-Notes from on the ground

The world was watching, and we had to be nothing less than fabulous. What we witnessed was a fine display of disorganization and mismanagement.

The day began ominously with overcast conditions, but even after the heavy downpour had abated Guyana’s CARIFESTA dreams were awakened to a nightmare reality. It could not be the start that the organizers had in mind during the past year of planning.

After several weeks of frenzied final preparations, the debacle that was last night’s opening ceremony at the Guyana National Stadium will no doubt rekindle concern over the country’s state of readiness to host the regional festival. The packed programme was not the dazzling extravaganza that was supposed to be a celebration of our legacy, the “Celegacy” as it was dubbed.

Few things went smoothly after the rain delayed the start by a full hour. The thousands on hand saw delegations that did not want for spirit, though many of them wanted for numbers as they queued into the stadium. The planned parachute jump was dumped from the programme without explanation. The parade of nations was badly coordinated, to say the least, while many of the presentations that followed did not make their desired impact. There can be no other explanation than the poor sound design that made a muddle of most of the presentations, which were met with very cool receptions. It also did not help that one of the intended highlights of the night, the thousand-children segment, was poorly choreographed, while a number of the performers did not receive their costumes. It all combined to make the showcase of the diverse origins of the region’s people lost in translation.

Of course, there were exceptions, including the National Steel Orchestra, the local reggae quintet First Born and the Guyana and Trinidad masquerade troupes, all of them rousing the restless crowd into cheers. (All throughout people had continuously filed out, their seats quickly filled by those unawares filing in.)
In the end, all the performers could do was put on their bravest faces and press on, which was perhaps exactly what was needed to save the night from becoming a complete failure. The most vivid sight of the evening was the sea of people who converged on the ground as the ceremony came to a close with a massive fireworks barrage. It was their moment of triumph and a poignant reminder: ultimately, CARIFESTA is not about pageantry; it is about celebrating our people and their creativity. After such an inauspicious start, we should not let them down.