Bands still going to Savannah

By Kalifa Clyne

The four large mas bands which will be part of the Socadrome initiative at the Jean Pierre Complex may still head to the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, on Carnival Tuesday. When the National Carnival Commission okayed the initiative last week, it argued that the four bands — Bliss, Harts, Tribe and Yuma — would account for taking some 15,000 revellers to the Jean Pierre Complex instead, thus freeing up some of the perennial congestion caused by bands queuing up on Charlotte Street to get to the Savannah stage. However, the organisers of the Socadrome said yesterday that the bands have not totally ruled out crossing the Savannah which is seen as the ultimate goal of masqueraders. They noted, though, they would allow the bands actually competing in the Parade of the Bands competitions priority in crossing the main judging point.

In an interview yesterday, Harts bandleader Luis Hart said his band would definitely be going to the Savannah on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. Harts, which is usually the first band to cross the stage on Carnival Tuesday, will take its masqueraders to the stage at around 7.30 am before heading to the alternative route and to the Socadrome, he said. “I believe the other bands (Yuma, Tribe and Bliss) will be going to the Socadrome first and will then make their way to the Savannah stage,” Hart said. “This is about convenience for the masquerader. The bands want to give the competing bands the opportunity to cross the stage and then later in the day head to the Savannah.” Organisers said yesterday the three other bands also intended to cross the Savannah stage after crossing the Socadrome stage once congestion on the route to the Savannah has decreased. “The intention is to give priority to the competing bands. The plan is to go to the Socadrome, then go back on the parade route, and if the parade is flowing, then the bands will take their masqueraders to the Savannah.” said a Tribe official.

The decision of the organisers may also be a response to negative comments from masqueraders in the wake of the announcement of the Socadrome initiative. Many of them took to social media to express their frustration at the decision and not being able to cross the Savannah stage. Many said they were not told of any such plans when they were signing up, or else they would have exercised their right to join other bands. While the public will be charged a $25 fee to enter the venue, organisers are encouraging all media to provide coverage for the event free of charge. They also said they were trying to address the concerns of Woodbrook residents. Last week, Woodbrook residents threatened protests and circulated a petition they had hoped would have stopped the NCC from okaying the plan since the bands plan to pass through their community on the way to the Jean Pierre Complex. They raised concerns over noise pollution and access to emergency services, as well as masqueraders leaving garbage in the streets and urinating on walls. It is not the first time mas bands have used streets in Woodbrook as a parade route, as both the defunct mas bands Poison and Barbarossa were known to pass though Woodbrook on Carnival Tuesday. “We have increased the number of road marshals on the road, as one of the concerns expressed by residents was access to emergency services,” a Socadrome official told the T&T Guardian yesterday.

“It usually isn’t a problem, as masqueraders are trained to pay attention when the music stops and to let vehicles pass though but we are still making attempts to address the concerns. “We want this to work and we understand that the concerns of the residents need to be addressed,” he added. The organisers, as stipulated in the contract with the management of the Jean Pierre Complex, are required to clean up all the surrounding streets near the venue within four hours of the end of the event. “We don’t want to terribly inconvenience residents. We want this to work and we are looking at all the comments and trying to address them,” it was stated. So far, organisers have received informal requests from other bands who are interested in using the 15,000-square-foot Socadrome stage as well but they said all formal requests need to go through the Sport Company of T&T. Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams yesterday said he was satisfied that the police would have enough manpower to monitor Carnival across the country, despite the late addition of the Socadrome and alternative route for party bands. “We have called police officers off vacation leave to provide additional support and we will be given assistance by the T&T Defence Force. I am satisfied that we will effectively police Carnival 2014,”  Williams said.

SOURCE: Trinidad Guardian

BANDS JUMP UP IN JEAN PIERRE

THE National Carnival Commission (NCC) has announced it has considered and accepted a proposal put forward by leaders of four mas bands to have the route for the Parade of the Bands extended on Carnival Tuesday, between 8 am and 4 pm.

Heads of mas bands Tribe, Yuma and Bliss have indicated they have no desire to cross the big stage and be judged at traditional judging venue Queen’s Park Savannah in Port-of-Spain.

Instead, they have received permission from the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SPORTT) to utilise the Jean Pierre Complex where they will have their own stage. Harts will cross the Queen’s Park Savannah stage early on Carnival Tuesday, as is their tradition, and will then proceed to the Jean Pierre Complex. The costs associated with the change of route is to be borne by the four bands. In a statement to the media yesterday, the NCC said the move is expected to alleviate congestion by reducing masquerader count at the Savannah by approximately 15,000 persons. NCC chairman Allison Demas said the Commission is committed to providing Trinidad and Tobago with tangible transformation to the Carnival product. Demas said while participation in Carnival in Port-of-Spain has grown over the years, the parade route has remained the same, thus causing needless delays and bottlenecks which lead to a negative experience for bandleaders, masqueraders and spectators. “This route extension allows us to make a small change to the traditional route which we hope will allow us to see how best to apply systematic changes to the route toward making the Carnival experience a better one,” Demas said.

“While we acknowledge that we must be careful that the route extension does not bring an elitist division in Carnival, the NCC is guided by professional engineers who see a deeper merit to this route extension.”

The bands involved have agreed to set their parade in the St Clair area with Stanmore Avenue to the east being the furthest point. They will proceed west along Queen’s Park West and St Clair Avenue to Damien Street. Then they will proceed south on Damien Street to Bellesmythe Street (or Taylor Street) South on Bellesmythe Street (or Taylor Street) to Maraval Parkway, moving South on Maraval Parkway to enter the National Stadium compound through the Castro (west) gate. They will then parade around the outside of the stadium to the Jean Pierre complex’s West Court, across a stage installed in the Jean Pierre Complex, out through the West Court and exit the National Stadium compound through the east gate, moving north on Hamilton Holder/O’Connor Street and back to Ariapita Avenue.

Tribe’s Director of Operations Gerard Ramirez, welcomed this decision of the NCC. Ramirez told Newsday he believes the change will benefit both masqueraders and spectators alike.

“Everyone knows congestion has gotten worse and we need to improve the Carnival for everybody,” Ramirez said.

“We are happy to be part of this innovation and evolution of Carnival.” Asked about the cost the band will incur as a result of the route change and rental of the Jean Pierre Complex, Ramirez said that information was not yet available but they have given an undertaking to absorb the related expenses. He said the bandleaders were awaiting official word from the NCC before officially informing their masqueraders.

On Tuesday night, several Woodbrook residents expressed concern and spoke out against the proposal to have bands parade through their community. They cited excessive noise from music trucks, indiscriminate parking and patrons urinating on property walls as some of the reasons they have raised objections to the move. NCC officials said that Minister of National Security Gary Griffith, following discussions with senior police officials indicated that provisions will be made to increase the complement of protective personnel with members of the Defence Force to ensure the safety and security of masqueraders, spectators and residents. Griffith yesterday said his preference of what route, bands should take in Port-of-Spain on Carnival Monday and Tuesday, was irrelevant. He said that regardless of whether the bands use the current route or a different one, “we have put systems in place so the Ministry of National Security would be prepared to operate in any manner regarding a final route by the bands,” Griffith said.

Saying it is up to Arts and Multiculturalism Minister Dr Lincoln Douglas and the NCC to determine mas routes, Griffith said, “What I am trying to do is ensure this will be as safe a Carnival as possible.” However he seemed to maintain reservations about the current route.

“The present situation is really cumbersome where you have 60,000 masqueraders trying to get into one area. It will cause massive congestion. It makes it difficult for crowd control,” Griffith said at the post Cabinet press conference yesterday at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair. However, he reiterated that, “if it goes that way, we would operate in the same manner that law enforcement officials have done before.”

Demas said the route for bands which are being judged in the Band of the Year competition, remains the same. 

By KEINO SWAMBER Friday, February 21 2014

Stadium Socadrome

By Peter Ray Blood
Come Carnival Tuesday, the main court of the Jean Pierre Complex, Port-of-Spain ,will be transformed into “the Socadrome,” the venue for the country’s newest Carnival Parade of the Bands showplace. This comes in the wake of much discussion to alleviate congestion along the traditional parade route to the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain. The Socadrome model is expected to initially consist of four large masquerade bands—Tribe, Bliss, Harts and Yuma—but might be expanded in the future. 

 

 

THE NEW ROUTE The four bands using the alternative route and venue are not expected to affect the traditional, official parade of bands along Ariapita Avenue. • From the starting point they will go along St Clair Avenue to Damian Street • South along Damian Street to Taylor Street to Maraval Parkway • South to enter the stadium through the western Castro gate. • From the stadium and complex through the east gate, then north on Hamilton and O’Connor Streets onto Ariapita Avenue.”

An official of the implementation arm of the Ministry of Sport said on Thursday: “Right now we are in the midst of finalising contracts. We were approached since October with the concept and idea. This is one of those events that would bring minimum risks to the stadium’s infrastructure, and it represents added revenue for us. The break down and dismantling of its temporary infrastructure must be done within a week after Carnival.” 

 

Dean Ackin, leader of Tribe, said: “The impetus for this idea really originally came from David Lopez,

president of the National Carnival Bands Association (NCBA). He came up with a good idea to explore an alternative route for non-competing bands. “We found it to be a good idea, so this year, when the proposal to reverse the route was rejected, and the congestion problem remained stuck at square one, a couple of the large bands decided to explore the use of the Hasely Crawford Stadium and Jean Pierre Complex as a venue.”

 

The main reason, he explained, was that “drawing thousands of masqueraders away from the Savannah stage in the morning period of Carnival Tuesday would significantly reduce the congestion and gridlock that masqueraders have experienced for the last two decades. “What this also does is that it now gives priority to the competing bands to access the Savannah, the main competition venue.”

 

Ackin added: “At the Socadrome we are creating the Savannah experience for the participating bands. Because it is the first year, we want to have a manageable amount of bands going to the stadium. We are trying to be part of a solution to a serious problem. 

 

“On Carnival Tuesday, 60 mas bands try to cross that Savannah stage in eight hours, an exercise that would take 25 hours. By removing these huge bands, there’ll be considerably more space for bands wanting to compete in the Band of the Year competition to cross the Savannah stage and enjoy their mas.”

 

 

NCBA not in favour

 Lopez said his organisation is not in support of a separate venue for mas. He explained, “The NCBA supported an extension of the route. “However, the NCBA never supported a separate venue and we will definitely not be supporting a separate venue.” 

 

 

In a conference phone interview Thursday, with NCBA Parade of the Bands committee head Sam Lewis present, Lopez added, “For the past five years, the NCBA, through the its subcommittee (the Parade of the Bands committee), has been lobbying for an extension of the parade route and indicated that the non-competing bands, who don’t have a desire to compete in the competition, should have their own route. 

 

 

“This was rejected by the police for a number reasons, the main one being that they did not have the necessary manpower to control the extended route.” Lopez added that again in 2014, there was a request for an extension of the route and a reversal of the direction of the route  to help ease the congestion. But this again was rejected. 

 

 

The new route
The four bands using the alternative route and venue are not expected to affect the traditional, official parade of bands along Ariapita Avenue.
•From the starting point they will go along St Clair Avenue to Damien Street
•South along Damien Street to Taylor Street to Maraval Parkway
•South to enter the stadium through the western Castro gate.
•From the stadium and complex through the east gate, then north on Hamilton and O’Connor Streets onto Ariapita Avenue.”

SOURCE:Trinidad Guardian

Mas from the Hart of the planet

Nigel Celestine, public relations officer for Harts International, is flanked by these beauties.

The beauty and marvel of the earth takes centre stage for Carnival 2011 with the portrayal Planet Rock from legendary mas band Harts International. On August 14, the band unveiled its collection of gems before a capacity audience at the Trinidad Country in Maraval. Gerald Hart is the designer of Planet Rock with 15 sought-after gems: Turquoise in Matrix, Andesine, Aquamarine, Ametrine, Peridot, Moonstone, Howlite, Hematite, Heliodor, Goldstone, Citrine, Chrysocalla, Azurite, Sardonyx and Rhodochrosite.

Designer Gerald Hart with Miss Universe 1998 Wendy Fitzwilliam.

At a time when protecting the environment is hot topic for world leaders and conservationists alike, Harts proved it is in touch and informed with regard to current affairs issues. The band tackled the issue of preserving the earth and cited mankind’s reckless squandering of the planet’s resources; a pattern that must be reversed to achieve sustainability for future generations. Next year’s national festival marks yet another milestone for Harts. It’s the 50th Carnival presentation from the band. Five decades of satisfied masqueraders remains it core value, hence the many and varied creative changes to its approach during the Parade of the Bands competitions.


SEAN NERO

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