Mashramani 2007 might have been big and exciting but somehow it paled in comparison to previous years. More specifically, it was not as invigorating as the 2006 float parade, which was full of so much colour and energy.
Maybe it is not that important, but the 2006 celebrations keep coming up in nearly all of the conversations we had during and after the 2007 street party. Some people had expected 2007 to be more impacting but instead it turned out to be somewhat of a bore.
Clearly, the big story was the rivalry between the two phone companies but even that was not enough to make up for the lacklustre celebration. Before we zero in on those two Mash camps here is an account of the day’s celebrations.
For some reason, the float parade never starts on time. No matter what commitment the Mash camps give or what the organisers say prior to the big day it never begins at 10 am or just after. In fact, at 10.30 am just about five floats were assembled and ready to go. But this is something we have come to expect.
When the parade did get going, it was refreshing to see the Christian community out in large numbers supporting the event. They called it a spiritual invasion and we welcomed it. It was good to see them leading the way in song and dance and flooding the streets with a sound you rarely hear at the Mashramani celebrations.
Several other bands paraded down the streets arousing little attention. At times, it was as if they were not even there. Everyone was just waiting to hear the words, “Blue Power” and “Firestorm” though the floats from the ministries were well received. The Ministry of Health was by far the most outstanding of the government floats.
Close to 3 pm, the Blue Power band made a grand entrance at the starting point at Church and Camp streets. This was when things got interesting and exciting. Revellers were out in their numbers, they were fired up and ready to go and the Blue Power anthem was blasting way beyond the Church Street hold-up.
To its credit, GT&T managed to convince many people to wear something blue. Some people were outrageously blue, so when the Mash band started gyrating down the road and persons looking on joined in for some of the action it became this big, blue jam session. It seemed as if the blue power revellers had endless energy to burn because they kept going and going without slowing down.
Eventually, the non-stop action took its toll and by the time they neared the National Park, half of them looked haggard. One onlooker commented that in addition to looking tired, a considerable number of the revellers were a far cry from an appealing sight. But we gave them the thumbs up for doing what many other bands failed to do – put on a good show.
Long after, came the highly anticipated Firestorm. They were not as energetic as Blue Power and had far less numbers but they looked really good, thanks to the creative talent of Facts ‘n Roses. Firestorm was the only Mash band which really showed various segments. Unfortunately Firestorm seemed to have decided that a late night street jam was better than a day one and spent more time on the road than any other band.
Many people left while waiting to see them including us but we managed to catch them on television. They also had the ill fortune of being the band that caused the most commotion on the road which later erupted into chaos.
Though we enjoyed them both and are happy they injected life into the celebrations we still thought Mashramani was boring, and if we were to pick which Mash band was best, we would just say, “Bring back Banks DIH from last year”. thescene@stabroeknews.com
