, in the Queen’s Park Oval, to: Pan Trinbago’s North Zone National Panorama Single Pan Bands preliminary, in the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain. The UWI fete, under the guidance of marketing guru Dennis Ramdeen, was your perfect How to Hold a Perfect all-inclusive fete 101 lesson. The organisers thought of everything for this one, inclusive of shuttles on a rainy afternoon to unlimited food and drinks stations, to authentic African (Ethiopian, Ghanian, Nigerian) cuisine, to a comprehensive floor map of the expansive grounds.
I must mention hearing one of the most original calypsoes for the year at Klassic Ruso—Contender’s Who in the Zoo? A former Junior Calypso Monarch, Contender should go far this year with this one, as far as competitions go. Right up there with with Contender’s ditty is Blueprint by Mr Shak, a young Kaiso House calypsonian I admire very much and who I thought was robbed last year at the monarch semifinals when he sang The Magician. Speaking about young calypsonians, let me say Karene Asche is well poised to retain the national monarch title she now holds. Also at Kaiso House, she is singing the very insightful and catchy Dougladad. At Kaiso House there are a lot of good calypsoes, in fact maybe too many as its programme is very long with over 30 bards singing. Impressing at last Tuesday’s opening night were Brian London (Complain, Don’t Complain); Marvellous Marva (Hot Ice Does Melt); Dee Diamond (LAC); Bunny B (Trinbago Lightning); Black Sage (Counterfeit Society); Bro Mudada (Corporate Greed); and, Brown Boy (A Good Lawyer). I am also impressed with young debutante Lady Melody who possess a truly beautiful voice and has a lot of stage presence.
Despite a plethora of fetes, boat cruises, and calypso tent activity, pan and the 2012 Panorama competition is very much focus this weekend. The National Panorama preliminaries commenced for Small, Medium and Large conventional bands last evening, with the South/Central Zone playoffs at Skinner Park, San Fernando. They continue this evening for East Zone bands, at the Larry Gomes Stadium car park, Malabar, Arima, at 7 pm, and, from 1 pm tomorrow, for Tobago bands, at their respective pan yards. The preliminary round of competition concludes on Sunday when the North Zone preliminary is held, from3 pm, at The Paddock, Queen's Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain. There is no admission fee for the Tobago preliminaries, but a $60 donation is required to enter the other venues.