MASHRAMANI

February 13, 2012 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Source - Kaieteur News

Guyana’s major cultural festival, Mashramani will soon be upon us. The centerpiece of that festival is of course the float parade and Road March competition.

This is a pure imitation of what takes place in other Caribbean republics. Trinidad has its carnival and Barbados has its Crop Over. Both are big tourist attractions.

There is no way that thousands of persons from around the world are going to come here to our road show. Compared with what the other islands put on, what we have here simply does not meet the mark.

Guyana does need to follow the crowd. We can still have our float parade and road march competition. But we should strive to do something original and if we cannot have something original we should attempt to put together a string of events that would at least allow our major cultural festival to be more appealing to visitors.

One of the problems we face is the fact that most often, our Mashramani, which coincides with our Republican anniversary celebrations, also coincides with Trinidad’s and Brazil’s carnivals, which are each described as the greatest show on Earth.

There is no way we are going to compete, more so, since many of those who take part in the festivities in the streets are part of bands that are sponsored by private companies. Without this sponsorship, a great many persons would not take part because many are not willing to finance their own costumes.

All of that needs to change if Guyana’s float parade is going to take on a different character. Bands should be established but these bands should sell costumes to the revelers. Unless this is done, the quality of the floats are not going to improve because corporate sponsors are going to only spend so much, and to have the numbers and the quality of the costumes that are required to make a big difference revelers would be required to purchase their own costumes.

Mashramani has already begun to diversify. There are the traditional Calypso and Soca competitions. But there are other events that are developing. There is a Chutney competition and a number of top performing artistes will be coming to Guyana to perform at major shows. There is also the ever improving Children’s competition which is big hit and which allows for increased participation.

In sports, this year we have a major international boxing match slated for February 25. In the field of local theatre, the Link Show kicks off on the 17th and is expected to run until the end of the month. This is good because it allows for a wider range of activities around this time.

The organizers should add a few other events, including a drama festival and movie festival, and a food and drink festival. This will add diversity and ensure that the country is really abuzz.

All Guyanese will remember a few years ago when the Guyana government hosted CARIFESTA. The streets were alive during those two weeks of the festival and while this festival has had little impact on developing the arts in Guyana, it did show that there is a need for more public events in Guyana which our people can attend.

Within a one week period, starting next weekend, there are therefore a number of events for people to attend. This is good for the overall festival but in the case of each one of them, unless patrons are willing to pay and willing to come out in their numbers, the quality will not be sustained. The many events also mean that when tourists come, there are many events for them to attend.

Guyana has to evolve its own festival. There are many Brazilians in Guyana and they can add their own stamp to our festivities. We can also have a number of Caribbean visitors coming for the sporting events such as a Tour de Guyana or an international table tennis event or to a regional T20 cricket competition.

Sports have the possibility of really bringing thousands of persons to Guyana during Mashramani. But we have to move away from pure imitation because we will never be able to compete with Crop Over or the carnivals of Trinidad and Tobago or Brazil. But thousands will come if there are varied events to go to.

It is something that local organizers should consider.