By *Jomo Sanga Thomas
(“Plain Talk” July 4, 2025)
“They gone commercial exploiting the carnival.” — Mighty Chalkdust
Carnival is not a fete. Carnival is a package of cultural entertainment experiences that should showcase high mas, classic calypso, soca, and sweet pan music.
Unless this fact dawns on those responsible for the carnival, our festivities will continue a slow, painful slide into a jump-and-wine activity devoid of all cultural content.
Carnival is not a fete. Carnival ain’t just about getting wet. Carnival is more than glow. Carnival must never be branded solely as insomnia and fire fete. All of these are nice additions to the festival, but they cannot be promoted at the expense of mas, cultural fun, sweet pan music or the uplifting voice of a people’s poet pointing to social ills with biting social commentary.
Maybe to save carnival, we should abandon the hype of 10 days and return to the vigour of two days. With only two days, carnival officials, panmen, mas women, and calypso artists can spend more time creating and delivering a spectacle that is uniquely Vincentian and high in cultural content.
The slow death of carnival can be seen all around us. From the decision to impose a one-song policy for calypsonians to the misplaced emphasis on beauty pageants. The Carnival Development Corporation maintains that some shows are too long, boring and fail to attract crowds. But it offers no suggestions to make the shows lively or entertaining.
The steel Pan has been in intensive care for years. A few years ago, Fire Fete organisers attempted a rescue mission and teamed up with PAN. Within a year, the idea of melding fire and steel was dropped like hot bread. We thought fire liked pan. It stood alone last year. Its promoters ran out of energy and abandoned fire fete altogether. Last Wednesday, the CDC tried to revive the concept under the banner of 360 degrees. We await an appraisal of the heat intensity at Carnival City.
To improve the carnival, we should remove Miss SVG and Miss Carival from the carnival calendar. They do nothing for the culture of carnival. These shows skew perceptions of the festival. They are popular and make money, while pan, mas, and calypso struggle financially; however, carnival attracts regional visitors and nationals from the Diaspora. Few of them come to SVG to witness beauty shows.
Although they remain wildly popular among our women, beauty contests are a parade of brawn over brain. The young women fumble their way through their interviews, while some of us take cruel delight as some contestants engage in embarrassing babble.
Miss SVG attracts the largest single bundle of prizes in carnival, but does nothing to advance carnival or culture. The soca competition, like the pageants, generates revenue, but for how many more years will we be expected to jump, dance, raise our hands, and mash up everything?
Before this year’s carnival is declared the best, biggest and hottest in the Caribbean, we must reflect on the origins of carnival, where we are now, and ways to guarantee future carnivals that are much more than fete. Anything less than a complete review will ensure the continued slide away from carnival as cultural artistry to jumping, waving, wining and grinning.
It is too soon to proclaim that SVG is witnessing a resurgence in good, high-quality calypso. But the songs for this year should warm the hearts of all calypso lovers and the organisers of the calypso competition.
Historically, some calypsonians are notorious for being one-song wonders. So, the one-song format favours them. This year, we witnessed a virtual change of the guard. Veterans like Vibrating Scakes, I-Pa, Abijah, Patches, and Sony Banks failed to get the judges’ nod. Zion-I, Fya Empress, Man Sick, Shannell Mc Kensie, Tahoe, Zangie, I Reality, Shena Collis, Marvo, Dennis Bowman and Johnny Rebel get to do battle with Madzart for the crown. For the first time in living memory, two of the finalists made it to the big yard with songs favourable to the government.
Even with the general improvement in the calypsoes for this year, we must admit that the fine art of calypso writing needs to be cultivated. Many calypsonians had very good topics, but stayed with what first came to mind, rather than disciplining themselves and working just a little harder on their composition.
A negative trend is the celebration of rum. Carnival bigwigs, punch drunk on nonsense, dash away Fantastic Friday and market in its place rum and rhythm. With the level of alcohol consumption and abuse rising rapidly, one longs for songs that promote clean, good fun.
As Carnival goes into high gear, we wish all revellers a healthy, fun-filled, and peaceful celebration.
This piece, with some omissions and revisions, was first published on July 5, 2005.
*Jomo Sanga Thomas is a lawyer, journalist, social commentator and a former Speaker of the House of Assembly in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
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