Carnival Calabar: Celebrating a decade of fanfare on the street

It was a beautiful Saturday morning that was not in a haste to usher in the afternoon. The clean streets wore colourful decorations, major roads were partially blocked, the hotels had emptied their ‘fun seeking’ guests on the streets, while locals waiting at several junctions, streets and even in their houses, were anxious to hear that the party had been declared open.

Filed out in beautiful costumes, in their Christmas and ordinary dresses, the over 1 million revellers were only interested in a day-long excitement and could not wait to hear the final whistle signalling the opening.

Earlier than they anticipated, around 11:30am, a group of well-costumed fellows came on the scene to kick start the excitement. The group was led by the stylishly dressed Liyel Imoke, governor of Cross River State, flanked by Obioma, his wife, Ben Ayade, the PDP gubernatorial candidate, among other dignitaries. The cowboy looking governor took the scissors once again (a function he had done in the last seven years), and cut the ribbon to declare the 2014 edition of the annual Carnival Calabar open.

Well, it is time to go, being the last time he will cut the tape to declare the carnival open, but someone by his side is already learning how to cut carnival ribbon.

For the governor, the 2014 edition of the Carnival Calabar was special because it marked the 10 years of sustained excitement on the streets of Calabar; hence, the theme of the carnival this year was aptly tagged: ‘Celebration Time.’

Afterwards, beautiful music ruled the air, the governor and his entourage led the way dancing while the carnival theme float and the participating bands followed.

However, the highlights of the carnival were the spectacular performances of the five participating bands – Freedom, Passion 4, Masta Blasta, Seagull and Bayside. The bands represent the five clans in Calabar.

The bands comprising of well-costumed members are truly the reason for the carnival. They move majestically on the 12 kilometres carnival route dancing and performing to the excitement of  spectators, and most importantly, to impress the judges at the four adjudications points in order to win their favour.

To do this, the bands stop at every adjudication point to perform and dance. Every group in each band is given time to perform. To win the band of the year among other competitive positions that come with monetary prizes, the judges look for bands that best interpret the theme of the carnival in their dances, costumes, performances, displays and presentations.

With these in mind, Passion 4 led the carnival parade in the 2014 edition. Bearing in mind the fierce competition, the members kept putting up their best dances, performances and presentations. Shortly after, Passion 4 band left Millennium Park, the flag off point, Masta Blasta band followed behind them.  From the start, Masta Blasta with 20,000 members, had its eyes on the carnival’s foremost prize.

The band’s coordination, uniformity, dance and unique presentation and interpretation of the carnival theme were extraordinary. “With what I am seeing, Masta Blasta will carry the day,” said one reveler. “They have won the Carnival back to back,” interjected another reveler.

After Masta Blasta, Freedom, Seagull and Bayside bands followed in respective order, igniting the streets with excitement. On getting to the first adjudication point at Mary Slessor Roundabout (about 3 kilometres from the flag off), the five bands were on fire, performing and dancing to the excitement of spectators and for the votes of the judges.

They kept dancing and performing all the way along the streets till Governor’s Stand, the second adjudication point and about 7 kilometres from the flag off point. It was around 6pm, and at this time, the bands members were beginning to conserve their strength for the final battle at the stadium.

However, amid the excitement, businesses along the carnival route were making money. The fast food and local restaurants, bars, shops were running out of supplies because of the high demand by thousands of revellers who need to refuel there energy or relax after a while of trekking along the carnival route.

Of course, hawkers made quick kills, especially sachet and bottled water, cold drinks, and chewing gum. Hawkers of hat, branded carnival souvenirs also had good day. But what one creative business lady went about was decorating and disigning revellers’ faces with artistic designs made of colour water. People paid N200 for each decoration, as she decorated over 50 people. The Fine Art student invented the business idea to raise money for her studies.

Despite the deadly blow modern cellphones and iPads dealt on their business, photographers were everywhere at the carnival. Some were doing temporary tattoo for the carnival. But the only man missing was the taxi driver because the roads were blocked.

While patronising all these brisk business people, the revellers kept their eyes on the carnival float. By the time the float got to the third adjudication point, it was already dark, but that was when the carnival, according to many revellers, was getting more interesting. As usual, all the bands performed and danced to impress the judges who kept ticking their result sheets.

It was at 10:30pm that the first band entered the stadium, the final adjudication point of the carnival. Passion 4 came dancing, performing and doing whatever they did not do earlier at the previous three adjudication points in order to woo the judges’ votes in their favour.

Masta Blasta entered afterwards with swag. Masta Blasta, the defending champion of the carnival, themed its performance, Masta’s Fiesta. It offered the spectators and the judges five presentations on: life, light, liberty, love and bliss. At this point, some revellers concluded that Masta Blasta would be coming top at the competition.

Freedom Band, Seagull and Bayside followed in respective order. They thrilled the crowd, set the stadium ablaze with excitement and also hoped the judges would reward their performances.

The last carnival band paraded at 2:30am, keeping the crowd anxious for the result. After 15 minutes, Arnold Udoka, chief adjudicator of the carnival, announced the results.

Udoka did not waste time in his announcement. Band of the Year goes to Masta Blasta, Passion 4 and Seagull came second and third, respectively. Passion 4 won the best costumes; Masta Blasta also clinched the prize for the Best reflection of the theme of the carnival, while Seagull came second.

Junior King went to Seagull, Masta Blasta came second. Freedom Band won the Junior Queen, Seagull came second while Masta Blasta came third, among other prizes.

Commenting on the carnival earlier at the flag off at the Millennium Park, Gabe Onah, chairman, Cross River Carnival Commission, commended the people of Cross River State for their unflinching support that had sustained the carnival over the past one decade. Government is not going back on its plan to make the carnival self-sustaining from next year, and that with credible private sector participation, the carnival would keep improving and realising its objectives, Onah said.

OBINNA EMELIKE