Elbowing poor people out of Carnival
Trinidad Carnival has become an upper middle class festival. The lower end of the middle class and the poor have, more and more, been elbowed out. Panorama (Sunday) is now an all inclusive for urban Afro and Indo twenty somethings; university grads equally gendered, where pan is a distraction from the real fete and frolic on the Greens.
And after their false appearance at a pan show, the rest of the pan shows are left to the Grand Stand die- hards that looks like a TTARP reunion. Steelbands don’t dare come out on Carnival days without mechanised pan pullers called tractors because the pan pushers are now following the decibelled DJ’s.
Tribe, Yuma and Harts are now the instant brands that all you need to do is add Pisa and enjoy. And they own the town. You have to look hard to find a steelband on the road or in a fete. And now you can’t find a live band in these new brands because it’s all about economics, decibels and non-stop flights of fantasy. No time for real musicians who have the audacity to rest. There is no room for authenticity only dj mixes, cart bars and mobile air conditioned 25 seater rest points to keep the young pros cool.
Meanwhile, Tanty gets left holding the bag for the cost of the rental of her booth around the Savannah where the brands don’t pass. She gets get left holding the wine and makes no jam.
