HAVING WATCHED THE 2017 Junior Kadooment on CBC Channel 8, it leads me to wonder if there is any merit in going to or watching Grand Kadooment on August 7.
Junior Kadooment was really a colourful spectacle with the emphasis on “spectacle” and all that it implies.
Some of the designers utilised recycled materials, cardboard, PET bottles and so on and there was never any doubt with the advent of each band that the spectators were looking at a different artistic expression. Each band had a specific theme which was reflected by the skilfully made costumes of the revellers who, despite the fact that some of them were of tender years, carried them well.
The designers and band leaders of Grand Kadooment complain each year about the high cost of materials which they have to source to make their costumes, but most of what is displayed by their revellers is simply beads and feathers. I do not recall seeing any overabundance of these materials on display at Junior Kadooment and the costumes were marvellous.
It is true that only a few of the designers/band leaders of Junior Kadooment bands have entries in Grand Kadooment and maybe that is the reason for the paucity of feathers and beads but is there any logical reason why the czars of Grand Kadooment cannot follow the example of Junior Kadooment?
The expensive beads and feathers do not represent any kind of intrinsic creativity which is the greatest element lacking in Grand Kadooment.
Each band in Junior Kadooment was unique but the same cannot be said for Grand Kadooment, they all seem to have fallen off the back of the same peacock and been garlanded by the same itinerant trader.
Junior Kadooment really puts Grand Kadooment to shame and if the saying is true – that “the best wine is saved for last”, maybe it is time for the National Cultural Foundation to consider switching the dates and place Junior Kadooment on Kadooment Day and Grand Kadooment on the week before.
At the very least, the spectators would spectate at a spectacle which is worthy of the name on Kadooment Day.
– ROLLINS HOWARD
