JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Friday, August 15, 2025

Sando J’Ouvert: Paint, powder, Iwer and Kees rule

by

Kevon Felmine
1999 days ago
20200224

The as­phalt was the stage, but rev­ellers mashed it up, shelled it down and if it was pos­si­ble, they would have “tun it over” for J’Ou­vert cel­e­bra­tions in San Fer­nan­do.

The weath­er was over­cast, the bands were large and the jumbie-like, provoca­tive col­lab­o­ra­tion of Iw­er George and Kees’ Stage Gone Bad caused all man­ner of mad­ness.

From split­ting on the road to bal­anc­ing on one’s head, the Conch Shell of Machel Mon­tano, Skin­ny Fab­u­lous and Iw­er George just added fu­el to the fire. The drinks trucks were con­stant­ly busy, so too were the “Wee Wee” ve­hi­cles.

At 4.37 am, San Fer­nan­do May­or Ju­nia Re­grel­lo de­clared the start of J’Ou­vert, say­ing that he was proud of the band lead­ers and busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty who bond­ed to present this year’s cel­e­bra­tion. He was al­so pleased with the re­turn of the bands to High Street af­ter a few years ab­sence. How­ev­er, the wa­ter, paint and mud cre­at­ed a slip­pery sur­face and a few peo­ple went slid­ing down.

By 4.50 am, the band Shut Up and Wine & House of Jacqui chipped across the judg­ing point leisure­ly. Pres­tige J’Ou­vert Band fol­lowed with their pre­sen­ta­tion of Sun­shine Vil­lage, but with the cool­ness of the morn­ing, the wet fete they cre­at­ed on the road was a bit too chilly for their rev­ellers, many of whom ran from the wa­ter.

But 40 min­utes lat­er, the red and white striped army of Limerz Crew sig­nalled what was to come.

Tak­ing cen­tre stage to Ted­dy Rhymez and Machel Mon­tano’s Stink Be­hav­iour, they got the ball rolling with a vi­brant street par­ty and a bit of cre­ativ­i­ty and colour. While many bands fo­cused on the par­ty ex­pe­ri­ence and mere­ly por­trayed plain T-Shirts and paint, oth­ers like A&K Fash­ion Labs and last year’s J’Ou­vert win­ners Poudre J’Ou­vert threw down the gaunt­let. Not on­ly did their colours, pow­der and paint cre­ate a spec­ta­cle on the road, their dis­play of ec­sta­sy at sweet mas re­al­ly brought out the Car­ni­val spir­its.

Even some of the mar­shals who ush­ered along the band were cov­ered in paint and pow­der.

There were six few­er bands than 2019, most por­tray­ing mod­ern-day cos­tumes. The first taste of tra­di­tion­al J’Ou­vert came from Ra­dioac­tive with their pre­sen­ta­tion of Mud In uh Mud.

With the tra­di­tion­al as­pect of the J’Ou­vert dy­ing in San Fer­nan­do, Val Ram­s­ingh and Blue Boys did not dis­ap­point those seek­ing hu­mour. Their pre­sen­ta­tion of Ah Blu With Poly Ma was a satir­i­cal dis­play of the Gov­ern­ment’s much-de­bat­ed roll out of the new poly­mer $100 note and its ef­fects, in­clud­ing the in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to a mil­lion­aire pas­tor.

The sweet sound of the steel pan was most present, with the youths of Pan El­ders, Hat­ters and Old Tech Steel Or­ches­tra thrilling with the top so­ca hits of 2020.

With thou­sands of Venezue­lans giv­en the all-clear to stay in T&T af­ter last year’s amnesty, they were thrilled to be among the bands and the spec­ta­tors.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored