By Iana Seales
Carifesta’s return to Guyana has been talked about for 36 years and today an opening ceremony befitting the magnitude of the moment has been promised at the Providence Stadium with a diverse group of performers accompanied by parachuting and pyrotechnics.
With only snippets of the opening being fed to the media in an effort to preserve that element of surprise the ceremony is top secret but of what is known, Guyana hopes to take it to another level by pulling together a performing pool of 3,328 persons for the opening act- reputedly the largest ever for a Carifesta opening ceremony.
For nearly five hours Guyana will display before the region its rich culture drawing on the youthful exuberance of over 1,000 of the nation’s children whose talents range from dance and music to drumming, flouncing and drama, and also the seasoned and rising stars of Guyanese culture.
The ceremony will also feature a rich diversity of Caribbean culture and includes performances from delegations visiting from Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname among others. Trinidad and Tobago’s showpiece to be executed by the Malik performers is being touted as one of the major highlights of the ceremony.
Performance highlights will also include a combined children’s choir of more than 300 voices presenting a taste of the Caribbean and the National Dance Company and a combined Indian dance troupe in excess of 100 dancers are also expected to thrill. Guyana’s reggae stars First Born, the Yoruba Singers and Dave Martins are also among the most talked about performers who will be on show. Among other performers to be on stage are Rikki Jai; Black Stalin and the Alakondre Drum Orchestra from Suriname.
Reigning calypso monarch Young Bill Rogers is said to be the only performer in his genre who will be on stage later today and in a tribute to his father he will perform the popular Shanto tune, ‘West Indian weed woman’ which Bill Rogers wrote.
A 100-piece steel band featuring the joint services and the Ministry of Culture’s band is also expected to be on show today but if there is one certainty at today’s opening, it is the fireworks display that CLICO has sponsored. The company said it hopes to provide a display that is a symbol of Guyanese pride, and in the past they have done so at Independence celebrations.
CARICOM in a release last evening said all the elements will come together in Celegacy [celebrate and legacy] for the opening ceremony which it said will begin with a parachute jumping display put on by the members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
The release also stated that President Bharrat Jagdeo will declare the festival open while other speakers will include Suriname’s President, Ronald Runaldo Venetiaan; Minister Dr. Frank Anthony and CARICOM Secretary General, Edwin Carrington.
Dr. Paloma Mohammed-Martin, Artistic Director of Carifesta X could only manage to say yesterday that she has been stretched thin but is loving it. She has much riding on the execution of the opening ceremony and what is in store.
But in a few yet self-assured words Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony said yesterday that “this is our moment and we are ready”. He would reveal no more on the ceremony except to say that it will certainly thrill.
But as the Minister fielded questions from the media yesterday at his last press briefing before Carifesta opens, he made mention of lighting around the stage at the stadium still being looked into but noted that everything will be in place before the ceremony gets underway at 4:30 pm.
He disclosed that the opening ceremony will be televised live on the National Communications Network (NCN) in its entirety, adding that the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) is also onboard to broadcast it across the Caribbean.
Anthony said interest in the opening ceremony was overwhelming but pointed out that many Guyanese will have to watch it from home owing to the limited amount of seating that was available.
The Minister said also that monitors have been set up around the stadium for persons to view the action from various angles, particularly those who were unable to obtain tickets for the opening.
He said security remains high on the agenda since the personal safety of Guyanese and the visiting delegations is paramount. Anthony said random roadblocks will be set up as routine checks are going to be carried out on vehicles. According to Anthony, there are no apologies to be made with respect to the searches.
Further, he said that all systems are at go with back-up generators in place and parking and traffic arrangements in place to ensure that persons get to the stadium without any pile-up of traffic. He noted that there is a committee set up to deal specifically with such issues, adding that they have been working on it assiduously.
