Tobago has ‘the worst Carnival’

KINNESHA GEORGE-HARRY

Mas veteran Lue-Ann Melville has captured the Tobago Band of the Year title with her presentation, Caribbean Connection.

The Roxborough-based Lue-Ann Melville & Associates amassed 1,462 points to take the senior large band category.

Speaking with Newsday on Thursday, Melville had not yet received the news officially, but said proudly, “I worked hard for this.”

She said she was glad she had won, and knew she would.

But Melville also said several failures in the past had left her less excited about this year’s results.

“This is our second title, but I know I have won many more than that.”

She has no celebratory plans in mind yet.

Melville also weighed in on the continued discussions of whether Tobago should have its own Carnival separately from Trinidad.

“It would be better to do it, because Tobago Carnival...needs more pep.”

She says she also goes to Carnival in Grenada and other places “and the worst Carnival you can find is Tobago, not even Trinidad, just Tobago.

“Everybody does leave and go Trinidad and play mas. We need the Trinidadians to come up and help us too, to lift up the Carnival in Tobago,” Melville said.

Band leaders: Tobago mas dying

Tobago Mas Bands Leaders co-chairman Terrence Sandiford also believes the island should have its own Carnival.

“That is what would bring economic value to Tobago. That is what would help with the GDP (gross domestic product). This Carnival here, I’m sorry to say but it cannot get no bigger and better.”

Sandiford added,”We need to have three and four luxury liners parked up outside there, we need to bring 10,000 people to Tobago, we need to have this thing as a seven days activity that has drumming and the whole shebang.

“It can only happen with a high degree of integrity and planning, and for people to have foresight, to have vision, to see exactly how this can improve.”

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday before announcing the results of the mas competitions, Sandiford told reporters: “A post analysis will be conducted to find out where it is that things fell down, where is it that we can improve, where it is that we can cut some fat off it.”

He added: “We would try our very best during the first phase of this month that is coming, March, to try to iron out our problems and try to put things in place.”

Spectators on Carnival Monday and Tuesday complained about the late start and lengthy delays between bands on the road in Scarborough during J’Ouvert, parade of the bands on Monday and Tuesday and Monday night mas.

Sandiford said band leaders must accept some of the esponsibility as the public was promised bands would have been on the streets by 1pm on Carnival Monday and 11 am on Carnival Tuesday.

“Sad to say, on Tuesday the first band that left old market car park was close to 3 pm, and it’s embarrassing. You cannot afford to charge members of the public $600/$700 to play in a costume and you now leaving to go on the road at 4 pm. The competition ends at 6 pm. And so, a review must be had and serious discussions must take place and if it means altering the time till later down in the evening going into the night, something must give, but you cannot tell the public 11am or 1pm and you strolling in 3pm or 4pm.”

Acknowledging that the bands have decreased in size over the years, Sandiford said the art form is dying in Tobago and needs to be aided “sooner rather than later.”

“We have to go back to the schools; we have to develop over again a developmental programme geared for developing mas in schools not only on a one-off or only when Carnival comes, but during the year.

“We have to teach people who are not academically inclined at this time and so these overtures must be made early o’clock so that we could rectify it and have it in place for 2021,” he said.

Melville: I worked hard

Melville said the victory was the result of a lot of hard work. The lead-up to Carnival preparations was not smooth.

“I had to go into my savings for money...as they only gave us these grants the same week of Carnival.”

Placing second overall was Stoute’s Next Generation with Tobago Beyond Beautiful, led by Candice Chang-Sandy. Sabrina Sevrio’s Zain Carnival walked away with third place with its presentation of À MA MÉRE.

In the large category, Tobago Beyond Beautiful by Candice Chang-Sandy copped the second spot, while Tele Cruz’s Fog Angels was third with Special Edition – A World Celebration.

In the medium category, Astra Winchester’s the Enchanted Forest came top. Second was Yvonne George’s Splendour Deep, and Lindley Melville Hummingbird Flight took the third place.

Sevrio’s Ama Mere won the small category, and Robert Marshall’s Happy Lost Sailors took the second spot with Vernella Alleyne-Toppin’s We Kulture We Ting in third place.