Though there was an instance where no power (a blackout) shut down the Blue Power jam for a minute, GT&T has taken the lead by jumping out in front with a large coming-out party showcasing segments of the costumes to be used in its band come February 23.
With Mashramani right around the corner and several other bands yet to launch, the promotion put on by GT&T may prove hard to surpass. The 16-year-old company will be presenting a large contingent the number of which up to the time of writing had not yet been publicized. From the talk going around band coordinators are expecting to “lock off the road”.
Revellers who choose to prance down the road with the GT&T band can expect to follow the leaders in the form of King and Queen of the band floats. While on the road, the high energy Blue Power theme song, an entry for the Road March title will keep revellers and observers alike well oiled up.
The costumes are mostly blue with the traditional celebratory sequins in abundance. Though the second segment of costumes with some striped outfits looked a bit like pajamas maybe criticism could be withheld until all components of the band including the floats are displayed. In the meantime Olympia Small-Sonaram and Derek Moore could be credited with contributing to Guyana’s cultural heritage.
The live entertainment of GT&T’s Mash Band launching never did get started till 9 pm not a bad start time if the gates were open at 8 pm, but they were open from 4 pm and this contributed to a slightly tired posse by the time Alison Hinds got around to doing her thing at somewhere around midnight.
Kicking off with the Brutal Jammers Band which did a number of tracks popularized by the Fire Clan Band, in addition to a number of soca and reggae tracks the live show got off to a rocking start. Passion and Malo passed through along with Jory straight out of the Brutal Jammers camp, Brutal Recordings took it away really hyping the crowd with his intro, which sizzled to a mild appreciation in the end and got some laughs with his ‘Cellink Jingle’.
This tended to be the trend most of the night, the artistes arrived on stage to loud applause then by the second verse of their “pull up” interest seemed to wane. No sweat, even Alison had to work on Sunday and she did.
Gracing the stage GT&T all star Celeste David did a new track on the ‘cricket rhythm’ and “Back it up”. Timeka Marshall and Fireclan did the “Blue Power” theme song and a contingent of revellers in GT&T costumes helped her to pull it off. First Born dropped a new track “Got my own style” along with show tracks “Bounce dem Head”, “Headlines” and others.
Alison herself dropped a new track “Caution” along with her regular songs. Her set was heightened by the acceptance of her invitation to get on stage by a Berbice patron who represented, “fe de man dem”. The low point of her presentation was when power going to the stage suddenly shut down shortly after Alison began her set. However life goes on power was restored and revelry in the Thirst Park soca venue didn’t stop till 1 am on Sunday. [email protected]
