Although the Carifesta X celebrations at the Blairmont Community Centre ground on Sunday started almost two hours late the crowd of thousands had a good time and cheered wildly during the performances. Apart from enjoying the local dances and singing, the audience was thrilled by the HIV/AIDS awareness drama performed by the international edutainment symposium.
However, persons seated far from the stage complained that the dialogue was inaudible. The symposium also treated the audience to dances from the movie “Only the Strong”.
Meanwhile, artistes from The Bahamas entertained with drumming and dancing and the Trinidadians showcased a wedding, called `Tambrin’.
Persons left the programme disappointed as they wanted to see more performances by the international artistes. They also complained that the programme was dominated by Indian dances when there should have been a balance of the other cultures. Coordinator of the event Govin Singh told this newspaper that the expected artistes from England and Brazil did not show up and the other artistes arrived late. He said he was nevertheless ready to commence with the local performers but the Shakti Strings Orchestra did not arrive until 3 pm and took one hour to set up.
The local artistes had gathered at the venue from 1 pm and the sessions were “well-organized” as volunteers were assigned to each group to ensure a smooth flow, according to Singh.
He said persons turned up at the ground from midday and “by 3:30 pm it was filled to capacity.” Organizers distributed 10,000 tickets but were forced to obtain more because of the enthusiastic response.
The cultural segment of the programme ended at 9:30 pm and the Shakti orchestra provided live entertainment until midnight.
Singh said the Carifesta Secretariat had promised to provide a master of ceremonies (MC) from Georgetown but one only showed up at 8:30 pm. In the meantime, he arranged for community advocate Juliet Dukhi to host the proceedings.
