-‘Parade of Nations’ showcase the Region’s rich culture
By Vishani Ragobeer in Trinidad
CARIFESTA XIV got underway with its ‘Parade of Nations’ where a kaleidoscope of culture from the participating delegations surrounded Trinidad’s famous and expansive Queen’s Park Savannah on Friday.
The Caribbean Festival of Arts, or CARIFESTA as it is better known, is a biennial festival which is being held in Trinidad and Tobago this year from August 16 to 25, 2019.
On Friday, delegations from the 20 participating nations assembled on the streets surrounding the Savannah, outfitted in their national wear.
The delegates marched around the Savannah, before ending their individual processions inside the venue. At the grand stage, each country sought to showcase some of their dance and music traditions.
The Trinidadians came with their steel-pan, masqueraders on stilts and dancers. The Surinamese showed-up with vibrant examples of their culture; and the Jamaicans, naturally, brought their ‘hype’. But the Guyanese delegation was definitely a showstopper.
The South Americans arrived at the starting point a short while after most of the other delegations assembled but this was due to some minor organisational challenges.
When they started marching around the Savannah, the colorful delegation – which illustrated the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of Guyana – seemingly hid its passion. However, a few minutes later, their carefully tailored plan to stun the eager onlookers was let loose.
Perhaps indicative of Guyana’s rich history, the Indigenous members of the delegation led the troupe with their dazzling performances of the Mari-Mari dance.
At about halfway around the Savannah, the African and Indian drums began beating at the right tempo to energise the dancers in traditional Indo-Guyanese apparel. Not wanting to be left out of the mix, the other delegations – the actors, writers, singers and even administrative personnel – began belting Guyanese folk songs down the road.
The slow pace of the delegations at the helm of the parade forced Guyana’s to a standstill at one point. This created the chanting of a popular folklore hit.
The more than 100-strong delegation suddenly began chanting “there’s a brown girl in the ring, tra la la la” and the song reverberated through the streets of T&T. When the crowd thought Guyana could not have made more of a “scene” dancers of the National Dance Company joined the Guyana delegation and brought with them an unmatched level of energy, which re-energised the other delegations. As the rest of the delegations were tiring out as they made their way into the Savannah, there Guyana was, coming with full force and in all her glory.
Not to mention, most of the spectators congregated towards the end of the parade route, which resulted in unending cheers for the South American-Caribbean nation.
By now, you’d expect that Guyana would just calm down and cruise into the Savannah for the opening ceremony but that was not the case. The masqueraders in the delegation alongside masquerader-for-the-day and Director of Sports, Christopher Jones, decided to enlighten spectators on the ‘correct way’ of collecting tips thrown at them.
Finally, they made their way into the Savannah to the Grand stand. At this point, delegates were being directed to their seats in preparation for the official opening ceremony.
But with excess energy and fuel in the tank, Team Guyana saw it fit to entertain those in the stands with their cacophony of sounds and ‘cook-up’ of culture. When they finally made their way to their seats, they collected high fives from some members of the other countries. Only then did the troupe settle.
