Rosemary Parkinson, Contributor
A vendor assists a client at the Bridgetown Market during
Crop Over. - Contributed
Well Contone is People's Monarch and Kid Site is King of Kaiso or Calypso Monarch. I 'confuse' proper these days with all the many titles that rage at Crop Over and what's what and who's who. Was the monarch crowned during the Cable & Wireless Pic-O-De-Crop Finals or at Cockspur's Cohobblopot? Oops! The latter is not to be mistaken, says my Bajan friend. That is a Sunday night showcase of the best of the best before the National Cultural Foundation's Grand Kadooment on Monday. So when did Kid Site pick up his title then?
Not attending Crop Over for the last five years has put me in the detrimental position of not knowing the intricate details of 'what-ah-gwaan' in Barbados during this season of pure unadulterated revelry and excitement. Although I still remember every show, every event of Trinidad Carnival, even 'though the last time I went to one was in the early '90s, the complications of Barbados' equivalent boggle my mind.
Early-morning jam
According to the newspapers, people were in the streets en masse in the wee hours of Saturday for an early-morning jam. Called simply j'ouvert in Trinidad or 'opening of Carnival', we are in Baje land and dem organise things different. So it's the Roberts Manufacturing Foreday Morning Jump-Up. What a mouthful! I can just see me trying to explain after a few drinks where I am on my Digicel phone. Talking Digicel, with Starcom's (who are they?) People's Monarch Contone carrying around a brand spanking new Digicel Sony Ericsson W810 Walkman (whatever that means), with free air time (since when you need air time for a walkman?), Cable & Wireless are not to be dismissed as Telecom Provider (what's that?) for Crop Over. Now if you think I loss when gyrating in the Roberts Manufacturing Foreday Morning Jump-Up, imagine you try to find my position at the Rotherley Construction Bridgetown Market!
My opinion? The National Cultural Foundation before it begins to contemplate calls for the extension of Crop Over - now a six- week festival - should try and shorten some of the event's names. True. True. I mean if Crop Over continues in the same vein since its revival in 1970s, one could get entwined with titles like 'The Knights (Rainbow Paper Products) Limited's Queen of the Bands' or 'The Barbados Public Workers' Cooperative Credit Union Limited's King Of The Road Competition'. Maybe even 'The West Indies Rum Distillery Limited's Best Cocktail Costume' or 'Malibu Beach Club & Visitor's Centre King of Wukk-Up'. It could get worse with sponsors requiring their addresses and telephone numbers before the titles, i.e., 'M.W. Consulting Incorporated End-To-End Corporate Solutions ACCPAC Business Partner (246) 431-0398's King of The Bands Competition' and then one would need a whole six months of Crop Over just to decipher the lot.
Far too confusing
Crop Over has become far too confusing. I stayed indoors, content to try and decode half of it through the media without success. I had planned to find my way to Spring Garden Highway for the National Cultural Foundation's Grand Kadooment for the People of the Government of Barbados' Street Cuisine and a few Ms. Rosemary Parkinson, Contributor and Author, Sony Corporation's Digital Cybershot DSC-R1 moments, praying the food would still have its usual names or starvation would likely catch me under an abandoned Elite's Sound Systems Incorporated Music Truck days later. But as fate would have it, I was incapacitated. I did have first-hand information on the bands from my mother who watched it all on television.
Whew! And I sure did miss the part of Crop Over that's special - barbecue pits sizzling with pigtails, chicken, fish and pork. All kinds of stews from Silver Sands' CouCou Tent served with peas and rice, cou cou (similar to turned corn meal but with okra), macaroni pie and coleslaw. Cutters - a Bajan bread with cheese, ham or flying fish - fish cakes and those beastly cold Bank Beers from Tim's.
Simply known as The Nation, this newspaper has kindly helped by sending the photos to show what I missed. I thank them heartily. Remember Grenada's Carnival is in full swing from August 10-15!
Rosemary Parkinson was last seen with cases of Mount Gay Distilleries Limited Mount Gay Rum Barbados; R. L. Seale & Co. Ltd.'s Alleyne Arthur's Special Barbados Rum and a Carib Horizons Inc (Pam Rudder) Celebration Rum Cake trying unsuccessfully to get to Air Jamaica.
