The parade of the Republic Bank City Fest and Ceremonial Delivery of Last Canes drew on such a wide range of Barbadian culture that onlookers could not help but look on in amazement all through Bridgetown yesterday.
Entitled When Sugar Was King, it was led by the Republic Bank section entitled Sugar Dollars, boasting a music truck carrying soca artiste Flexi and followed by the sweetly wining dancers of the second section, Big Sugar.
To the recorded strains of current Crop Over soca hits, four sections under the Republic Bank banner either chipped or wined, but the true spirit of Africa joined them in the form of the Israel Lovell dancers and drummers, whose well choreographed moves seemed to inspire the ensembles following them: Dancin’ Africa, the Landship, the junior contingent entitled Sunshine Dancers, Portvale Factory workers led by the Barbados Workers’ Union, as well as the Royal Court, comprising masquerade costumed dancers and stiltmen.
These all moved to the music in the streets, with the Sons Of God Apostolic Spiritual Baptists holding the rearguard.
Among the acts capturing much attention from those lining the streets were the Dancin’ Africa section carrying mauby cans and the Sunshine Dancers, who stopped at the bottom of Broad Street to give an impressive display of choreography.
As people watched from the balconies of the Colonnade and other commercial buildings, the parade, which included the Ford Ecosport vehicle carrying King and Queen of the Crop, Grantley Hurley and Judy Cumberbatch, moved to the tune of gospel music, uptempo African rhythms and soca, bringing variety, and catering to the tastes of most onlookers.
At the end of the route, the Spiritual Baptists took over, praying for the nation and Government, while remembering their late founding father Archbishop Granville Williams.
“We plough the fields and scatter,” they sang from the stage in Heroes Square – the area said to be “The Cage” where the black ancestors of most Barbadians were paraded and sold in times long past.
The Afrocentric ritual led by Bishop Malcolm Babb was, therefore, most fitting.
Before a large audience that included Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson and members of Cabinet and the National Cultural Foundation, four dance troupes – Pinelands Creative Workshop, Danse Nationale Afrique, Dancin’ Africa and Israel Lovell Foundation – paid homage to the late archbishop, while Minister of Culture Stephen Lashley recalled Williams’ yeoman service to the festival and his “commitment to strengthening the national identity through the church”.
Lashley also informed that a new Bridgetown Arts Festival would start early next year, featuring events within Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison, and appealed to store owners and other businesspeople to fully take part.
“It should enliven Bridgetown and increase commercial activity,” he told the audience, while declaring Crop Over 2014 open.