It is my pleasure to again write about J’ouvert Morning.
Compliments to SMAC: The new schedule works great, days before the BIG weekend, and back to 3am!
The PJ parade better known as J’ouvert Morning opened exactly on time, in the wee hours Friday to Saturday, and concluded around 8am, I don’t remember, I came home after breakfast, around 11am.
You could say J’ouvert Morning is back to what it was: A giant throng of carnavalistas of all ages, in the craziest outfits, drawing a big loop through the otherwise sleepy streets of San Nicholas, to fantastic music.
Bands participated in record numbers with BMW, Madness, Tsunami, Buleria, ‘Nfusion, and LG leading the pack.
We trailed behind LG the first half of the night, the band was making some noise, it was bearable along the refinery wall, but then it became uber-congested on Lagoweg, and impossible to escape.
I really wanted to jump ship to the band ahead.
We did. We did escape at the Carnival Village, cut a sharp right, and stopped at Julio’s Bar for refreshments and a potty inspection.
When ‘Nfuzion sailed by we jumped in, surrounded by hundreds of happy, smiling people, having a great time – “We wound up on the road with Soca music, Soca lovin’,” and yes Chayo, in answer to your question, we could feel it!
The band was electrifying, and we jammed all the way back to the ball park. Did it have anything to do with band members wearing Depend Diapers? No, but the diapers added to the tongue n’ cheek experience, and as one of my GFs quipped, it totally reminded her why she lives in Aruba.
That People’s Carnival was an unforgettable experience.
Surprise, Famalay, a ditty by Skinny Fabulous, Machel Montano & Bunji Garlin, from St. Vincent and the Grenadines was a parade hit.
I liked T-Money’s beautiful lyrics: “So, I want to see you raise your hand up high I want to see you chant to the father for your sisters and brothers for the blessings that he’s been sending all through the year.”
Baba Charly would have liked it, and played it. He was one of the island’s greatest Caribbean Music DJs, and we just heard he passed away. In the old days, he kept my dial on Radio Carina, always.
Legend has it that the PJ parade started years ago when the ladies of the night, the sex workers in the San Nicholas red light district created their own parade at 3am because they had to observe office hours in the girlie bars during traditional daytime parade, so they opted to host their special celebration at alternative hours. A genius idea.
