When Carnival Loses its Culture - an Open Conversation about the Direction of Antigua’s Carnival

UTTER RUBBISH!

Now are you done mashing up the culture and artform? Are you trying to be the saviour? Gimme ah Break!

The hypocrisy of people!

An artiste can create five, ten or even more songs in a year, and because one of those songs wasn’t used in a competition, we expect them to simply throw it away? Then we wonder why upcoming artistes are no longer fully investing in their creative abilities.

Instead, we are seeing more reliance on AI, samples and recycled material. Some individuals aren’t even singing anymore—they are performing over samples! And somehow, we want to police the very creativity we should be encouraging?

Let’s put this into perspective.

Some of the greatest artistes in the entertainment industry never felt pressured to produce a hit every single year. They could release a single, perhaps another two or three years later, and then a full album five, six or seven years later.

I’m talking about artistes like Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, and many others who built careers on quality, creativity and longevity—not on churning out music simply to satisfy a yearly quota.

Yet somehow, in Antigua, we seem determined to create rules and expectations that can actually discourage creativity rather than cultivate it.

The rule says that once a song has not competed in a competition, the artiste can use it. Personally, I have no issue with that. What I DO have an issue with is what we are putting out there now and calling Carnival festivities. Ah dat aryou fu study and work at—bringing Antigua’s Carnival back to its glory days! And let's stop pretending that the downfall of our Festival started yesterday. The decline has been happening for years. It started with poor management, and unfortunately, in many respects, the management has gotten even worse. Add to those concerns about bad judging, and we have to ask ourselves how much longer we are going to ignore the real problems.

The removal of the Female Calypso Competition was a major blow to our cultural development and to the opportunities available to our female calypsonians. Then, to add insult to injury, the decision to remove the two rounds of the Calypso Monarch competition, reducing it to essentially a one-song competition, and moving the competition to Friday night, spoke volumes about where our priorities were heading. These aren't insignificant changes. These are changes to the very events that have helped shape and define Antigua & Barbuda's cultural identity.

And while these cultural components have been weakened, Carnival Week has increasingly become crammed with fetes and shows. That is the problem we should be addressing. Putting individuals in positions of influence over such an important part of our Cultural Identity when their primary focus appears to be on fetes and shows has contributed to the destruction and dilution of what once made our Festival special.

Carnival cannot simply be treated as another entertainment product.

It is our culture. It is our history. It is our music. It is our calypso. It is our masquerade. It is our pageantry. It is our creativity. It is a reflection of who we are as a people.

There is absolutely a time and place for regional artistes in our festival. Of course there is. But the wholesale takeover of our Carnival by outside artistes and entertainment, while our own culture, artforms and local performers are pushed aside or relegated to the margins of Carnival Week, is disrespectful and short-sighted.

And let me be clear: This isn't about being anti-regional. It is about being pro-Antiguan and Barbudan. There is nothing wrong with bringing regional talent to Antigua. But if regional artistes are going to receive the prime platforms, the biggest audiences, the best promotion and the greatest opportunities—while our own artistes are expected to fight for scraps—then we have to ask ourselves:

WHOSE CARNIVAL ARE WE BUILDING?

Our artistes need opportunities. Our musicians need opportunities. Our writers, producers, dancers, calypsonians, masqueraders and other cultural practitioners need opportunities. Our culture needs protection. And our Carnival needs to be developed in a way that allows Antiguans and Barbudans to benefit from the very festival that was created to showcase who we are.

Stop focusing on the wrong things. The issue isn't whether an artiste should be allowed to use a song they created. The bigger issue is whether we are creating an environment where our artistes can create, develop, earn, grow and eventually take Antiguan culture to the world. Give local artistes meaningful platforms. Put them on the main stages. Restore and strengthen the competitions that showcase our cultural artforms. Invest in development throughout the year—not just when Carnival comes around. Create meaningful collaborations between local and regional artistes that build our capacity rather than replace our talent. And most importantly, develop a strategy to take our music beyond Antigua. Because if all we are doing is creating more music to compete against each other in the same small market, we have missed the bigger picture. The goal should not simply be to produce more songs. The goal should be to produce GREAT Antiguan music that the world wants to hear.

SO, WHAT DO WE WANT FOR ANTIGUA’S CARNIVAL?

Do we want a Festival that is simply a calendar of fetes, imported entertainment and commercial events? Or do we want to rebuild a Carnival that celebrates Antigua and Barbuda first—our music, our calypso, our masqueraders, our steelpan, our pageantry, our artistes, our history and the creativity of our people? Because if we continue down the road we are travelling, we may eventually have a very successful entertainment season, but we will have lost the very thing that made Antigua’s Carnival special. And that is the danger. We cannot keep stripping away the cultural components and then wonder why people say Carnival isn't what it used to be. We cannot marginalize our local artistes and then complain that they aren't producing. We cannot remove opportunities for our cultural practitioners and then ask where the next generation of talent is. And we certainly cannot measure the success of Carnival solely by the number of fetes, shows, tickets sold or regional artistes brought into Antigua. Success must also be measured by what we are building, preserving and passing on.

Our Carnival belongs to the people of Antigua and Barbuda. It is our responsibility to protect it, develop it and ensure that it remains relevant without losing its identity. So, by all means, bring in the regional artistes. Have the fetes. Have the shows. Let the entertainment industry thrive.

BUT DON'T DO IT AT THE EXPENSE OF OUR CULTURE.

There must be balance. There must be vision. There must be accountability. And most importantly, there must be people at the decision-making table who understand that Carnival is not just entertainment—it is a part of our national identity. Fix the management. Fix the judging. Restore the cultural competitions. Create meaningful opportunities for our local artistes. Invest in our music. Take our culture to the region and the world. And for heaven's sake, stop measuring progress by how many fetes we can squeeze into one week!

Bring back the CULTURE.

Bring back the PRIDE.

Bring back the CREATIVITY.

Bring back the CARNIVAL.

Because Antigua deserves better—and our Carnival deserves better.

Gimme ah Break!