St. Lucian Carnival 2008 was a blast! On July 21 and 22, revellers both local and foreign paraded the streets of the island’s city of Castries, displaying costumes created by talented designers, representing different bands and dancing to a variety of music produced by amazing artists. A speculator said that “if someone is unimpressed by this, he [or she] is either deeply religious or has no idea what a good time is!”

Meteorological abnormality: Man – Made Seasons

Within the Caribbean, meteorologists recognize that opposed to northern and southern continents, the tropics experiences two seasons, “The Wet or Hurricane season” and the “Dry Season”; however to the locals there are three, the third being… The Carnival Season. 

The Glamour, the excitement, the dancing and parading, the costumes, the shows and the music are part of an exquisite time of Caribbean life. This year St. Lucian Carnival experienced one of its best years. To create this extravagant event a series of shows and competitions help facilitate and contribute to the entire occasion. A breakdown of the details can be explained as Simultaneous constructions of different levels of a building coming together at different stages to reveal a master piece. In the end, two days are reserved as holidays to allow for the parade.

The Preparation

Before much activity is publicized, sponsors are needed and for the first time in St. Lucian history the main sponsor was a new mobile phone company called Digicel. The Caribbean based telecommunications server out bided its adversary Cable and Wireless which previously dominated all sponsors. With a new main sponsor came new activities, some being a more extensive “Opening of Carnival”, entailing many performances at the Island’s city and to the north of the Island, at the quickly developing entertainment district of Gros Islet, more specifically Rodney Bay.

Another impressive newbie is that of the band’s display of their prototypes of new carnival costumes in a fashion runway like manner at the “Opening of Carnival” show.All costumes displayed had the basic bikini wear with their unique decal/ décor. One of the first costumes this year to be sold out was Red Internationals madras based costume within the female section; comprising of bright yellow and plaid-like mix of red, blue and orange. All prices of costumes ranged from over 300 to 600 and even over 700 Eastern Caribbean Dollars for VIPs. With those lovely and exotic costumes on display which lure the hundreds to “play Mas”, what can revellers dance to? In response to this, local artists have always put together some “Soca” and some “Calypso”.

Musicians

Some leading St. Lucian Soda artistes are:     
Ninja Dan,
Kakal,
Nicole David,
Qpid
Mantius                                       

   Some leading Calypsonians are:
Invader
Herb Black
Educator
Mighty Pep
Tricky
Lady Leen
Pelay,
Lady Spice
Wally

To accompany the singers are the well known bands:  

Matrix
Wezon
Reasons
T.E.M.
Vertex

The Competitions   

In the Caribbean excitement is Key and naturally since every artist is coming with their best, competitions are set up to decide who truly is the best in their genre. Two major winners for this year are considered to be Herb Black who has returned to the competition since his absence in 2004; a time of exile which he phrases as “Calypso Jail” and the second artist being Ricky – T who has been very successful over the past few years; his music reaching Jamaican dancehalls and creating the “wham to dem” hype (a line included in almost all his singles). Herb Black’s success entailed winning both the Soca and Calypso Competition with his songs Suzette, a major crowd favourite and “What you bringing” respectively. Ricky –T won the “Road march” Title with his song “Undertaker.” Apart form vocal artists, carnival bands usually employ a Pan orchestra or two to provide some music for their revellers, just to make things a bit more interesting.

Now that the music has been arranged, other competitions take place like the Carnival Queen Pageant with young ladies competing for the title of most elegant, most talented most intellectual and most capable of wearing a costume with exquisite style. Another is the King and Queens of the bands, which entails selected revellers displaying large, elaborate costumes normally portable via tiny wheels since the costumes are so extensive that they may be heavy. Panorama, the competition of Pan Orchestras takes place the Friday before Carnival Monday and Tuesday.

The Parade, Carnival, “J’ouvert”

After all the displays, all the competitions and all the pre-shows, the actual days come with the power to stop traffic, literally, as the highway to the north of the island is closed until the end of each day’s event. In addition, the city’s central was so clogged with crowds of people that vehicular movement was almost impossible until the end of the parade; this coupled with limited options for alternative routes due to road blocks to clear the parade route.Each band would have different sections, marked off with their own names defining each theme a must to distinguish each section and each band with their plethora of colourful costumes, decorated with beads, feathers, rhinestones and much more.

Some revellers came in high heels, some in sneakers, some even barefooted as the high heels become unbearable. Revellers short or tall, big or small came out to enjoy themselves and dance along the streets of Castries. Some enhanced their appearance with glitter, spray paint, body paint and coloured soft clay rubbed onto their bodies, which was supposed to appear as mud. 

On the road other complimentary treats for carnival patriots were found. With drinks and even in some cases food included in the cost, what more can revellers ask for? Simple, showers of cool water together with sprays of bubbles and foam, even the rare and discreet portable toilet for those, who when nature calls, she screams.

Music streamed out of speakers piled high on trailer trucks carrying bands and hired singers or Pan Orchestras. Many enjoyed sitting or standing on the trailer trucks when tired or to look down at the sea of colour.

Some major Bands which participated in the city parade were:

Mas Action, which took home the gold for “Band of the Year”, continuing the back and forth motion of the exchange of the title from last year’s previous winner Xs Energy.
Xs Energy, last year’s winner of “Band of the Year”
Rituals
St. Lucia Spirit
Cozy Guzzlers
Just 4 Fun
Red International, a recent addition to the major bands. This new edition, an affiliate of a Trinidadian band, numbered in the hundreds from its first debut and continued to do so. 

St. Lucian Carnival could not have ended better for 2008, and as the sun set and some revellers left in boats by the waterfront, many realised apart from the foam covered roads, everyone left with smiling faces.