“I can still feel like if my body is rocking. I am still feeling the effects of the music. I can still feel it in my ears. It leaves you with a heavy feeling for days,” said 96-year-old Agnes of Irving Street, Queenstown, one of the many residents who have been adversely affected by the many boom boxes set up along that street during the Mashramani float parade. She is a retired public servant and was once one of well-known singers of the Woodside Choir.
“I don’t have nothing against Mash, but they are not a part of Mash because when they are there you cannot even hear the music when the floats are passing. You know, the real Mash music,” she said as she looked through the front windows of her home.
Agnes agreed to speak to me after her plight was brought to my attention by a much younger woman, whose mother is also affected by the yearly boom boxes. The woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, also joined us for the conversation.
“The boxes were right there,” Agnes said, as she pointed across the road from her house. “It was as if I was held captive in my own house. The boxes were there, and the crowd was there,” she said, as she stared into the distance.
For many years Irving Street has been lined with various music boxes, some of them sponsored by the well-known beverage companies, and in recent years some have also been set up in the side streets.
“You know they are so many and it as if they are competing with each other. I thought the spots are for, you know, small vendors who want to make a quick cent. I don’t see them selling plantain chips and so on. Is like big business. If you see cases and cases of beverages,” the soon-to-be centenarian said.
“And I thought, you know, when the float passing they would turn down the music but not so they continue playing,” she added.
The last child for her parents, Agnes said she has been living at the location for over 70 years.
“Mash was Mash when it started. I learned so much about Mash. I grew up with it, it was something spectacular but now what they are doing, especially to the older folks and the children in the area, is not right. It affects them long after,” said the younger woman, who was part of the conversation.
She recalled that on February 9, Agnes and some of the other older residents called her in a panic when they observed that the workers from the Mayor and City Council were marking out spots for vendors. “We said we have to do something, and we wrote a letter and it was published in the newspaper, but it did not make a difference,” she said.
“Queenstown is filled with old people who made tremendous contribution to this country and for them to be treated in this manner…,” the woman said, sadly shaking her head.
“You used to think people respected the elderly but not anymore,” Agnes said.
Agnes recalled when the parade first started there were no vendors on the streets and the road “was just white brick.”
“They started to set up from since the Saturday afternoon and it was like from 9 am the Sunday they start to test out the music. And this year it was the worse, when I saw the music boxes, I did not know it was going to be so loud,” Agnes shared.
“I don’t mind the vendors really, I have no problem with the float parade, it is the music box. And they are not a part of Mash, they are not allowing you to see the Mash because the crowd is building up by the box” she said.
“All day we were telephoning trying to see to see if everyone is alright,” the other woman said.
“I heard the phone ringing, but I couldn’t answer because the box is right in front of my house,” Agnes chimed in.
“And you know they have like gambling or some betting going on because you are seeing people doing things,” Agnes said, adding that she spends most of her time sitting because the music does not allow her to do anything else and lying down only makes it worse.
“By the time the day was over I was afraid that my mother was not going to make it. I start calling the police by late afternoon and I said this is a medical emergency are you going to wait until my mother dies. It was then the police came, and it was turned down but later it came right back on, the music never stopped until around 9.30 pm,” the woman told me, a pained expression on her face.
“The floats were long gone. It was like a street party, it was over 100 decibels and one woman tested it and found that one of the sets was over 113 decibels,” she said.
“It is something that has gotten out of hand. The city council has to do something about it. And it is the big businesses who have the monopoly, bringing several big boxes, taking over the entire block and all trying to outplay each other. We are not getting to hear the local Mash music when the floats are passing and they are not playing any local music,” she lamented.
“We also have to deal with the vendors in the side streets. You have to deal with people urinating and defecating in front of your yard. The next morning, I have to come out with buckets of water to clean the place,” she continued.
“Is like they want us to move out of the neighbourhood on that day but where are the elderly going to go?” she questioned.
“And I pay to have the parapet cleaned but on Mash day it is not my own, the council gives it out,” Agnes pointed out.
The two women also had some sympathy for the workers who have to clean up after the parade.
“It is not an easy job for the garbage workers. They are not treated with respect. They have to work in the hot blazing sun, and they have no water. They are not properly dressed, no gloves, have on slippers.
“We are not complaining about Mash but where is the public spirit?” the woman further asked.
“What is the point of having all the beautiful floats and the beautiful music playing and you can’t hear or see?
“As we said it was worse this year because it was like double the amount of speakers. We want the real mash, we want to be able to see the floats.
“I literally had to sit with my mother the entire day because she was panicking. At one time she was saying that they were in the yard because it was sounding so loud.
“And they are not understanding what they are doing to their hearing and the people who are taking their young children and babies out there, they should know that the medical people have said it damages the cognitive development. People might want to say it is just one day but that one day can cause so much damage,” the woman said.
“Last year the house was shaking and things were falling off the shelf,” Agnes then said.
She spoke of a neighbour who had to replace his louvre panes because they fell out from the vibration.
“We just want it to stop, we don’t want all of this music every year it is not right,” she pleaded.
I hope the council has heard the many pleas of the Queenstown residents and can make some adjustments in time for our country’s 51st Republic celebration.
