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Calypso! Carnival! Regattas! On St. Maarten
By:Kriss Hammond
Calypso! Carnival! Regattas! On St. Maarten
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The planes get smaller, the Antilles get lesser, the Carib beat gets more distinct, the further you fly into the Caribbean's Windward Islands.
I love the Caribbean, especially during Carnival, and my new party central discovery is Dutch Sint. Maarten, the crossroads of the Greater and Lesser Antilles. St. Martin holds 29,000 French souls on 20 square miles of volcanic rock, while 37,000 people share 17 square miles on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten. As a demarcation of meridians, ths island counts 82 nationalities as citizens, including Haitian, American, German, African, European, Canadian, Guyana, and all other Carib island people. With this diverse mix, no wonder the island's music is a conglomerate of polyglot sounds. Everyone seems to turn out for Carnival, and many turn in late, or not at all.
Even though I spent only one week at Carnival out of the 17 days of non-stop beat, from April to early May in 2002, I grooved into the spirit like music notes on a score sheet.
Compared to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Sint Maarten is a laid back vibe with an ease of moving around, except when gargantuan, two-story towers of speakers, called tractor trailer trucks snake down Front Street.
Our jetted-in contingent of revelers gazed with awe at the Grand Carnival Parade from the balcony of the famous Bearden Art Gallery on Front Street. We had a box seat and could reach out and touch the visible vibration posing as steel band floats "gliding" down the narrow 17th Century avenue like one huge note—LOUD—with every steel drum on the island participating. Each float was followed by a choreographed bevy of island beauties, brightly costumed young female Carnival celebrants, with massive feathered headdresses, flags fluttering, shimmering bright mono colors, gilt and sparkle, rotating so spectators could pop a photo.
We followed the parade (actually the entire island that could walk, crawl, or stroll, followed the towers of power) to the Carnival Village, in reality, a huge empty parking lot behind Back Street, where the carnival stage presented the first band of the evening, and where vendors' food stalls dispensed $1 Carib beers and spiced chicken BBQ to 10,000 carnivalers.
The carnival theme was: "We Potpourri of Splendor and Fun."
The carnival season celebrates Netherland's Queen Beatrix' birthday, culminating on April 30. It takes a couple of more days to wind down from the month long party, so they toss in a holiday for rest, and the carnival spills into May, with the Last Lap Jump Up and presentation of prizes and burning of the straw King Momo on the final day. Carnival is a historical festival "Jump Up," a sea of unification with no borders or generation gaps, banging through the island for over 30 years. The Queen wasn't present, and I doubt anyone really cared if she was having a birthday—it was just an excuse to "ParTee." Everyone was here for the music!
When the bands played, I knew why they called it a "Jump Up."
The Rolling Tones
The headline marquee one evening was the Caribbean group that was restarted in 1994 by well-known businessman Adolphus Richardson, an original member of the band's first generation, formed in 1964, with him as trumpeter and singer. The senior group dispersed in 1992 and reformed in 1994. Their 1999 Barbados produced album, "A Six for ah Nine," is their best yet. The band blends a mix of soca, reggae and calypso, as a united group of professional musicians. The band's musical journey landed it two USA-based 1997 Sunshine Award nominations for "Soca Man,"—for the promotion of calypso and steel band music. The Rolling Tones CDs are very difficult to find, and are quite collector items, so it is probably best to rip your own in an MP3 file.
To read this entire feature FREE with photos cut and paste this link:
http://jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/globe02/Carib02/maarten/Carnival/Calypso.html
Kriss Hammond, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com
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Kriss Hammond, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com Leave Your email next to the logo for FREE e travel newsletter.
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