As some of you may know the Ministry of Culture has recently been making strenuous efforts to revitalize the masquerade band in Guyana by providing instruments and workshops for the artistes attracted to this genre. The approach may not have been widely noticed in the media, but it has been going on; trainers are being identified; instruments are being acquired.
The background to this, of course, is that for a couple years now the concern has been that the masquerade band tradition is fading away in Guyana. “Young people are not interested. The real masquerade experts have either retired or passed on. The thing has become stale and repetitious.” Those are the kinds of comments you hear about this part of our culture, and the thrown-together masquerade groups around town this Christmas, with some costumes limited to a scarf around the neck, almost confirm the deterioration.
And then, the Saturday before Christmas, there was the Masquerade Day in Essequibo that was an absolute rocker. Thousands of people, yes, thousands, turned out. By 9 o’clock in the morning, yes, 9 o’clock, hundreds had lined the roadway going into Charity to join in the revelry. Eleven genuine masquerade bands, with all sorts of depictions and costumes, came down the stretch and performed on a main stage, not far from the stelling, to jam-packed crowds. Each group (some had as many as 25 members) had three minutes on stage to be judged for the $200,000 first prize, won this year by the Fire Red Band. The event was sponsored by the private sector and run by the private sector. That’s a brief rundown on what went on.
Although I love the fife and drum music, and wrote a song about it, I’m no expert on the masquerade band. However, I mention this episode to illustrate a wider point, which is that those of us in GT who are engaged in entertainment spectacles, should look and learn from that masquerade event put on by some pretty sharp Pomeroon people.
To begin with, the organizers, headed by Andron Alphonso of Pomeroon Oil, got the private sector motivated to fund the event. Financial support came from major sponsor Banks DIH, and others included Pomeroon Oil, Jeeparts, JoHil and Auto Fashion. They got the support of Regional Chairman Ali Baksh for this event which was started last year, the intention being to create a singular Christmas attraction for the area.
Secondly, they ensured the high standard of the main entertainment – the masquerade bands – by devising a system of points stressing categories including music, costume, crowd appeal, flouncing, and performance on stage. To generate interest, they provided an attractive cash prize for the winner.
They also ensured that they had a good venue (an open stretch with the stage in full view) with all the amenities for the crowd – food, drink, shelter – nearby.
They ensured a strong, fast-moving show. Far too often in these spectacle shows, the thing runs too long; audiences get tired. In Charity, they gave each band three minutes on the judging stage, which meant they came on knowing they had a short time to give it their best shot. Result? Peak performance; on and off; next band. Also, with private sector people running the show, the crowd was spared the tedious official side you can get at these events.
A basic lesson here is that far too often in Guyana, we’re relying on Government to fund or provide entertainment. The example of groups such as Hits and Jams proves time and again that if you mount the right vehicle and run it properly, the private sector finds it to their benefit to support you. The Pomeroon effort started off on the right foot – be self sufficient – and this year, on their second step, they had the ingredients right.
The wider lesson here is that these things in our culture can be made into dynamic periodic entertainments – Christmas; Easter; Mash; Independence; Diwali; etc. – if they are organized and presented properly.
I can’t talk about business generally, but I can tell you that bountiful opportunities exist for us in Guyana to exploit our culture (and I say “exploit” deliberately) and to present spectacle, based on our culture, far better than we often do it now. The demand for it is clearly there, not only for Guyanese visitors from abroad – I met several of them there on that Charity weekend – but also for the residents who I keep hearing are starved for good entertainment. The masquerade show showed a demand met.
Not having been to a function in the Pomeroon for over 40 years, I was astonished at how the area has grown as evidenced in the turnout of thousands; it looked like Carifesta was back, and based at Charity.
Living here again, I can see that one of the legacies of the socialism era in Guyana is that it has left many of us accustomed to waiting on government to generate things that we should be generating ourselves. Ministries must be run ragged with all the requests they get for financial or material support for this or that entertainment event. It is a bad mindset.
Persons involved in presenting entertainment here should learn from the Pomeroon success. Instead of waiting with our arms folded for a cheque from Government, we can make these things fly financially provided we get the ingredients right, for two reasons: an effective show leaves the patrons happy, and the sponsors happy, which means next year your backing, in sponsorship and attendance, is assured.
But the ingredients are the key, and they include a high standard of entertainment, good venue, well-paced shows, proper facilities, and strong sponsorship. That’s the model, and the recent Pomeroon Masquerade show had it right.
