|
Grenada Carnival 2006/2007 Season
The first presentation was made by the new Chairperson of the Committee,
Dr. Trevor Friday. Dr. Friday used the opportunity to focus on the
economic impact of the Carnival season. One very telling statistic that
came out of Dr. Friday’s presentation was the fact that twenty three
percent (23%) of all stay over visitors over the last six (6) years
visited Grenada during the months of July and August.
The new Manager of the Grenada Cultural Foundation, Miss Jacqueline
Alexis and the Minister of Tourism and Culture the Hon. Senator Brenda
Hood, both expounded on the economic significance and cultural
importance of the Carnival season.
The Grenada Mas Band Association, Steelband Association and both Calypso
Associations hinted at what could be expected of the various components
for the upcoming Carnival season.
Eight (8) steelbands will be contesting this year’s Panorama competition
while five (5) steelbands will challenge AGD Whiz Kids for the Junior
Panorama title. The Panorama Launch will take place on Sunday July 09th
at the Netball Court in Tanteen. The Steelband Association also pointed
out that there will be more bands on the streets come Carnival Monday
and Tuesday.
Additionally, on Panorama night, Saturday August 12th, the Grenada
Carnival Committee will host a show featuring Machel Montano and Xtatik.
The Machel show and Panorama will be twinned and held at the same venue
so that a ticket to both events will be cheaper than a ticket to the
Machel show only.
There will be significant improvements for the 2006 Calypso and Soca
season as indicated by the Calypso Associations.
(1) For the purposes of judging, the Calypso and Soca preliminaries will
be held jointly, under a structure comprising four (4) tents.
(2) The number of Artistes competing in the Soca Monarch preliminaries
will be limited to one hundred (100). The Grenada Carnival Committee,
the Judges Association and the Calypso Associations will develop a
formula to determine who the one hundred (100) Artistes will be after
all the Artistes who would have registered for the preliminary stage of
the Soca Monarch competition.
(3) While a plethora of Artistes will perform on any given night, within
the tent structure, the tents will hold auditions to determine the
Artistes best qualified to face the judges. No more than fifteen (15)
Calypsonians, per tent, will face the judges during the preliminary
stage of the Calypso competition.
Two new Calypso events have been added to the National Carnival
schedule. GPACT’S Groovy Soca Monarch which will take place on Wednesday
August 09th and the all new KAISOCA competition. The finalists of the
KAISOCA competition will be required to compete with a Calypso and a
Soca rendition. The finalists of that competition will be determined by
the scores from the preliminary stages of both the Soca Monarch and
Calypso competitions. The KAISOCA competition will take place on Sunday
August 06th.
All the Parishes including Carriacou and Petit Martinique and with the
exception of St. Mark’s were also able to give a very good account of
things to come. Spicemas will be truly national with the Parishes of St.
John’s, St. Mark’s, St. Patrick’s and St. David’s hosting the Calypso
and Soca Monarch preliminaries. The semifinals of both these
competitions will be held at the Victoria Park in Grenville, St.
Andrew’s.
BEGINNING WITH THE CHILDREN’S CARNIVAL FROLIC ON SATURDAY AUGUST 5TH AND
ENDING WITH PAGEANT ON MONDAY AUGUST 12TH, ALL SHOWS HOSTED BY THE
GRENADA CARNIVAL COMMITTEE WILL TAKE PLACE AT THE TANTEEN PLAYING FIELD.
Pan
News Digest
|