Present in Tobago for the hosting of the sister island’s historic Carnival last weekend, the chairman of the National Carnival Commission (NCC) made a telling comment.
“They put on a good show and I think it’s going to grow and get better, and that’s the most important thing to get better from here,” he said.
These comments are due to the fact that the Tobago Carnival planners, and indeed the political hierarchy on the sister island, had rejected an approach for assistance from the NCC.
They desperately wanted to go it alone and make a statement of their own, in their inaugural staging of their version of this iconic festival.
Similar comments came from some of the personalities involved in making it happen, from an entertainment point of view. As our report on the first blush of this innovative event suggests, the artists themselves have come out with a bang.
There were some “hiccups,” both Zan and Kernal Roberts admitted. For them, however, such teething problems could easily be brought into focus and improved for the second edition, perhaps around the same time next year. There are issues to consider, for sure. These include quarrels among some in Tobago’s cultural elite, who believed that much of what was displayed was an attempt to replicate Trinidad’s Carnival.
“Beads and bikinis,” sneered a Tobago cultural nationalist, complaining that there was little, if anything, done to represent the island’s ethos.
However, with more planning time, there is ample scope to consider some sort of collaboration with the NCC, which is really a publicly funded agency in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
As to whether or not those promoting the retention of some measure of the notion of “ah ne ting” culturally speaking, within this mix, time will tell. Issues involving greater airlift and increased capacity for accommodation and ground transportation are on the table for these ongoing discussions. One thing is for sure, however, this first event has weathered storms, real and virtual.
As the first effort produced in months, the organizers can be very proud of what they have delivered. The overall response and participation in the shows and events has been more than satisfactory. As a sort of reward, too, this was a virtually crime-free period of celebration.
Going forward, the review of the THA should include feedback from all stakeholders, including the Tobagonian public and visitors.
One must consider the controversies that erupted over the awarding of building contracts and planning permissions in relation to the so-called offshore phase. Officials must also prioritize an accountability framework, something the KKK itself has yet to establish.
For now, however, all those involved in the planning and execution of this first Tobago Carnival should be allowed a moment to bask in the glow of a successful and credit-worthy addition to the calendar of cultural activities of the country.
