Dear Carnival,
I write to you this note of regret having come to the realization that the carnival we once knew, reveled in and identified with is no more.
The evolution of you Carnival to Spicemas was supposedly meant to transform you as a festival, strengthen you administratively and increase your economic benefits. What prevailed in the early onset of the Spicemas Corporation seemed more a battle of egos with the Corporation using its new found ‘powers’ to do court battles with private promoters while decreasing the emphasis on building on the strengths that were Grenada’s carnival.
The Spicemas legislation gave the powers that be the necessary ‘legal teeth’ to ‘control’ the season but the mandate of the Corporation did not seem to focus on growth and development of the overall carnival product.
Indeed Carnival you had a great run. After Hurricane Janet in 1955, you returned to action in 1958 and slowly and steadily progressed with great calypso and calypsonians, fancy and traditional mas and steel band competitions. The steel band movements evolved from so-called ‘bad-john’ enterprises to community-based organizations that attracted all and sundry and developed an unrivaled sense of pride and belonging. Just ask the people of St. Paul’s and ‘the Wharf’.
This was all your doing Carnival. And you did not stop there. When then Premier Eric Gairy over-stepped his political bounds it was you Carnival who reminded him of ‘people power’ in 1973.
Calypso also evolved and in the mid-70s the success of the Flying Turkey removed the stigma that Calypso was a ‘saga-boy’ undertaking. Additionally new innovations and techniques led to better quality recordings, more entertaining shows and an explosion of calypso between 1981 and 1995 that may never be duplicated.
It was you Carnival who had Grenadians and visitors dancing through the streets of St. George’s after leaving the Queen’s Park on jouvert morning. It was you who had steel bands on the road and masqueraders making the spectacular chip down Market Hill.
It was you Carnival who reiterated that August was the Time and had us jumping in the August rain.
Then came 2011 and you were unceremoniously dumped for what was supposed to be a hybrid, enhanced version of you.
Unfortunately what we have gotten so far are court battles, an extended Monday night Mas route that ensures the bands do get to the Carenage not earlier than 1am, and several island-wide jouverts.
Carnival, the new version of you has not delivered. Administratively it appears a Committee of Volunteers are more effective than a Board of Directors who collect board fees.
Structurally, Carnival you were way better. There was a symmetry between the National Committees and the village and Parish organizations, to the extent that Carnival in Grenada and Carriacou were marketed as one State – two Carnivals.
Dear Carnival, if we needed clear indicators that you were no more those indicators manifested themselves during the recent 10th anniversary celebrations of Spicemas. It was refreshing to see and hear from the likes of Jennifer Woodroffe, Pointy Archibald and Hugh Dolland. Their collective knowledge base and historic context is incredibly invaluable and hopefully those interviews will be used as points of reference for future planning.
But while these luminaries pontificated on the efficacy of you Carnival and your various elements – while Mr. Dolland bemoaned the utterings of the Spicemas CEO and Chairperson that the strength of the Spicemas brand was jouvert and Monday Night Mas – the ensuing ‘celebrations’ was in effect a soca show-down taking place in collaboration with one local radio station to the exclusion of all the others. There was the token representation of one steelband and the reigning calypso monarch but an overwhelming showcase of young soca stars and something called a jab house. It is still befuddling the significance of the historical context of a jab house to you Carnival.
Export St. Lucia has recently developed a document namely – the branding and commercialization of Carnival in St. Lucia, Dominica and Grenada – the information is useful but there is a natural inclination to ignore documentation and allow these activities to be personality-driven.
So for example one of the opportunities identified in the documents is as follows;
Engagement of Children /schools to help generate interest among the younger population.
One can submit that over the past 18 months or so of none activity, the Spicemas Corporation lost significance grounds in that regard.
The document also identified one of the weaknesses of Spicemas as;
Decreasing awareness of cultural aspects.
Indeed Carnival the cultural aspects that made you glorious are rapidly evaporating but then again maybe just maybe it might be so to make way for more jouvert and Monday Night Mas.
Carnival it was indeed a great run 1958-2011with one or two cancellations and the move from February to August. While we watch the shenanigans of your hybrid cousin we will always have the memories of you Carnival.
Appreciatively yours,
Dexter Mitchell
