An empty North Stand, a too long Dimanche Gras, decrease in road spectators, violence on the road and zero mas on Monday. These are the complaints coming from Carnival stakeholders subsequent to this year’s festival. Most of the criticism was levelled at the National Carnival Commission (NCC), as the organisation took over responsibility of Parade of the Bands.
Prior to this year, the Parade of the Bands was organised by the National Carnival Bandleaders Association (NCBA.) In an interview yesterday, president of the T&T Carnival Bandleaders Association (TTCBA) Rosalind Gabriel said the NCC needed to work closer with bandleaders next year.
She added: “There was no meeting with bandleaders this year to discuss the parade route.
“The route was decided by the NCC and the police with no input from bandleaders so if there was confusion on the road, it was because we weren’t consulted.
“Bandleaders need to be involved in the process. We have been before. This is the first year we haven’t been involved.”
Gabriel said this year she had been able to watch mas on television for the first time in years.
“I was shocked and distressed when I watched on Monday. There was literally nothing to see.
“There was nothing, no mas. Monday wear is killing Carnival Monday,” she said.
Gabriel said the situation made her very unhappy. She said she was also unhappy about the Dimanche Gras event, sentiments echoed by NCC chairman Kenny de Silva.
“It was long and boring. Also, Dimanche Gras is supposed to have the three elements of Carnival — mass, calypso and steelpan — but all that was left was calypso.”
Gabriel said suggestions had been made before Carnival 2016 to decrease the number of finalists and limit the number of performances in the Calypso Competition to one song. She expressed hope that the suggestions would be taken into consideration by the NCC in 2017.
“I think the mas being excluded was a big mistake and then there was this disturbing skit that was inappropriate for young audiences in the middle. Something was very wrong,” she added.
President of NCBA, David Lopez, said he witnessed congestion on the road on Carnival Tuesday and noted that streets previously used as emergency streets, such as Maraval Road, was used by some bands.
“Where was the route? It was total chaos in Carnival.”
Lopez also criticised the NCC’s reversal of decisions to put structure in the competition.
“We had a rule that in order to win the band of the year competition, you had to play mas for two days,” he added.
He said Monday mas had nothing to offer spectators.
“The North Stand was empty because there was nothing to see. Why would people come out to watch mas when there is no mas?” he asked.
In an interview yesterday, NCC chairman Kenny de Silva said stakeholders would soon meet for post-analysis of the festival.
“From what I observed though, I can tell you the North Stand was completely empty and that concerns us.
“We had a fair number of bands despite the Socadrome and the extempore finals was really good,” he said.
He added that the NCC would take another look at improving the Dimanche Gras in terms of the length of the show.