-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.
well what do people expect from a visionless govt. they cant get NOTHING RIGHT PERIOD.
I am a guyanese living in st.lucia. After following closely the preparations for carifesta X via online newspaper, i was convinced that the opening ceremony would be quite a spectacle a vision of perfection. I siezed the opportunity to invite my work colleagues and friends ( who always had reservations about Guyana and thinks only the worst of us) to view the televised opening ceremony i did this because i was convinced that we would put on quite a show and dazzle the caribbean thus eliminating some of the negative feelings some caribbean nationals have of our beautiful country. Well to say the least i was extremely disappointed, the audio was bad, it made no sense viewing the transmission, then the program was seriously disorganised and leaves much to be desired.
WE LL I THINK IT WAS A GOOD SHOE GIVEN THE SITUATION ,BUT YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE PEOPLE WILL ING CONDEM .WE ARE A COUNTRY ON THE MOVE IN OTHER WORDS WE ARE A COUNTRY ON THE MOVE WORKING ON IMPROVEMENT, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Well said Torbo! They needed to look at a few clips from 1972.
You know what, some problems are to be expected, but that opening was a disaster. And yoiu can’t blame it all on the rain. I don’t think anybody was expecting Beijing and even the Chinese had hitches, but we could have done much better than this. We were not ready.
I KNOW I’M GOING TO CATCH SOME FLAK ABOUT THIS ONE, BUT I HAVE TO SAY IT WASN’T THE WEATHER THAT WAS RAINING, IT WAS STUPIDITY THAT WAS REIGNING…
I watched the youtube clips…Thank God I didn’t spend my hard earned money to go to this embarrassment…The same ole same ole…unimaginative and jumbled.
Well this only goes to show, if you really need to make a mess of something, then just loose the president and his people at it.
The rain probably created it’s own mess in that “parking lot”, bata will get nuff replacement sales today.
For Carifesta ‘72, there was a full dress rehearsal, I remember, because I was part of it. Besides back then,Guyana had no television so if you saw any visuals about Carifesta ‘72 it had post production work. Post production is where sound and video correction take place so as produce clean viewing.
However, I think the problem, with Guyana TV this time, was that the Marketing, Sales and Advertising people making decisions without full consultation with the Production and Technical folks. They are selling a LIVE transmission that is virtually impossible to attain given the circumstances.
TV Rule #1: Sports is the only event transmitted live on television these days. Even the local news show is a playback of some sort, where a time delay of about 15 to 30 minutes is employed to correct sound and video glitches. This makes for a slick professional transmission with no glitches or hitches.
TV Rule #2: The term ‘LIVE’ relates only to final transmission not CONTENT. Content ought to be researched and or rehearsed before any transmission occurs. Even in a ‘live’ interview situation with a Gov’t exec. on location, the said subject should be fully rehearsed and vetted for content before the camera starts rolling. Apply this theory and the embarrassing viewing problems will disapear promptly.
These failures have nothing to do with the TV station or the Gov’t per se, instead appropiate planning with vision for the unexpected eventuality is the culprict. In other words, Guyana needs more aggressive thinking outside-the-box.
delay is 15-30 seconds not minutes
….. am wondering who r /were the technicians ,,! but i see this as a way to embarass the govt and people of GY,, and an act of DESTABILISATION !,,,,,,
those involved witht he setting up of the “lines” of communication,,, did they rehearse and test the system for failure ,, and pinpoint and coorect same b4 the show !!!!!!!! how simple is that ?
SQUARE PEGS IN ROUND HOLES, SO CALLED TECHICAL QUACKS AND INEFFICIENT PLANNING I THINK IS THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS BUNGLEING. MAKES US ALL LOOK BAD, I CRY FOR MY COUNTRY.
This just add to the Circus act at least it showcases Guyana as the Country with the Best clowns.