BRIDGETOWN—

In a statement, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs said that Worrell, who had gone to the High Court in a bid to prevent his dismissal, had been fired “consequent upon the determination of his instrument of appointment” by Sinckler.

“The Ministry also advised that the Board of Directors, at a specially convened meeting in accordance with the by-laws of the Central Bank, and held Friday, February 24, agreed that Deputy Governor Cleviston Haynes, be appointed to act as Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados consequent upon the cessation of the tenure of Dr. Worrell.”

The statement said that the board also agreed that the current Financial Controller of the Central Bank, Michael Carrington, be appointed to the post of Acting Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados.

Meanwhile, the Ministry said that matters pertaining to the economy will be discussed on February 27, when Sinckler, hosts a news conference.

Worrell was dismissed less than 24 hours after the Appeal Court lifted the ex-parte injunction he received last week.

The decision was handed down by acting Chief Justice Sandra Mason, who along with Justices Andrew Burgess and Kaye Greenidge presided over the four-hour long hearing.

The Court of Appeal lifted the six-day injunction that was preventing the Minister of Finance from removing Worrell from his post as one of the leading decision-makers on economic policies in the country.

Immediately following the lifting of the injunction, the Court then denied another application made by the Governor’s lead Attorney Gregory Nicholls, to have it extended in order for the case to be taken to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

The Court is scheduled to give reasons for its decision to remove the injunction on Friday March 3.

But as he made his way out of the Supreme Court Complex, Worrell did not make any comments to the media about his loss.

His lawyer said that the Governor was contented with the proceedings and is resolute that his objective is to ensure that there is a steady hand at the Central Bank in this most difficult time in Barbados.

Nicholls said while he awaits the arrival of next Friday to hear the reasons why the Court has made the decision in favour of the Minister of Finance, he would be holding discussions with his client and colleagues, as it relates to further legal actions being taken.

He said maybe as soon as possible, he would be making an application for Dr. Worrell’s case to be heard before the CCJ.

“We are disappointed. We thought that we had a fairly solid case and before I comment I need to see what the Court’s decision is,” Nicholls said.

Worrell was appointed for a second five-year term in October 2014 after he was initially appointed on November 1, 2009.

His attorney Gregory Nicholls, said that the matter is far from over since Worrell intends to challenge the minister’s right to dismiss him at the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) the island’s highest court. (CMC)

The chairman of the Regional Carnival Committee, whose stick-fighting championships concluded last week, has given the assurance that this martial tradition will survive as part of the culture of Trinidad and Tobago. Lennox Toussaint based his conclusion on the premise that more young people were getting interested in stick fighting. Yet it remains an open question whether this competition should be encouraged in its present form at all.

Last Wednesday’s final battle resulted in four severe “bussheads,” and this particular kind of wound is the prime indicator of victory in the stick-fight. Yet even Mr Toussaint noted that “stick-fighting is so much more than the buss head. If you listen to some of the stick -fighting chants, they are simply beautiful,” while Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat suggested that safety measures should be implemented to make the activity more attractive to young people.

In T&T, it is standard practice to suspend critical faculties whenever “culture” or “tradition” are invoked as justifications for otherwise suspect claims and sharp practices. Stick-fighting represents a historical warrior tradition that some cultural activists see as quintessential in grassroots communities. Yet the warrior ethos is itself counter-productive in those same communities, as Trinidad’s high rates of violence show, in part, because it is not formalised as ritual. The gayelle is supposed to channel this instinct, but stick-fighting’s appeal is too limited at present to achieve this.

In any case, a martial art which is based, not merely on inflicting injury, but inflicting a type of injury that can result in brain trauma or even death, is hardly something which any government should be sponsoring. Other countries have ensured that their traditional martial arts have become popular income-earning sports by eliminating the need for maiming. In the West, boxing evolved long ago from its 19th century bare-knuckle competition no-limit time to the mandatory use of gloves and three-minute rounds. In the East, karate and other martial arts instituted light-touch rules for most competitions and banned blows to vulnerable areas like neck and groin, with exponents using protective gear for full-contact variations.

These measures ensured relative safety for fighters, even though accidents still happen. Most importantly, the rules facilitated a wider audience, despite the misanthropic assumption that more people will pay more money to see fighters injured or killed. Nowadays, boxing is a multi-billion industry, while mixed martial arts rakes in hundreds of millions annually. Even professional wrestling, with its staged fights, has become the world’s most lucrative televised weekly sport.

Stick-fighting has to make similar changes if it is to survive and thrive. It is revealing that this year’s champion Selwyn John, taking home a $20,000 first prize, argued that the money should be more because of the risks involved, while Minister Rambharat said the prize money was increased this year because of the skill and dedication needed to be a boisman.

These are not financial criteria, however, and in fact the State-sponsored competitions were all free. Boxing and professional wrestling and mixed martial arts make their champions wealthy, not because any government is paying prize monies, but because patrons and advertisers are willing to pay for these events. This is not the case with stick-fighting, apparently.

In the final analysis, it is the market which determines survivability and, on this basis, stick-fighting will either have to adapt or die.

Close down the garbage dumps and create a landfill free society. Sweden did it, and so can we. A landfill free society means that less than one per cent of household waste ends up in garbage dumps. Each and every refuse item gets turned into something else such as new products, raw materials or energy from biogas. A landfill free society has many benefits including reduced pollution, new economic opportunities and jobs. A healthy environment and jobs means healthy and happy people.

Worldwide the recycling industry is worth US$500 billion and it employs millions of people.

On the health front, the World Health Organisation released a report in 2016 that found that one in four global deaths is due to environmental pollution.

In Trinidad and Tobago garbage dumps burn regularly, releasing toxic smoke into the atmosphere. Toxic leachate goes the other way, into the soil and water table.

T&T’s garbage dumps are a far cry from bringing health or happiness to our people. The great thing is that we don’t need them. Zero-waste is possible.

I had previously written about a government commissioned report that found that 80 per cent of waste can be recycled and that only one properly engineered and well-funded landfill would be necessary. This projection now looks unexciting and unambitious. The Swedish model shows that 99 per cent of household waste can be reused. It starts at home where Swedes separate the recyclables from landfill waste.

They put the waste in special bins and then drop it off in designated containers in their buildings or streets. From here the waste goes to recycling stations which are usually no more than 300 metres from urban centres.

Now, the 99 per cent figure for waste recycling is a bit controversial. In fact about only 50 per cent of waste is recycled into other goods and raw materials.

The other 50 per cent is incinerated and converted to energy. Not everybody agrees that is equal to recycling. In Trinidad we have terrible experiences with incinerators. The two that I know firsthand are located at Mt Hope Hospital and the San Fernando General Hospital.

Both are temporary incinerators used for medical waste.

But they have been there for many years now while construction of permanent, safe incinerators drags on.

Both are health hazards with short burnstacks, no stack scrubbers and incapable of burning at high enough temperatures to destroy pollutants completely.

I once experienced the San Fernando Hospital incinerator smoke blowing over the car park. Watery eyes and a headache as the result.

The smoke blew into the building as well. I could only imagine what vulnerable patients must feel like when that happens. After that I came back to take photos.

This turned into a comical cat and mouse game with hospital security, while they attempted to stop me. Luckily one staff member was on my side, and gave me instructions on where security was so that I could avoid them.

A sad state of affairs when suppressing negative reports is more important than ensuring human health. But the incinerators the Swedes use are state of the art and produce little pollution. Or so we hope.

Incinerators burn clean once they are well designed and maintained but they are also controversial as incinerating waste creates greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming.

Burning waste in an incinerator to produce electricity is about as carbon intensive as burning natural gas. It is something important to keep in mind as T&T has the second highest per capita carbon footprint in the world.

Some hold that incineration and recycling are contrary goals. If a country commits to incineration it won’t want to divert profitable incinerator fuel to recycling.

Sweden appears to have solved this dilemma by encouraging more recycling while trash is imported for incineration.

Of the 50 per cent of household waste that Swedes do recycle, paper is turned into paper mass, bottles are reused or, second best, melted into new items.

Plastic containers become new plastic material and food is composted and becomes soil or biogas. Shops take back old electronic items and special rubbish trucks pick up hazardous waste and chemicals.

Pharmacies take back leftover medication, old clothes can go to second hand shops and large items like TVs and furniture can go straight to recycling centres on the outskirts of the cities.

The carbon footprint of incinerating trash is a good reason to refuse waste before recycling it. If consumers buy consciously and avoid products with unnecessary packaging that solves the problem before it even starts.

Taxation has many good uses. Tax products with unnecessary non-biodegradable packaging to discourage use. Have you ever seen a banana or onion wrapped in plastic?

Yes, tax those 100 per cent. If taxation makes a plastic bottle cost the same as a glass bottle, won’t that solve the unsolvable plastic bottle litter problem overnight? If you choose to pollute, you pay for it.

Following the 19-hour Panorama Savannah party, the half-a-dozen calypsonians suing TUCO over its Dimanche Gras selections, and whatever controversy over-costumed bands or street violence emerges today and tomorrow, later this week into next, there will be ample public commentary and handwringing about the inefficiency and stupidities of our Carnival.

When this happens predictably every year, even as state bureaucrats’ tone-deaf pronouncements about a safe and orderly Carnival are recycled, I usually wonder: could the festival of the God of Inversion—Karene Asche should really know better—be “well run”? What would an orderly bacchanal look like?

Could even the best global managers ever discipline Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival, a sprawling ritual with so many moving parts, origins and constituencies, into any efficiency? And wouldn’t that be to fundamentally chop it off from its riotous, defiant and populist roots—the way North American Carnivals have been bleached into public safety, order and corporate commodification—turning it into an inorganic tourist economy festival the way Eastern Caribbean carnivals once ran?

I always remember my Carnivals in Brooklyn for each of the eight years of the Giuliani administration that had policed parties out of the neighbourhood mas camps, exiled panyards to the industrial border with Queens, and introduced a “Turn Music Off” LED sign at the end of the parade route.

I looked forward to the sudden moment during J’Ouvert when the Grenadian jab molassie posse would come down. After they had passed, not a single police vehicle was left white; and for every year they kept up a single, singular chant of the Mayor’s name and the three-syllable orifice from which he had emerged at birth.

I’ve never held a warm embrace of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” of economic self-interest as a way to organise anything in the public interest. But any casual observer would notice that the areas of Carnival the state has stayed out of appear to be those where the market has enabled the greatest commonsense and efficiency.

The profiteering, production-line bathsuit-and-beads mas bands. The obscenely-exclusive fetes. The free movement of music, which has moved from the pirate CD to the Internet and to the cusp of an electronic composition becoming road march.

On the other hand, it is precisely those areas that government and special interest groups (SIGs) have attempted to organise through sponsorship or discipline that have been the most spectacular failures: The refusal to accept solutions to the hours-long parade-of-the-bands bottleneck at the Savannah, which has made me decide playing mas is sufferation. The hopelessness of the judging of state-sanctioned competitions—pan being the most glaring example of the meaninglessness of one- and two-point differences between scores of competing bands. The inability of most of what I find artful and imaginative in calypso to make it into Dimanche Gras.

I particularly struggle to understand why the model of judged competitions continues to dominate and distort Carnival. I want to hear good pan and good calypso in manageable doses. Do I care who “wins”?

It’s the first thing I’d eliminate were I the Carnival czar. With International Soca Monarch the private market hasn’t succeeded any better than the state and SIGs at a competition that avoids the smell of patronage or the glaring confusion that we just don’t agree on quality or form. Besides those patrons who haven’t forgiven Machel for his violence, I think I know what anyone would answer if given a choice between seeing the soca artist lineup in the Stadium on Monday or Friday of the same week.

Without state support, Carnival competitions would simply collapse, allowing cultural evolution or the market to replace them with something more sustainable and rational.

Live brass is back on the road this year, to the delight of so many in my generation. Bands are deciding to forego the Savannah bottleneck. Portrayal mas that requires discomfort and dedication for its joy has remained alive, though no longer dominant, with designers from a new generation. Masqueraders afraid of the jamettes will hopefully go back up on top the trucks, party on the fringes of the capital and give people back the road.

Does any of this require regulation? Where in our most significant national festival (or at least the most significant creole one) is it appropriate? Should taxpayers be funding anything other than infrastructure and security? I’d prioritise increased immigration and customs officers on duty for arriving visitors over free doubles and Solo. I’d start with banning ropes around anything on the road but drink trucks.

Seriously. But more seriously, I believe government’s other core role in Carnival ought to be to reward innovation. Seed ideas. Enable think-tanks. Preserve old forms. Provide traditional mas characters with two music trucks and support for academies to teach the traditions. Provide incentive funding and profit-matching for successful ventures.

Too much of our thinking rests on patronage approaches—money for Sparrow; a house for Minshall—and too little on market approaches. Calypso Rose’s French producer didn’t give her a house or car.

Finally, I hope my friend Sonja Dumas will accept the job as Carnival czar to make at least some of this rethinking happen.

I particularly struggle to understand why the model of judged competitions continues to dominate and distort Carnival. I want to hear good pan and good calypso in manageable doses. Do I care who “wins”?

The Minister of Education’s assertion that teachers are partly to be blamed for the unsatisfactory literacy levels in the school system has some merit. Most teachers are trying their best, but unfortunately they may lack the requisite skills to deal with the language problems in their classes.

This may be due to the training they have received, to the teacher trainers they were exposed to, or to the strategies they employ in their teaching.

Firstly, many teachers who have taken English at the university level may have been exposed largely to Literature in English, and not to language courses or the teaching of English. They are therefore not quite equipped to deal with the severe language problems, emanating not only from our bilingual situation, but from our lack of reading.

Secondly, many teacher trainers might be under the impression that student-teachers who have passed English at the CXC and CAPE levels have no need for any further grounding in the mechanics of the language. But my own observation of student teachers has revealed that they have serious problems with the basics of the language eg punctuation—use of full stops, commas, capitals, and apostrophes. Other grammar problems such as subject-verb agreement, modifiers, and sentence fragments are quite common throughout the system.

Finally, we may need to examine the strategies employed by teachers in the teaching of English. Many teachers teach students the way they themselves were taught–through the textbook. Language studies have therefore been removed from everyday communicative experience and from the notion that we need language in order to survive. It is only when teachers see language as the tool we use in understanding and expressing ourselves that it will become meaningful to them and their students.

But my own observation of student teachers has revealed that they have serious problems with the basics of the language eg punctuation—use of full stops, commas, capitals, and apostrophes. Other grammar problems such as subject-verb agreement, modifiers, and sentence fragments are quite common throughout the system.

Dr Patrick Quan Kep, Gasparillo

In speaking with colleagues and listening in on the ground floor, I am convinced that, regarding the FATCA bill, many Trinbagonians were subconsciously and unwittingly inspired to prayerful action as was the acting Police Commissioner who sought divine intervention regarding the epidemic of crime that is affecting T&T.

The bill has been passed in a Carnival environment fraught with NCC, Pan Trinbago and TUCO controversies. Would it be fair to ask if the timing of Carnival 2017 will be remembered as having been divinely inspired to act as a peoples’ vent for the pent up frustrations brought on by the shenanigans of our politicians?

For the time being, the “robber talk” in Parliament is over. But, neither the Government nor the opposition know how much pressure they placed on the average citizen re the passage of the bill; a bill designed in 2013 during the reign of what was left of the People’s Partnership government; a bill that the present PNM government initially agreed be brought to a Joint Select Committee and subsequently reneged on this undertaking; a bill that gave rise to the Opposition leader writing to the President elect of the USA for his input re its future; a bill that had the business community running scared if its passage deadlines were not met thereby impacting negatively on the banking sector in particular; and a bill that, had it not been passed in a timely fashion, could have pauperised Joe Public and his family because of the negative implications of further delays.

Agnostics aside, may I suggest that divine intervention be used by believers of all faiths as a tool for getting things done? Don’t give up on our leaders, our attitude to customer service, our challenging educational system, our politicians, our Carnival etc. But, do not become addicted to religion in your attempts to control what may seem to be uncontrollable! Let’s do everything in our individual and collective power to have a peaceful and crime-free Carnival.

John Henry,

Petit Valley

How do you see T&T? Does a nation forged in fires of hope still hold promise? Richard Mark Rawlins’ latest artwork uses iconography from the orphan Annie musical and the fuel of local politics to attend to concerns about personal and collective expectations for the future. “The sun will come out tomorrow,” sings Annie, “just thinking about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow ‘til there’s none.” In this interview with MARSHA PEARCE, Rawlins gives insight into his installation A Dress to the Nation-a work that is equally attractive in its ornamental appearance and irksome in its repetitive accompanying soundtrack. Rawlins points to a tomorrow steeped in appeal and frustration. In speaking about his work, he also shares his views on the politics of art and culture.

MP: You often include words in your artwork, with some pieces exploiting meanings and ambiguities, putting a spotlight on wordplay. Tell me about your fascination with words in the context of your art making practice.

RMR: I live and work as a graphic designer; it was how I was trained. I am accustomed to communicating visually with words and images. I love typography, mass communications, and printmaking. I think of letters as texture. Art, like design, is work. I started using words in my work as a way of connecting the dots. It is a narrative approach to design, which I incorporate into my art. This seems natural to me since we are surrounded by words: mauvais langue, picong, patois, dancehall lyrics, soca, kaiso, good and bad sign painting, fete sign culture and the fact that we speak with our hands when relating a story.

I am always pushing to be able to speak to people in my work, always seeking to break the passive nature of viewing art. Words help me share my sketchbook thoughts and opinions and, in some cases, issue a challenge to the viewer to go deeper than the surface and look for their own story. I am literally trying to make art that ‘speaks’ to people, as language has the potential to serve as an art form. The thing about it is this: once the words are there, it’s hard to avoid reading them. In the context of a white cube or alternate gallery space the WORD may actually have more power than in the pages of a magazine or a book.

How did the idea for this new work come about? What was your intention for the work?

A Dress to the Nation is commentary. The idea to do this came about sometime ago while I was watching a recap via social media of an address to the nation by our Prime Minister. It started me thinking about the importance of the term “an address to the nation” and what it means today.

For one thing, in my 50-year span, I’ve seen countless addresses to the nation. As a child I remember hustling home with my family to make sure we did not miss whatever important thing was going to be said. I was too young to understand what it meant then. As I got older and more politically aware, I realised they had come to mean responses to public outcry, a clear position on an unwavering policy of some sort, the announcement of a coup, an explanation of how the country’s coat of arms managed to get onto a bottle of champagne, or to reassure a nation, that things will get better. An address was an opportunity to say: “It’s a little rough right now, but it will get better-tomorrow not today, it will be better. Maybe.”

Well I’m significantly older now, and ironically, the addresses to the nation don’t seem to hold the power they once had. Social media has eliminated the need to hurry home to hear the address at a specific time, and the public seems to be even more confused after the address than before it began - if one goes by the comments on social media anyway. So I decided I would design and make a dress out of enough material to make two national flags, and incorporate some lace and frou-frou into it so that it would be a Trinbagonian contemporary art take on the little orphan Annie dress. There’s a big bow on it and everything, a real fancy, pretty thing. I designed the dress and had my friend, fashion designer Lisa Gittens, fabricate it for me as I can’t sew. Well, I can sew a little bit but I can’t sew-sew.

Then I created a soundtrack to go with the installation. I added an irritating 11-hour loop of the song Tomorrow from the movie Annie, and threw in my daughter’s old tap shoes and that was it. The tap shoes are a nod to the Annie musical and they complete the outfit. However they also suggest the idea of tap dancing around issues or maybe tap tapity tap tap as we wait and wait. As intentions go, I’d like people to see it and really begin to think about what these promises of “hope” mean for our country. It’s a personal narrative for all of us really. The original working title for the piece was A Dress to the Nation: Hope and Fear at the Edge of Feasibility.

What do you see as some of the politics - power machinations - of the art scene in T&T?

I have a question written on my studio wall: “How do we escape the gatekeepers?” I’ve learned it is the tree in the forest thing. If you aren’t aware of any gatekeepers, do they exist? The answer for me is, no. Well, that’s what I thought. Then I applied for a local fund aimed at cultural producers. It was my intention to produce a book about my recent exhibition Finding Black. After a month of not hearing any word, I called only to be politely informed: “Nah yuh didn’t get through. We can’t help you at this time.”

Now you probably will never see a painting with the words “I AM NOT YUH N---A” on a T&T High Commission wall or an embassy or a nice family restaurant, and the work I produce doesn’t fall under what is considered “culture,” and maybe it makes people uncomfortable. Yet, why must consideration only be given to funding Best Village, chutney and Carnival shows and historical documentation? Is the pursuit of “CULTyah” the only realm of understanding in our art space? If, as writer James Baldwin noted, the artist’s job is to disrupt the public space, then am I not doing my job?

I guess, in a nutshell, the real ‘power machinations’ are those that would see the ‘contemporary’ and the ‘conceptual’ as useless, or worse, dangerous while establishing a safe position of conservatism for our society, based on their own capitalist ideals or agendas. They are a problem. I will leave you with this: I once heard a Minister of Culture tell the audience at a book launch: “I used to draw yuh know but, I give that up. It didn’t have no money in that.”

Richard Mark Rawlins’ A Dress to the Nation is installed at Alice Yard, 80 Roberts Street Woodbrook, Port-of-Spain, and is available to the public any time from March 3- 8. Audiences can also find a related poster design by Rawlins at Alice Yard’s adjunct space known as Granderson Lab, 24 Erthig Road, Belmont.

The German Embassy Port-of-Spain has partnered with IAMovement to take Climate Talk through the rest of the year from April to December.

A release said the partnership will include:

• Climate Talk in 25 additional schools across the country

• A school fruit and vegetable garden project through the rest of the year at the Servol Junior Life Centre in Cascade, where students will participate and learn about methods of organic agriculture

• Creation of short infographic video and a complimenting infographic poster, to convey key points about climate change specific to T&T and small islands like us.

The primary component of the Climate Talk project brings the climate change discussion to schools, organisations and public spaces through hosted screenings of Small Change: A short documentary produced in 2016 by IAMovement about climate change in a local context.

The Canadian High Commission partnered with IAMovement to launch the first phase of Climate Talk in January, which began in ten schools in Port-of-Spain. It also includes an Environment and Climate Day at the Servol Junior Life Centre in Cascade, and a public film and climate discussion event at MovieTowne POS—where funds raised will help to create the first edible Green Roof in Port-of-Spain. The event at MovieTowne is on March 29 and will include the screening of Small Change along with the National Geographic documentary Before the Flood produced by Leonardo DiCaprio.

IAMovement recognises that climate change is a big and seemingly vague thing for so many, even though it affects us all. With the support of the German Embassy, IAMovement hopes to further build awareness among wider public about why climate change is something valuable to understand. The goal through Climate Talk is to make [climate change] more relatable and understandable, most importantly by focusing on key social and economic benefits which can be gained in the short term through certain ‘environmental’ projects, such as renewable energies, and also recycling.

Co-founder of IAMovement Jonathan Barcant said, “T&T is a global energy leader and is very well positioned in many regards, so there’s no reason why we can’t capitalise on renewable energies as well, alongside our existing fossil fuel industry.

“Doing this we could reap many benefits such as job creation, and using less fossil fuels locally—which means more income for the country since we can sell these unused resources on the international market at higher prices,” he added.

“The German Embassy is very pleased to support Climate Talk which is intended to grow awareness about climate change among citizens of T&T,” said Ambassador Lutz Görgens.

ABOUT IAMovement

IAMovement is a local NGO founded in 2014, which aims to effect positive social and environmental change in T&T.

IAMovement has become a leading local voice about climate change over the last 3 years through the following key activities:

• 2014 – First Public Climate March event in T&T – 2014 People’s Climate March

• 2015 – Second Public Climate March event in T&T – 2015 People’s Climate March & Eco-Village

• 2016 – Production and debut of Small Change: A short (20 minute) documentary which takes the climate conversation forward in T&T.

To keep up to date with the Climate Talk project and look out for future activities and events, follow IAMovement on Facebook. Additionally those interested in hosting a Climate Talk event or purchasing tickets for the MovieTowne POS fund-raiser event on March 29, they may be contacted at iamovementorg@gmail.com.

We chose a bad night for a panyard lime. Junior Panorama was the next day. Most of the panyards were empty of instruments and players. Surely it would not be too difficult for Pan Trinbago to advise that certain bands would not be practicing a particular night?

So Invaders panyard, now without the zaboca tree, was quiet and empty from the Oval pavement. We went down the road to Silver Stars to find the entrance blocked by parked cars. We pushed our way through to be greeted initially by the sound of loud voices and not loud music, from the miked conductor.

It was worth it to see the dance of the women on bass, hands and bodies moving as one.

There was a pretty good feeling in the panyard. Nobody walked around as if they owned the place. One sees this in some arty-farty panyards. The crowd was definitely middle-class, average age 50’s, lots of wives and husbands. Most pan players seemed to be in their 20’s or early 30’s.

The crowd showed their lack of Trinidadianness by applauding at the end. Clapping at a cultural event is a relatively new fashion. Trinidadians do not clap. Is it because they not sure if to clap? Like those hesitant claps at the end of an intricate musical composition. They finish? It going on? Or is it just shyness. Or we hard to please. Clapping in panyards began maybe 20 years ago when more and more faren Trinis began returning home for Carnival. It’s still not common. I feel sure those who applaud do not live here.

As we drove around we noted the heavy police presence on the streets. There were police cars parked outside Despers and Renegades.

Since there was nobody else practicing we ended up in Desperados panyard which was full. Cars were parked all down Fredrick St. Crowd here consisted of lots of single men, average age 40’s. The players, too, seemed older.

Their new place is amazingly large. That lovely old broken down church took up lots of space. There is room for another two bands.

As we left Desperados, the church bells at the Anglican cathedral began tolling 11 pm. Under the grey overcast sky it brought back childhood memories of lonely nights on the gallery at the house in Corbeau Town.

The Starlift Panyard for Music was almost empty. Just some old people sitting down in front of the band and half the beaters gone, so we had a quiet beer and went home after an argument over the position of the Fatima fete relative to the panyard.

Three days later, it was off to the finals of the King and Queen’s competition, something I had last seen 15 years ago. We stopped going because of the poor quality of the costumes, the uncomfortable accommodation, the late starts which, added to the length of time each costume occupied the stage, often pushed the show into morning.

This one started on time and we were out in four hours, still too much, there were people yawning around us near the end. Accommodation was not top class but acceptable, pillars grudgingly allowing sight of the stage. The best thing was the speed with which the costumes appeared and disappeared, three to four minutes a costume. There was also none of that “bring them back on stage” business which did so much to ruin the calypso tents. Poor is poor. Show yourself once and gone!

Many of the costumes were boring, same, same, skirts with wings or huge floats pulled by a human. Shouldn’t there be two general categories for costumes, floats and real costumes carried by the masquerader? The floats, and the two winners were huge floats, dwarf everything else. It is difficult for someone carrying a costume to compete.

One of the most interesting of those, “Argus Le Grand, All Eyes on Me”, a gorgeously done bejewelled bird, crashed to the stage while attempting to extend his wings. However, a costume called “Nibinabe,” a huge giant-like creature, moved by manpower alone, strode placidly across the stage and came third. Moving placidly in time to music suited that particular character.

Compare that with the masqueraders coming on stage with an enormous structure, belching smoke or sparks, with someone pushing or pulling it and trying to make it move, out of step with the beat. The concept of “dancing the dance of the particular King or Queen character” seems alien.

Only the Junior King of Carnival, young Samuel Jackson, portraying “Samuel Star D Mystical Blazing Fireman” understood what he was doing. His fireman dance brought the large audience to their feet with a roar of approval only to subside into dullness as the floats got shoved around the stage.

“Dance the mas, man!” Not pull ah mas!

What is it though with these complicated names? Apart from the above, there was one titled “La Reflexion: Amour De Soi The Reflection: Self Love”. Well which is it? The French or the English? There was “Category 5-Hurricane Trump”. He deserve to lose for that name alone.

Similarly, what is the purpose of the classical overtures that accompany the arrival of many of the costumes on stage? They build up anticipation that something spectacular is about to happen. Nothing happens except the music stops and the character begins his or her jerky procession across the stage.

Technological assists, loud music, the raising of wings or the sputtering sparks is no replacement for the movements of a human dancing to music. Let the music and the mas play on today in the street.

Partygoers lapped up the excitement of a transported River Lime when Shandies Promotions staged its 13th Annual All-Inclusive Carnival Fete at Jerry’s Bar, Jerry Junction, Waterloo, Carapichaima, on February 19.

Acclaimed as one of the most enjoyable and affordable fetes in Central Trinidad, Shandies caters for a mature crowd which prefers a mix of oldies and new musical offerings.

Patrons got exactly that, and more, from the band First Impressions, led by Roland Alibocas, featuring frontline singer Kirland ‘Big B’ Jacob and newcomer Houston “Papa Steve” Villaroel, as well as the Carolina Rhythm Section and DJ Spoil Child International.

Cups made from bamboo and transplanted bamboo plants conveyed the ambience of a genuine river lime.

Feters were treated to a range of tasty food items, embellished with samplings from a suckling pig roasted on a spit during the lime. Mixologist Isidore Vincent was kept busy with his original concoctions.

“We have loyal followers since we always try to keep our price reasonable over the years.

In addition, we offer a unique package as we cater to a mature crowd during a hectic Carnival season,” said Andy Maurice, who runs Shandies Promotions with his wife, T’Shian Reyes-Maurice.

In November 1969 Phillip’s Petroleum (now Conoco Phillips) discovered the Ekofisk field in the Norwegian North Sea. The following year British Petroleum discovered the Fortis field and in 1971 Shell and Exxon discovered the Brent oilfield. Today, Brent crude gives us the reference price for two thirds of internationally traded crude oil. The discovery of these giant oil fields in the technically challenging and frigid North Sea changed the economies of Norway and the United Kingdom.

A giant oilfield is defined as one which has > 500 million barrels of recoverable oil. Norway is today one of the richest countries in the world and is the model for how revenue derived from extractive industries ought to be managed. Thanks to its discoveries, the UK (particularly Scotland) has developed as a major centre for oil and gas production, offshore technology, education and energy services.

Fast forward 40 years. At the start of the second decade of the 21st century (year 2011), the Irish oil company Tullow discovered the Zaedyus oilfield in the deepwater province of French Guiana. Four years later, in May 2015, American supermajor Exxon Mobil announced it had made a discovery of oil in Guyanese territorial waters. That discovery happened in the Liza-1 well in 5,719 feet of water after drilling to a depth of 17,825 feet. A year later, Exxon announced that the Liza discovery had exceeded expectations and was 800 million to 1.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil equivalent thus making it a giant oilfield.

Guyana’s neighbour Suriname has also been exploring its deepwater. Around the time, Liza was discovered, BHP-Billiton had just concluded the largest 3D seismic survey ever conducted by an International Oil Company in T&T’s deepwater. BHP’s deepwater exploration campaign is far from over and I remain confident that T&T may yet join the deepwater party.

Last month (January 2017) Exxon Mobil announced a second discovery. The Payara discovery is 10 miles northwest of the 2015 Liza discovery. Exxon also confirmed that the Liza 3 appraisal well had found another reservoir below the Liza field with another estimated 100 million to 150 million barrels of oil.

What does all this mean? In the oil and gas industry there is a statistical tool called the Creaming Curve. A Creaming Curve represents the relationship between cumulative resource growth and the number of exploration wells drilled. The name comes from the fact that the biggest discoveries (the cream) are normally made early in the basin’s exploration history. As time passes, remaining prospects will be smaller and have a lower probability of discovery.

It is my opinion, therefore, that Liza and Payara are the beginning of things to come for Guyana. More oil and gas will be discovered in Guyana’s waters and possibly in Suriname’s deepwater. All these discoveries can be traced back to a report by the US Geological Survey (USGS) in the year 2000 which foretold the basin’s potential. The USGS estimated that the Guyana/Suriname basin had the potential for 14.2 billion barrels of oil and ranked the basin as one with high potential alongside the Santos Basin of deepwater Brazil.

If the Creaming Curve thesis is correct Guyana is only at the beginning of what would be a series of discoveries similar to what happened in the North Sea between the late 1960’s and the late 1970’s. Indeed, the Guyana-Suriname basin may well be the New North Sea.

Exxon estimates that oil production in Guyana will commence in mid-2020 at an initial rate of 100,000 barrels of oil per day. This will mean an unprecedented flow of revenue for Guyana that could see its economy grow in double digits for most of the next decade. Given that the discoveries have been made 120 miles from the coastline it is unlikely that the oil would be monetised via pipeline to shore. This raises questions about value added activity and downstream industries.

The discovery of oil in the Guyana-Suriname basin is one of the most significant events in the history of Guyana and in the history of Caricom. I’m not sure that Caricom knows what to make of all this. Caricom’s energy focus has, after all, been renewable energy. What is certain is that it will change the trajectory of the Guyanese economy from 2020 and onwards.

A Guyana with a national income many factors higher than it is today means increased demand for everything. Guyana will also seek to support as much oil and gas activity as possible from within their country. Therein lies the opportunity for the Guyana and T&T private sectors to collaborate in building sustainable supply chains.

Last month I delivered a lecture in Georgetown to a packed hall in the Pegasus Hotel. I spoke about what T&T got right and what we got wrong. I addressed the issues of Dutch Disease and Resource Curse Thesis. I said Guyana had an opportunity to learn from the mistakes and to incorporate the best practices of other countries.

Guyana does not have to look very far for an example of how not to manage an oil based economy–see Venezuela. Guyana has three years to build capacity, establish institutions and put regulations in place. It’s a huge task but with properly applied political will all things are possible.

So, who decides which of our various multi-cultural national festivals are better for the country regardless as to the thinking of the Carnival believers? There is a lobby blames this season for the reason we are swimming in crime and murders. Lewd, vulgar and generally licentious behaviour is laid at the feet of mas players.

True up to a point, but not totally true. Licentiousness is a learned behaviour, elements of which must be tackled from kindergarten and straight into tertiary education.

Some say Carnival should be once every two years, some religions say preferably not at all. Carnival 2017 is proving that if you take away (gradually we hope) all government funding, the entrepreneurs will work on keeping the money flowing.

Every year from now on less taxpayers money should be given where the profits, including prize money, should come from gate receipts. This would enable the government to supply every seat in the Grand Stand and the North Stand on a first-come first-served basis for a blanket $50 for those who want to or need to sit. I have no expertise in economics but it would be foolhardy to write off Carnival as non profitable.

We cannot stop the Carnival for important Trinbagonian reasons. Too many of the fiscally challenged depend on the yearly Carnival season to keep them in bread and butter. In a Third World setting, vending is the poor man’s avenue/vehicle out of poverty and dependency on government hand outs.

Importantly, the musical expression by use of the steel drums is part and parcel of our identity. It soothes the psyche. The celebration of Carnival can diffuse that ticking “dissatisfaction time bomb” that resides within each living person.

It is time to advertise T&T as a tourist destination that deals specifically with musical expression. The sand and the seas remain merely the icing on the cake of a tropical holiday. Perhaps we need to invite the players of the orchestras of the world to see how our steel band music is unique to the world and can be part and parcel of their own musical fulfilment.

In the tropical moonlight, the steel drums of all the bands seemed to be reflections of NAPA, silver and round and enduring.

Lynette Joseph,

Diego Martin

I take in the the Dimanche Calypso Show every Carnival, not armed with the list of criteria the judges may have but simply to experience a special moment in the rendition of a calypso with a message poignantly compelling delivered in a style that is subtle and intellectually driven, with an energy and rhythm consistent with the true spirit of Carnival.

And this I did in Terri Lyons “The Phrase”. In terms of message she did not disappoint, for the issue of how language is used to make people of African descent developing negative a mindset about themselves, as in her classic example of the stereotype of “black and ugly”, is as real, relevant and pervasive as any, and would have been telling in its impact on an audience which if not publicly, would have been quietly shaking their heads in endorsement.

In terms of her style of rendition, it seemed less subtle and more direct due no doubt to the urgency of the message which needed to be told in a language little cluttered by ambiguity and subtlety lest the message be lost and not hit home directly.

And hit home it must have, reinforced by her unmistakeable energy and passion of which the flinging off of her wig was ample demonstration, and her finale with the option of black being truly beautiful. For me the theme could have broadened into using other stereotypes such as the back bird as an evil omen as against the white dove as a symbol of beauty and peace, and Black Friday equally stereotyped as a day of misgivings as against Good Friday as a day of Redemption, with each being explored in a stanza to reinforce the main theme of “back and ugly.”

And asking the audience in the final stanza to reflect on the original colour of a refined diamond or refined oil-black, as her final retort to the stereotype of “black and ugly” with the tenet,”black is beautiful”. But Teri could have only done so much in the limited space available as much as I can in 500 words. Still it was a moment to remember, and calypso in this song had achieved one of its finest moments.

At the other end many may commend Chalkie for his “originality” in conveying his message about the negatives of child marriages but for me the calypso seemed flawed in terms of message and style. As to the first, the central mathematical impossibility of 75 not being able to “go into” 14 with its overt sexual overtone, seemed an oversimplification of a complex age old cultural practice to merely its physical/sexual component.

What of child marriage between children or child marriages entered into for economic considerations, some bordering on sheer survival? Granted this calypso was not a thesis and could not have been as comprehensive, is not severely myopic in pandering merely to the sexual appetite, albeit in the spirit of Carnival?

In terms of rendition, what seemed intended to be sexual innuendo, 75 not being able to “go into” 14, turned out to be much less so in its explicitness, reducing its subtlety, exacerbated further by references to “margarine” and “oil” with their obvious sexual connotations .

This seems in sharp contrast to Sparrow’s highly sexually suggestive calypso “Congo Man” and “Ah never eat a white meat yet”, which in essence is a sexual pursuit linguistically, but beautifully camouflaged by the authentic metaphor of the Congo Man “cooking his meat” for final consumption/consummation.

At the end of Chalkie’s calypso I got a distinct sense of an explicit conversation on the Block in which the participants are salivating over the impossibility of a 75 year-old attempting to “go into” a 14-year-old , “margarine”, “oil” and all, and that was a turn off.

But maybe the judges liked it so. so much more to say.so little space...

DR ERROL BENJAMIN

(Chalkie’s former student/colleague at UWI; also at UTT both on Research committees and as Lecturers)

In recognition of World Cancer Day (February 4), RBC Royal Bank announced that funds from the RBC Caribbean Children’s Cancer Fund will be utilised to purchase a Flow Cytometer, which will be donated to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) at Mt Hope.

This critical piece of equipment is used to analyse the physical and chemical characteristics of particles in a fluid, such as blood. It will enhance the ability of the medical staff to diagnose and treat cancer in kids and adults; impacting significantly on the overall diagnosis and survival rate of cancer patients.

This RBC Fund was launched in 2009, and focuses on assisting in the treatment and care of children 16 years and under who have been diagnosed with cancer.

A release said assistance is available to children living in Caribbean countries where RBC operates. Since inception, more than 100 kids have benefited from diagnosis and treatment made possible via the fund.

Funding is secured via public donations as well as employee and company fundraising activities, the most significant of which is the annual RBC Race for the Kids. Last held on October 2, 2016, this benchmark event was supported by over 1,500 members of the public and RBC employees, led by the bank’s MD, Darryl White.

Health minister Terrence Deyalsingh joined RBC senior officials and board members of the Cancer Fund on February 14 in touring the Children’s Clinic at the EWMSC; the soon-to-be home of the brand new Flow Cytometer.

The technician leaned conspiratorially across the counter at Marty Forscher’s repair store. 

“Were you deployed to Afghanistan?”

Um. What? 

It turned out that the only other times they had taken apart cameras in the condition of my failed Pentax was from journalists or military photographers in that war zone.

The fine dust that had ground my gear to a halt had come flying off the stage at the Queen’s Park Savannah in 1986, swept by huge costumes and stomped into the air by hundreds of dancing feet. 

For decades, that was standard operating procedure stateside at the Savannah, an environment with metaphorical teeth and claws at every turn. 

Since then, the hostility of officialdom has spread throughout the festival. 

Trying to be too entrepreneurial and create new approaches or spaces in Carnival? Ask Dean Ackin about his experiences with the Socadrome or Kurt Allen about the Barrack Yard. Ask any small band or individual who wants to do something small, unique or creative. There’s no mainstream space for any of that.

Carnival once held my attention as a photojournalist every year for three straight weeks, right through to a bleary-eyed Ash Wednesday with a lagniappe on the following Saturday at Pan Trinbago’s Champs in Concert.

In 2017, on this morning, the NCC, abetted by its stakeholder cronies, will again stage a Carnival that studiously ignores everything that happened in the world since then. After demolishing the old Grandstand, calypsonian and politician Winston Peters rebuilt an obsolete viewing stand for horseracing with no reference to modern wisdom informing the creation of an audience platform for a parade.

There is no virtual calypso tent. No reliable authoritative stream of Carnival coverage. No digital downloads of off-the-board recordings of steelband performances. No programming of shows for 21st century expectations.

I find myself in the grip of a crippling heartbreak over this festival, despite never having worn a costume, sung a calypso or beat a pan. 

The role of the professional photojournalist is to record without being tempted to intervene, and it requires a curious combination of engagement and distance. 

One makes friends, but not intimate ones, the line between observer and collaborator/colleague is always so very easy to cross. 

Carnival is not dying, as some of its detractors or nostalgic fans may think, it is evolving despite the best efforts of its administrators to prune anything that looks out of place when it turns a fresh bud to the light of recognition.

There is no doubt in my mind that the worst thing to happen to Carnival over the last two decades is the ramping up of State support, fuelled by a flush treasury and politicians seeking an easy win with a large constituency.

That swamp of cash created a Cepepcracy first, an institutionalised expectation that there will be a government handout to lubricate the wheels of an event that was running quite efficiently on its own until the 1980’s.

Virtually every major Carnival institution outside of soca entrepreneurs and business-focused bandleaders now depends almost entirely on massive subventions just to break even.

The size and scale of Government spending on the festival, hundreds of millions annually, has pushed private sector support to the sidelines, with businesses preferring to cherrypick safe promotional deals with the most entrepreneurial projects, avoiding any direct investment in the event as a business proposition.

As the scale of spending increased and it became clear that successive governments were not going to insist on proper accounting for public funds spent before disbursing the annual subsidy, the whole mess apparently collapsed into a kleptocracy.

There are things you never hear.

You never hear a Ministry of Culture representative announce that full, audited accounts of Carnival stakeholder spending for the year have been presented to the satisfaction of the state.

No Minister of Culture has ever been brave enough to bell this glaring of smug, self-satisfied cats.

No NCC chairman has ever commanded the stewardship of the festival with the full power granted to them by Parliamentary act governing the Commission’s formation, nor have they demanded the backing of the state, whom they represent as the major financier of the event.

By today, calypsonians will have sung, soca singers will have pranced, pans will ring out with haunting, percussive tone, hundreds of workers will still be peeling glue and glitter from under their fingernails and thousands more will set their work to fly on the streets of the city.

Not one of them has been well served by the people who were elected to public office to represent them.

They deserve more.

Better planning. Greater responsiveness. Bolder thinking. Honest representation. Full accountability.

Carnival deserves more. But it won’t get it until the people who actually create this festival demand it.

Sunday night’s Dimanche Gras show went swimmingly well for the first half, despite a slightly late start.

The flow of Calypso Monarch contenders went smoothly, with some very riveting, if relentlessly dire, social and political commentary, enlivened at times by props, melodious choruses, dramatic skits and some creative costuming and dance routines.

At least four of the 17 songs dealt in crime and social breakdown themes, reflecting the gory, anarchic side of T&T, and the fear and anger of people dealing with—or inflicting— violence.

Good examples of this were Guilty by Fya Empress (Lornette Nedd Reid), Angry Land by Gypsy (Winston Peters), Caught in the Whirlwind by Karene Asche), and Main Witness by Sasha-Ann Moses.

After crime, other popular themes were corruption—evident in My Corn Tree by Kurt Allen and The Call to Prayer by Queen Victoria, and black pride/ethnic self-worth /prejudice themes—as in the songs Still Colonial by Meguella Simon and The Phrase by Terri Lyons.

Another theme was the need for T&T people to buck up—in different ways, both Chuck Gordon’s Wah Yuh Doin and Rondell Donawa’s Lip Service talked about T&T apathy, selfishness, and the almost total lack of civic activism which makes too many people lacking in self-responsibility.

Three songs in particular were interesting for the sheer power of their heartfelt delivery, combined with their excellent and at times unusual storytelling; and they were all sung by women.

One was Guilty, by Fya Empress, which was a dark Caribbean gothic tale told in the form of a calypso— a tale touching several deep-rooted social issues here—sexual betrayal, religious-influenced bigotry against homosexuals, and extreme domestic violence ending in death.

Fya Empress played the role of a woman who comes home to find her husband in bed with another man —and she proceeds to chop him to death.

She tells this gruesome story well, with details like: “As I proceeded in the dark / my pupils dilated like a shark...” She is an unrepentant murderer, dressed in prison clothes and with a handcuff dangling off one wrist, and yet she sounds self-righteous and justified.

The calypso was a (perhaps unwitting) comment on both our society’s hate towards gays, and our extreme inability to control our emotions and deal with relationship problems in a healthy way. (The audience cheered on her Guilty persona for murdering her husband.) Empress’s use of drama, dance and talented choral singers was quite good, enhancing the narrative drama of her presentation. Surprisingly, she placed 15th, well below some songs that were inferior lyrically and musically.

The second powerful and moving song was by Lady Gypsy (Lynette Steele) who sang Plight of my People. She was a true example of a good calypsonian, delivering a thoughtful, critical, picong-filled, hard-hitting reflective song about her belief in the need for change in the PNM, even though she is an ardent supporter. She sang about the need for change in the state of calypso, too, where she says political bias is so clearly evident at so many Skinner Park calypso semifinals.

Her targets included her fellow community members, too, who vote blindly despite repeated political betrayals: “Too much a one thing good for nothing / Too much a good ting never enough / I don’t know why my black people cannot see / no party never care bout we”; and later: “I don’t want to sound like I racist / but this is what I can see / they does take care of other race / because they damn well know they have we.”

Her slightly gravelly, defiant, powerful voice made for a sterling performance as she rang her bell, Baptist-style, for change.

“Crime will never stop in the country / Once black people belly empty / How could a man work in CEPEP / maintain his whole family?” she sang, addressing the need for true social justice in meaningful economic terms.

Dressed in blazing red, she had the audience enthralled with her charisma, but apparently did not impress the judges much, who placed her ninth— inexplicably below Lady Victoria, whose Call To Prayer was well-meaning but little more than a preaching hymn rife with cliché and trite exhortations.

The third powerful song by a woman, notable for its passion and thematic difference, was by the young calypsonian Sasha-Ann Moses, whose song Main Witness demonstrated that she is a force to be reckoned with. Using a simple but effective prop of a window-frame with floaty white curtains, and dressed in pyjamas and slippers, she sang about seeing a murder through her window.

Her theme was the horrible way crime witnesses are treated, being made to feel like prisoners themselves, and her chorus was an infectious cry of outrage and a spirited reaction to the current high murder rates and legitimate fears in the country. “Forget studies...forget birthdays, anniversaries....no counselling at all”, she sang, expressing how much normal life changes for the worse for many witnesses to extreme crimes.

The first part of Dimanche Gras, the calypso contest, ended at 10.19 pm, some 34 minutes beyond schedule, but not too bad by Carnival standards where events are notoriously too long and too late.

However, the second part of the show felt episodic, forced, at times boring, and did not flow nearly as well as the first. There were glaring lags where nothing happened, notably during the Icons awards section where thrice the DJ played music to an empty stage.

There also seemed to be either a shortage of government ministers on hand to distribute awards, or miscommunications with stage crew as to who was supposed to do what. This was a pity because it veered on disrespect to some of the people being honoured.

Those receiving awards were: mas artist Peter Minshall (he did not appear but a representative said he would like his award to go to his very first Carnival Queen, Sherry-Ann [Guy] Coelho); wirebender Stephen Derek (deceased); singer Anand Yankarran (deceased); Best Village advocate Joyce Wong Sang (deceased); singers Calypso Rose and Machel Montano (both very much alive); and pan designer Dr Anthony Williams.

After the awards, lively but very short entertainment acts included Ravi B and Raymond Ramnarine, who sang Ramsingh Sharma to smiles from a sleepy but reviving audience, who sang back the chorus with vigour. Shortly after midnight, Terri Lyons and Skinny Fabulous sang. Lyons wore a sexy skin-tight black bodysuit, black thigh-high stiletto boots and sported long wavy blue hair as she belted out the tagline “We ready” many times.

MX Prime was the last act, whose song Full Extreme brought many patrons to their feet for the first time last night, dancing and waving. During this brief expression of energy, a few Carnival costume floats passed by all too briefly; if you blinked, you missed them. Among them were Queen of Carnival Krystal Thomas, portraying De Nebula from the band Paparazzi.

At 12.23 pm, electronically lit moko jumbies, who seemed like either mysterious robots or angels, suddenly appeared on stage— a nice, creative novelty effect at night, but they were not used for any particular purpose except to add an all-too-brief touch of variety.

At 12.24 to 12.26 pm, there appeared onstage a huge, scary insectile monster, with a mobile sharp-toothed mouth that could open up wide, and a nether region that raised and jumped as the trolley mas moved. It looked very dramatic and wild, especially as parts of it were lit with electric strip lights. This was the 2017 King of Carnival, Crypto – Lord of the Galaxy, played by Ted Eustace. (The leering, ferocious face looked a bit like the giant cockroach alien in the 1997 movie Men in Black.

Crypto was more entertaining than some of the calypsos, and could easily have stayed on stage much longer—if only the show were not by this time running about 45 minutes late.

Scheduled to end at 11.45, Calypso Monarch results were finally announced at 12.32.

A very happy Chalkie was quickly swamped by friends, family and photographers, as in a matter of minutes, the Grand Stand emptied of people.

Although the number of masqueraders on the streets of San Fernando for Carnival 2017 seemed to have dwindled, those who came out in their vibrant, colourful costumes hit the streets to the ‘Full Extreme’ yesterday.

MX Prime’s hit was the anthem for most bands crossing the two judging points at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA) and High Street San Fernando.

Although High Street looked scant early on in the day, hundreds of spectators lined the streets at SAPA. But those viewers without the forethought of bringing their own chairs had to stand as there were no bleachers provided this year.

Fyzabad-based Southern Mas Associates was the first to cross the High Street judging point at 10.40 am with their presentation of “A Native Gathering.”

With five sections and vibrant, creative designs, the masqueraders were a treat to those who had come out early. 

But it was reigning band of the year Kalicharan Carnival that brought the heat with their presentation of ‘Zante.’

With choreographed dances to introduce each of its eight sections, band leader Ivan Kalicharan’s resplendent designs lit up the streets. 

Another contender in the large band section, Fireworks Promotions, portrayed ‘The Reclamation.’

Caribbean Premier League (CPL) cricketers Garey Marthurin (Jamaica Tallawahs) and Keddy Lesporis (St Lucia Zouks) both played in the Pandora section of ‘Reclamation.’

Small band Just Illusions Mas Band were especially creative with their presentation ‘Trip Down the Caroni Swamp,’ portraying a King and Queen Scarlett Ibis and numerous other birds. 

Pan Mas Traditions, with ‘Folklore Fairy Tales and Fantasy,’ presented a mixture of local folklore and fairy tale characters, including ‘Papa Bois’ and the ‘Fancy Sailor’ mixed with Little Red Riding Hood.

In total, there were 10 small bands, two medium bands and three large bands registered to cross the stage. Results from the San Fernando Carnival are expected to be announced either today or tomorrow. 

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National Carnival Commission (NCC) chairman Kenny De Silva has apologised to the country, patrons and viewers of Sunday’s Dimanche Gras show for a number of production errors during the event.

Following the show on Sunday, patrons and viewers had numerous complaints about the production of the event and the length of time they had to wait for the results of the Calypso Monarch competition to be announced.

During the show, artistes were announced to perform but never turned up, hosts announced awards and recipients were nowhere to be found, microphones were absent on stage during presentations and the show experienced an hour-long break when nothing happened.

In an interview yesterday during a stop at the Piccadilly Street Carnival judging point, De Silva apologised for the numerous misfirings at the event.

“I have to apologise to the audience publicly because there was a lull of one hour. Things did not go as planned, so we have to take responsibility and we do apologise to T&T and the patrons who were in the Queen’s Park Savannah and the people who were looking at the television sets, because there was no activity for over an hour and that was unacceptable,” De Silva said.

He said the commission took full responsibility for all the errors on the night.

Asked whether there will be a change to the format in future, De Silva said the NCC and stakeholders will have a post-Carnival meeting to look at all the weaknesses and challenges throughout the season, in order to strengthen their products for next year.

On whether there could also be a return to the structure of the Calypso Monarch where competitors sang two songs, De Silva said anything was possible.

“Carnival is extremely important to the country. All levels of people get involved in different aspects and that is something you don’t see anywhere else.”

As to successes during the two-day celebration, the NCC chairman said the response at the Queen’s Park Savannah by masqueraders was “phenomenal.” He said a number of the large bands had crossed the stage early and there were no big breaks or long windows of time between bands. He also said he felt the number of masqueraders on the road had increased this year.

“The country wanted a break and many more people wanted to play mas in spite of challenges with economy and crime. The economic situation would have affected the mas, but people may have lowered their sights from the high end band to something mid-range,” he said.

De Silva also praised the protective services, saying they provided a high level of comfort to all those involved in the festivities.

Traditional mas will stay on the Chaguanas Borough Corporation’s calendar of events, deputy chairman of the Chaguanas Carnival Committee, Orlando Nagessar, has promised.

Nagessar made the comment during the opening of Chaguanas Carnival Traditional Mas competition on Carnival Monday night.

“This will be an annual affair and would be expanded and expanded year after year. We want to bring back traditional mas in full scale,” he said.

“The NCC has projected that this year, next year and the following years, they want to reintroduce the history of mas more, so the traditional mas in all cities and towns are in the country.

“We here in Chaguanas have taken the initiative to have it on Monday night.” The show started at 7 pm with an appearance by The Original Jab Jab’s presentation of the Keepers of the Tradition.

This followed with a presentation from the Drunken Sailors, a Dame Lorraine ensemble and a Fancy Indian.