PLANS for Mashramani 2012 are progressing successfully and are currently in the implementation stage, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony reported yesterday. Speaking in the Ministry’s Main Street, Georgetown boardroom, he said the various subcommittees have been actively working and this year’s celebrations should see a very comprehensive programme planned for the people of Guyana.
“We have been working and planning Mash 2012 for quite sometime now and I can report to you that all the various subcommittee have been working actively and we have a very comprehensive programme for Mash 2012,” he said.
He said, while some activities are still being looked at, others, such as traditional events like the flag-raising ceremony, have been planned already.
“I want to start out by going into some of the various aspects. There are certain things that have become known as a part of Mash. For example, we would be having the flag-raising… that’s a traditional ceremony that will be happening on February 23.”
Minister Anthony said that will be hosted at Public Buildings and begins at 07:00 hrs and will see the presence of President Donald Ramotar, along with the various heads of other national organisations including the Armed Forces.
However, he said every other Region will be hosting its own flag-raising ceremony, either on the day before or the evening of February 23.
“The national one is at Public Buildings, where the President and the various heads of the Military would be present to see the raising of the flag… so that starts at 07:00 hrs in the morning. In addition to that, every region of our country would be having flag-raising ceremonies, some regions would choose the day before and some would choose, maybe, the night …we would give you and updated programme and, in the next three weeks, we will present that programme,” he promised.
The next event, following the (flag-raising) ceremony is the Float Parade. “We are very pleased that we have already gotten indication from a number of companies that they are coming out on the Float Parade,” Anthony said.
He pointed out that, unlike previous years, there has already been early indication, by approximately 25 companies, that they are expected to be a part of the 2012 Float Parade.
Anthony said his ministry’s target is to have some 30 floats be a part of the celebrations. However it is the hope to have more companies come on board this year.

Thirty floats
“We are targeting in excess of thirty floats and, already, there is indication from 25 companies that they are coming out and, at this point in time, we would not have such an indication, because, looking over the years, you would notice the trend would have been, as you get later down in the month, then you would get a very clear indication. So we are very pleased that, at this point, we have gotten this indication and we expect that to grow so we would have more than thirty on Mash Day,” he said.
Minster Anthony said, over the years, there have been three main song competitions, the adult Calypso Competition, the Junior Calypso Competition and the Health Song Competition.
He said rehearsals for those three have already started, to ensure that things are in place to have the initiatives undertaken smoothly.
“From today, the adult calypsonians would start rehearsing at the Sports Complex, so this would be an ongoing thing. The band has already been selected so the calypsonians would be starting today. Again, we have had a broad range of entries coming in for this competition. These competitions have grown and this is because of the work that has been completed by the Ministry. Calypsonians are getting themselves back into an organisation and also we have been working with them to do workshops and help them along as they sustain this art form in our country. This year should be a very interesting one,” Anthony stated.
He said the Chutney Song Competition will see a little twist to how it is normally done.
“… the two or three persons singing and winning in this competition would be finalists in the Chutney Soca Competition as happens in Trinidad.”
Anthony said, over the last year, representatives from the ministry had the opportunity of meeting with the organisers of the Trinidadian Soca Competition and it was agreed that these three finalists would be sent to perform in that country to represent Guyana.
“We would have met with the organisers of South Ex, this big competition that they have in Trinidad and it has been agreed that the top three persons would be finalists in that competition in Trinidad, so this is an incentive for persons locally. Because of this arrangement, one of the things that we would be doing, from tomorrow afternoon, our chutney singers will be starting rehearsals,” the minister announced.
He said the competition will kick off on January 29 and they will have enough time to perform and plan their strategy as they move on and compete on behalf of Guyana in Trinidad.
“We did have a Carib Soca Monarch. Last year, this was not held and, this year, they are back on the calendar and, again, we expect to have an active and vibrant competition.”

Masquerade Competition
With regard to the Masquerade Competition, he said it is still a work in progress, as the ministry is waiting for a confirmation on the number of bands that would be participating.
Anthony said that is the determining factor for such a competition because there is a problem of the lack of masquerade bands to pull off this part of Mash.
“We have had something that has been on and off. We have had the Masquerade Competition, that competition, because of lack of bands, sometimes, we are able to put it on and, sometimes, we are not able to do so. We are still working with the different bands to see whether we will have that competition. If we don’t have enough to put that competition on, then we will certainly bring them out on the day of the Float Parade,” he assured.
Anthony said, since there have been a number of complaints, over the years, about the celebrations on the road; he has ensured that there is a different segment of activities planned for those persons.
“We have added new features, some of which started this year but will be made traditional events as people say we only focus on the wine up things. So one of the things we plan to focus on this year is something called the Republic of Guyana lecture, for 2012. We have Professor John Rickford coming from Stanford University, who would be doing the lecture for us on the 20th of February. In addition, we will be having several workshops where a lot of our cultural persons will meet, relating to the growth and development of Guyanese culture.”
The traditional Float Parade will be undertaken by the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Culture Ministry, to make sure that this part this year’s celebration is successful.
“We will be working in collaboration with them and the planning for that will be well advanced to see a larger children’s float parade,” Anthony said.
Meanwhile, the minister said there has been an added dimension to 2012 Mashramani Calendar, an addition that came about since he believes that there is a need to promote and sustain folk arts in Guyana.

Folk concerts
Folk concerts have been introduced in recognition of that necessity and, additionally,
Castellani House will be putting on a special art exhibition as was done within the last two to three years.
“We would also have a special Mash Exhibition at the National Museum,” he revealed.
The Steelband Competition continues with sponsorship by Republic Bank and would be hosted on February 19 at Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, with winners emerging from their and representing Guyana throughout the year in other steelband competitions.
The Calypso Competition has been part sponsored by Banks DIH and the finals of that would be happening at Thirst Park. Already there is indication of 11 school, five community and four church bands registered for that.
While there have been mainly bands from Georgetown, this will see the participation of bands from Regions 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne), 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) and 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) and $3M will go to winners of overall prizes in six different categories.
Minster Anthony said the admission fee for the Steelband Competition will be used to buy instruments to give to other communities, so as to expand the competition next year.
He said all proposals and plans have been submitted by the various regions and are waiting to be endorsed by the Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs).
The ministry will be working to ensure that this is successfully done said the minister, reiterating that Mashramani 2012 will see a number of new competitions and programmes being introduced. 
Anthony continued to appeal for corporate entities to come on board in support of the upcoming Mashramani events that will be themed ‘Mashing with pride; keeping the tradition alive’.