Notting Hill Carnival is here to stay because it “means a lot to a lot of people”, its organizer has said ahead of the event’s return after a three-year hiatus.
Matthew Phillip, Carnival’s chief executive, said Europe’s biggest street festival, which was forced online during the pandemic, was stronger than ever, with 2 million people expected to gather and celebrate in west London this weekend bank holiday
“Carnival means a lot to a lot of people to leave and never come back,” he said. “For the last two years we haven’t had a carnival, we’ve used technology to celebrate it online, but you can’t have a carnival if it’s not on the streets.”
Phillip said the event was a proud display of the capital’s diversity, “a signal to say ‘we’re here and we’re proud to be here. This is our identity.”
He added: “Human beings are social creatures and carnivals should be the main social event, especially after the last two years we’ve had. It’s pretty rare that you can see so many people from different walks of life, backgrounds, religions, just at ease with each other, enjoying and expressing themselves, whether they’re musicians with a steel band, using a sound system or in a suit. .
The carnival, which has been taking place in the streets of London’s Notting Hill area since 1966, celebrates Afro-Caribbean culture and unites different communities in London. And the hunger to participate in this activity has not diminished. The number of mas bands and static sound systems has increased this year, to 84 and 38, respectively.
Mikey Dread, whose Channel One sound system has been in place since 1982, said two years of lockdowns and isolation had made the carnival more important than ever.
“It’s a chance to go out and listen to music all day for free. Everyone can’t wait to come back,” he said. “A lot of people because of the pandemic have a different mentality now, they’re thinking: well, I’d better go and enjoy myself because you never know what tomorrow might bring.”
Dread, who took the name Channel One as a tribute to Channel One’s legendary studio in Jamaica, said he and his brother Jah T’s mission was to break down barriers with reggae music. “We entertain people, that’s what we’re in the game for. The music we play hasn’t changed. No doubt there will be many new people who have never experienced carnival before who will discover roots music by seeing us live.”
Linett Kamala, an artist, DJ and educator, said the importance of bringing back the carnival was great. “As the largest community-led gathering of its kind on the planet, it was hard not to be able to come together and celebrate in the way we’re used to,” she said.
Nicknamed the “queen of the sound system”, Kamala became one of the first female carnival DJs at the age of 15. Thirty-seven years later, she is the manager of the same static sound system that hosted her first performance, Disya Jeneration, and a carnival board of directors.
This year she has created a new mural outside the Studio West gallery celebrating the largely unknown story of Rhaune Laslett, a community activist and key organizer of the first Notting Hill Festival, which would evolve into Carnival.
“The return is the moment that millions of carnival fans in Notting Hill like myself, the West London community and the Caribbean communities have been waiting for,” said Kamala. “I think it is important to pay tribute to those who have given us this incredible heritage, such as individuals such as local activist Rhaune Laslett, who in the 1960s worked in partnership with those who came from the Caribbean, sometimes referred to as the Windrush generation . create a small children’s parade, which over the years has grown into an event attended by millions of people.”
Three years of work have gone into organizing this year’s event, with planning starting immediately after Carnival in 2019. For the first time this year, the parade will be streamed in its entirety on the event’s website and YouTube channel, while a stage of re ramp will give the judges a clearer view of the masqueraders and costumes.
Members of the Emancipated Run Crew, a running community that aims to increase diversity in sport, will lead the parade dressed in green, in honor of those who died in the Grenfell Tower tragedy five years ago.
Another first is the inclusion of a fully electric truck, the first step in working with groups to look at more sustainable options for years to come. Developed by the Carnival Village Trust, the truck debuted at the Glastonbury festival in June.
Phillip said: “In the future we aim to replace diesel trucks and diesel generators with new and emerging technologies such as battery power.”
