Youngsters on big stage

YOUNG artists are stepping up to make Carnival 2024 one of the most memorable yet.

While veterans like Chalkdust and Machel Montano will skip the festival this year, there is no shortage of talent ready to take up the baton.

As was apparent at the rash of fetes over the weekend, Mical Teja looks set to be the frontrunner for this year’s Road March with his song DNA.

The 27-year-old from Gonzales, Port of Spain, is hardly a newcomer, having had a strong presence in Carnivals past, whether onstage performing hits like last year’s Hall of Fame, or through penning songs for other performers, like Kes and Nailah Blackman’s Workout from 2016.

But DNA’s transformative themes of unity, patriotism and urban regeneration – “I feel like I could run in town again” – has hit a strong chord. Trending heavily on social media, which is part of the modern Carnival experience, it is the song to beat.

If youngsters are making their presence felt in soca, they are also doing so in calypso, an art form that has traditionally been associated with older voices.

Last Thursday’s opening of Kaiso House at the Queen’s Park Savannah took the audience on a journey through the generations.

Reigning Calypso Monarch Duane Ta’zyah O’Connor performed alongside his father Duane; Young Poser alongside Poser; and Naheelah “Nefta” Kojo alongside her mother Twiggy. Making a tent debut was Marq Pierre, a former junior calypso monarch.

It was all lapped up by a predominantly mature crowd in an event that was well attended despite a four-hour run time.

On Saturday, there will be even more youth in the house, with the semifinals of the National Junior Calypso Monarch taking place there. If the preliminary round was anything to go by, it will be another delightful showcase.

Of course, young people have always been front and centre of our national festival.

Kiddies Carnival has long been the apotheosis of mas, whether we consider Peter Minshall’s classic design for his adopted sister, From the Land of the Hummingbird – which is set to be commemorated in a special exhibition at Castle Killarney that opens today – to the bands of Rosalind Gabriel in more recent years.

All of this is heartening, especially after the jittery start to Carnival 2024, which saw great anxiety over crime. In this regard, NCC chairman Winston "Gypsy" Peters's recent indication of a strong security presence for the $146 million festival is reassuring, as are the large crowds turning up for events, undaunted.

Clearly there is very little that can keep our people, young or old, from their Carnival. To quote the late Mighty Shadow’s classic song Dingolay: “Old lady, young baby, everybody could dingolay.”