THE biggest, ‘baddest’ and best musical bands in town came out ‘pon de road’ yesterday, and for some seven hours straight filled the air and quaked the streets with steady, pulsating rhythms along the Mashramani parade route.

From lower Church Street in Cummingsburg to the National Park at Thomas Lands, Georgetown, thousands of revellers loosened up, threw inhibition to the wind, and got onto, into, and behind the bands to ‘Mash down town’ in inimitable Guyanese style.

It was the celebration of Guyana’s popular Costume Band and Float Parade, the Number One annual Mashramani Day activity, held this year under the theme, “Cultural Folklore: Celebrating 44”.

Costume Bands ‘took to de road’ from 10:00hrs, each charting the course for hundreds of revellers who proudly displayed uniquely designed costumes in rampant colour and audacious glitter as they depicted scenarios chosen by individual competing entities but in keeping with the national theme.

There were revellers of all hues and configurations (contours) displaying all manner of shapes and sizes as they ‘strutted their stuff’ in wild abandon, evidently unmindful of what their skimpy costumes revealed.

So reverberating was this infectious mood that, after a while, even the traffic lights along the route ceased to change colour and began pulsating in bright red to the beat of the powerful music sets.

And, as usual, tens of thousands of resident and visiting Guyanese and tourists to the country lined the parade route in true picnic style, their attention captivated by the revelry, especially along upper Church Street and on Irving and Vlissengen roads, where the hub of the attendant celebrations took place.

It was an admirable display of true Guyanese patriotism to see folks brave the sun’s sweltering heat in their determination to participate in, or simply witness the costume band and float parade; be involved in the ubiquitous picnics on the grass verges; or indulge in whatever other activities formed part of the cultural festivities of this auspicious day.

What it simply implied was that neither rain nor sun, cold nor heat, good times nor bad times, or whatever negative or adverse circumstance confronting the Guyanese nation could make the Guyanese nation not celebrate its national occasions, secure in the confidence that “we can work it out and be overcomers”.

Euphoria
No less than 35 floats came out on the road to regale the delighted and euphoric crowds. Quite a few of them (such as Banks DIH) did not go into the National Park to be judged, because they simply wanted to add to the national revelry whilst they participated along the parade route. They headed back to their starting points, where they “performed” for the remainder of the day.

Of the competing bands, the crowd’s favourite was clearly DICICEL, proudly celebrating seven years in Guyana, and presenting a fusion of colour and glitter in a 400-strong band of Arabian and Egyptian knights (revellers), who were minimally clad in pink and wore gold headwear that portrayed a theme from “The Arabian Knights”.

The band, carried by the Arabian Queen, also portrayed Alladin carrying the Magic Carpet, and Kijana Lewis carrying the golden Genie’s Lamp, symbolic of the golden intentions DIGICEL has for the Guyanese people, just waiting to be revealed with the passing of the Telecommunications Act.

“It could be likened to uttering the magical term, ‘Open Sesamie’. At the moment, we are stifled and can only offer a limited range of the vast amount of services on which we have our fingertips. So what we are calling for is telecommunications liberalization so that the Genie’s lamp can begin to churn out services to the people,” a DIGICEL representative said.

The costumes were professionally designed, from headwear to footwear. They were par excellence, and the revellers modelled them with enviable grace and ease. And DIGICEL, living up to its slogan, “The Bigger, Better Network”, somehow managed to amass a sizeable group of Amazonian women who did the band justice as they energetically gyrated without showing the slightest sign of becoming tired.

It was amazing to see the kind of goodwill and partnerships that Mash activities have been able to foster among erstwhile competing entities. Incredibly, the DIGICEL Costume Band and parade assembled and got itself organized outside the GT&T Church Street offices; some revellers even took shelter under the GT&T telephone booth at the roadside as they awaited the commencement signal; and coincidentally, the DJ on the DIGICEL band belted out Charlene Blackman’s song, “Gie Dem Mo’ Fe Talk”.

Crowd favourites
Other crowd favourites were the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports’ 300-strong presentation; the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs’ “Spirit of the Rainforest”; Region Three’s “Caressing the River, Romancing the Fort, Rebirthing Tourism”; Region Four’s “Agriculture, Industry and Commerce and Village Life”; Region Six’s “Heartbeat of Preserving Berbicians/Guyanese Cultural Identity”; Region Ten’s “Folktubia”; and the Health Ministry’s costume band which depicted Makonima taking precautionary measures against becoming infected with various lurking diseases.

As for Banks DIH, which this year participated under the slogan “Friends of Banks”, a mobile party atmosphere was promoted, as the company invested heavily in the show and catered for about 600 revellers.

The route from Vlissengen Road to the National Park was virtually converted into a gigantic picnic ground, as vendors manning scores of booths offered for sale some of the most delectable cuisine, snacks, beverages of various kinds, games, music, and art and craft.

It was fun galore as Guyana, in national solidarity, highlighted her cultural folklore in celebrating 44.