The bacchanal now start

Carnival 2012 reaches its climax this weekend and into the big days of street parade Monday and Tuesday. Come Monday morning, tens of thousands of revellers will be thrown onto the streets after Dimanche Gras and the fetes which merge into arguably the oldest of the Trinidad Carnival celebrations in its present form, J’Ouvert. For those coming in from the cold, J’Ouvert is the time of great masking, hilarious impersonation and, to borrow from one of our bards, David Rudder, it’s the time of lyrics in costuming that would make “a politician cringe.” Beginning tonight, the Soca Monarch competition, which celebrates its 20th year this Fantastic Friday, will continue to bring that sparkle and modernity to stage performances by the soca men and women. This genre of the calypso, gifted by Lord Shorty and adopted and popularised by the likes of Merchant and others, perhaps holds the brightest prospects for the music making it big on the international stage. At its pulsating best, the music is suited to partygoers anywhere in any language and the displays put on by the artistes and their backup groups have the potential to appeal. William Munro and his organising team must take credit for making the show this big. 

 

A special aspect of tonight’s show is the decision by the organisers to bring back some of the original masters of the art of soca, which must be very pleasing to the hearts of the pioneers. It demonstrates that we are a people not without memory and gratitude to our elders. By Saturday evening—after the children have had their day in the sun, providing the reassurance that there are those who will take over the street parade—the panmen (and let us make a special point of saying pan sisters) will bring another great creation of the Carnival, the steelband, fully on stage. Especially, the pan sisters will ramajay on the creations of those unsung and then vilified creators of this the only new instrument of the 20th century. Here again, there is tribute and recognition of one of the creators, Anthony “Muffman” Williams of the then renowned North Stars that was to become internationally known as Pan Am North Stars. He is the man who created the spiderweb pan, brought the covers to the bands on Carnival days. With ace Trinidadian pianist Winifred Atwell providing guidance and contacts, Mr Williams took the steelband to far-away places from its creation grounds in eastern and western Port-of-Spain. 

 

 

We recognise you Tony Williams as a true national hero; “nuff respect.” And while the band that Muffman and his associates created is no more, very worthy ones are there representing the pan. Among them, Trinidad All Stars, one of the oldest bands to have survived the late 1930s into the formative decade of the 1940s. Young pretenders to the throne such as Phase II, Exodus and a dozen more bands are carrying on the tradition and seeking to create space for the pan on the road on Mondays and Tuesdays. At least for J’Ouvert with the Bomb competition at Victoria Square and the mayor of the city clearing all traffic for the still bands in that area, those who swear by the pan on the road will have their fill. On the big Dimanche Gras night, the other pillar of the Carnival, traditional calypso will tell us stories of the state of the nation, good, bad and indifferent. Come Tuesday, the costuming beauty and creativity will be on display. Not least of this aspect of our nation will be the beauty of the nation’s women: saucy, controversial and provocative; take them or leave them. Have a “titivating” and safe Carnival 2012.