TT Regiment wins Brass Bacchanal

TT Regiment Band plays Savannah Grass on their way to winning the inaugural Brass Bacchanal competition, North Park, Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain on Carnival Monday night. PHOTO BY ANGELO MARCELLE
TT Regiment Band plays Savannah Grass on their way to winning the inaugural Brass Bacchanal competition, North Park, Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain on Carnival Monday night. PHOTO BY ANGELO MARCELLE

The TT Regiment Band now holds the title as the top brass band as it won the first National Carnival Commission (NCC) Brass Bacchanal competition.

The Police Band came second and some patrons leaving the event jokingly said, “Call Gary, the police get rob.” Imij and Company placed third. The winner got $100,000, second, $75,000, and third, $50,000. Brass Bacchanal was held at North Park, Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain on Carnival Monday.

The Regiment band took the title from its nine other competitors. Each band had eight minutes of performance time with four dedicated to a vocalist and the band, and the other four with the band alone. Some bands musically alluded to the brass sounds of yesteryear, like Roaring Lion’s Netty Netty, and some infused Latin and Samba flavours in their mix.

NCC chairman Winston “Gypsy” Peters described it as a “calendar” event saying that he knew the event would have been well attended.

He estimated that the Monday night event had about 7,000 to 8,000 people.

Some patrons did the “three step” to the hits of today and yesterday, like Black Man Feeling to Party and Hookin’ Meh. Although the event was scheduled to start at 8 pm, it did not get begin until 9.17 pm. There was a little complaint about the delayed start as patrons enjoyed themselves dancing to the DJ music. Darryl "Farmer Nappy" Henry and Marvin "Swappi" Davis were guest performers.

The first band on stage was Nadia Batson and Sass who were plagued by sound problems and had to start over. The bands then came steadily with slight pauses during which the DJ stepped in.

Peters said that he was “exceedingly pleased” with the event and he understood that it would have been this way.

“I have been in Carnival for the last 50 years, so I understand this very well. I know that this is a void in Carnival.

“There are a couple of things that have to be done in Carnival in order to make it successful and so this is one of them. This is a calendar event. This needs to be here,” he said of Brass Bacchanal and its turnout.

Asked about the constant sound problem, Peters said technology is as such that Murphy’s Law always comes into play. “What could go wrong, will go wrong and these are things that I have seen happen in massive concerts all over the world and we are no exception,” Peters said.

At one point, Peters stopped the event to say that the people hired to run the bar did not have proper documentation and asked anyone in the crowd with badges, looking for employment, to come and they would be granted instant jobs.

Asked if people came forward, he said he got a lot of people coming forward. He estimated that about 60 people did so.

He added that when he saw that 1,500 tickets were pre-sold, he knew “we were going to come up to what I wanted.”

He promised that next year’s Brass Bacchanal would be bigger and better.

“Whatever needs to be tweaked will be tweaked. This is a people’s event and is for people of all ages. It is an event that teaches people discipline, the discipline of competition.”

He said the event showed young people that they can use the brass instrument and be successful.

“You can actually learn to play the instrument. Those are playing it already with no place of expression. We give them a place of expression. Come here and we can keep on moving on so that people can once again, when they want brass bands from anywhere they would come to TT to get our brass band,” Peters said.

Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said everyone was overwhelmed by the support for the event.

“There were many naysayers who said that on Carnival Monday night we can never get these people to come into the North Park and have this event. But it shows that people are looking for the authentic brass experience that we had in TT before,” she said.

She added that Carnival Monday was a “prime” place for the event and captured people who wanted to do something on Monday night.

“So I am very, very pleased and happy to see the response of the crowd not just to the event but the music that is being played and it is almost like a jazz festival within the Carnival.

“It shows the versatility and beauty of the North Park and really shows that this was good initiative to use this space in this way and bring back the brass into the Carnival,” she said.

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