Michelle Loubon

Di­rec­tor of Di­manche Gras 2012 Nor­van Fuller­ton says tonight's pro­duc­tion Bring Back D Ole Time Days is ex­pect­ed to cost about $1.7 mil­lion. In keep­ing with D Ole Time theme vet­er­an ca­lyp­so­ni­ans in­clud­ing Lord Robert Nel­son, An­drew Mar­cano (Lord Su­pe­ri­or) and mas­quer­aders Ger­al­do Viera and Gilbert May­nard will be ho­n­oured at the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah, Port-of-Spain. Among those al­so mak­ing the ho­n­ours list are ace steel­band arrangers Jit Sama­roo and Tony Williams. Show­time is 7 pm to mid­night.

Among those spear­head­ing and co or­di­nat­ing Di­manche Gras are Ex­ec­u­tive Pro­duc­er/NCC Cyril Col­lier and com­mit­tee mem­bers Lennox Tou­s­saint, Garth Mar­shall and Na­dine Valen­tine. Hav­ing honed his skills at Unit­ed States Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma's in­au­gu­ra­tion Collin Abra­ham will be pol­ish­ing the en­tire pro­duc­tion and en­sure the seg­ments come to­geth­er smooth­ly.

In­ter­viewed on Fri­day, Fuller­ton said: "It is a com­par­i­son be­tween the mas of to­day and the mas of the '60s and '70s. We are look­ing at the Bai­leys, Harold Salde­nahs and Lee He­ungs. They played more cos­tume mas like a glad­i­a­tor and Ro­man war­riors and em­per­ors. To­day, we have the biki­nis and beads. We have the Tribe and the Oa­sis." "It is a a com­par­i­son be­tween the mu­sic from peo­ple like David Rud­der and Lord Nel­son. To­day, we have the Machels, Ben­jais and the Kees."

Even the dance style is dif­fer­ent. Long ago, we had the bounce. To­day, we have the freestyle. The win­ing has al­ways been around."

Karene Ashe does bat­tle

As the pro­duc­tion un­folds, Reign­ing Ca­lyp­so monarch Karene Ashe will at­tempt to re­tain her crown against 11 bards in­clud­ing ca­lyp­so heavy­weights Hol­lis Liv­er­pool (Chalk­dust) and Michael Os­una (Liv­er­pool) and Singing San­dra (San­dra Milling­ton).

So­cio-po­lit­i­cal com­men­tary rang­ing on is­sues like Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar's lead­er­ship to the state of emer­gency will be the or­der of the day as kaiso­ni­ans seek to wrest Ashe's crown. Artistes will be backed up by the Er­rol Ince and the Con­nec­tion. En­ter­tain­ment will be pro­vid­ed by the Na­tion­al Dance As­so­ci­a­tion and Wasa Foli (T&T). Fuller­ton said: "They are an elec­tric troupe of dancers. They can ex­e­cute all con­tem­po­rary moves."

Grand fi­nale...kick­start­ing 50th an­niver­sary

As the show moves seam­less­ly along, ca­lyp­so con­nois­seurs will wit­ness vet­er­ans be­ing ho­n­oured, ca­lyp­so eras (past and con­tem­po­rary) pre­sent­ed and kaiso­ni­ans en­gaged in bois bataille. But the fi­nal crescen­do will be the reign of the Mer­ry Monarch and the kick­start­ing of 50th an­niver­sary cel­e­bra­tions. Fuller­ton said: "As we kick­start the 50th an­niver­sary cel­e­bra­tions, we'll have Rud­der, Nel­son and Su­pe­ri­or. Spar­row's A Mod­el Na­tion will be sung. Then the mo­ment we have wait­ed for-The Pre­sen­ta­tion Par­ty.

"We will have the reign of the Mer­ry Monarch. We will crown the king/queen of Car­ni­val. The sky will be ablaze with 15 min­utes of fire­works for T&T 50th an­niver­sary." Fuller­ton added: "Against that back­drop, we will start the cel­e­bra­tion. We are look­ing at the wow fac­tor. We want it to be im­pact­ful. We want a Di­manche Gras pro­duc­tion to give William Munro (CPF Chair­man) and his Fan­tas­tic Fri­day a run for his mon­ey."

More in­fo

Tick­ets are avail­able at NCC House,

Queen's Park Sa­van­nah, Port-of-Spain.

Call 727-1351