Though still adamant that the date of Dominica’s carnival should be changed, Chief Cultural Advisor and Chairman of the Carnival Development Committee Alwin Bully has said that this will not happen in the near future.
For some time now, the committee chairman has been making calls for a date change as he believes this is the only way for the country’s carnival to reach its true potential.
Bully has openly expressed concern over competition posed by Trinidad’s carnival and other regional festivities held around the same time, which he is convinced Dominica cannot successfully contend with.
He has also raised the issue of the inconvenience caused by the limited time to prepare and gain sponsorship as many other grand festivities take place in succession leading up to the carnival – Independence celebrations, the World Creole Music Festival and Christmas being the main ones.
“Sometime maybe we will revisit that but I think that the people of Dominica have expressed their views. I had my ears very close to the ground… constantly people on the streets I stopped and talked to them. In fact they would stop me and tell me what they feel about it and the vast majority of the feedback that we got was for leaving the date where it is,” he said in an interview with this publication.
“So I think, to speak in a general way I think the people of Dominica have decided they prefer to keep the date as it is. I still believe that Dominica has a lot to benefit from a change of date but maybe we’re just not ready for that yet,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bully has not been the only official proposing the date change. Veteran calypso writer and head of the Showdown Mas Camp, Pat Aaron, had said earlier this year that the date of carnival negatively impacts the calypso season as well.
St. Martin/Maarten, Aruba, Jamaica, Curacao, St. Barths, Martinique and Trinidad are among those celebrating Carnival and Mardi Gras in February. The International Love Festival take places in Bermuda that month, while Jamaica celebrates the life and music of Bob Marley in February.
tHOSE EXPERTS ALL ALIKE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR THE EASY WAY OUT,WHY CHANGE THE CARNIVAL .wE KEEP EXCUSING THE FACT THAT CARNIVAL IS TOO CL;OSE TO THE WCMF OR IS IT THE OTHER WAY ROUND THE WCMF IS TOO CLOSE TO CARNIVAL IN THE WEEKS LEADING UP TO CARNIVAL WE ARE INUNDATED WITH ALL TYPES OF SILLY SHOWS SO WHY NOT MAKE THE WCMF PART AND PARCEL OF OUR CARNIVAL, CARNIVAL MONDAY AND TUESDAY WOULD BE THE GRAND FINALE OF THE WCMF OR THE OTHER WAY ROUND IN OTHER WORDS THE WCMF WOULD CULMINATE WITH CARNIVAL MON & TUESDAY COME ON ALWYN START USING SOME INITIATIVE YOU HAVE MILKED THE COC FOR FAR TOO LONG
The most compelling argument is the proximity of carnival to Christmas, Creole festival and indipendence. I believe with a little more time to recover, plus the dry spell of April – July, can only make for a grander carnival within that timeframe.
Sometimes as a leader, you need to make decissions for your people.
Stop beating a dead horse.
Just move the date and you’ll be amazed.
To the people that crying to change carnival dat…. What datebyou think we should do it from now on?? It cant be early in the year cause thats how it was originaly it cant be summer cause stlucia and a few ither island have it during that time.. It cant be later in the year cause we gearing up for wcmf and xmas is a never later. Thw date good how it is. To the person talking that crap about if we waiting on the white man can just stick it. Wtmc wrong with dome of you overseas patriotic dominicans? We been having val around the same time since b4 any of our mothers and fathers fathers were born. Its tradition its culture its our way of life. I have been to trini bajan jamaican and lucian vals they all seem to be trying be like trini which is not origonsl they only trying out do whst brazil been doing for many years. What other carnival u know free up like ours? Most of them koshonie vals just have a dj playing.. We Dominicans dont stand 4 that crap. We arnt moving a toe unless its a live band. And thats sumn i love love love about DA we go 4 the real deal.
So anyways people. We dont have a choice on a date and we dont need to change what has been tradition for all of us. What we need is better promotions and better band development. Atleast in our carnivals we hardley have murders unlike trinidad bajan lucian and jamaican carnivals. If one person get hurt the wrong way carnival done!!i love my sewo island. Dont change our culture.
Carnival is a Catholic festival celebrated on a specific date and Alwin Bully is a Catholic so the Most Reverend Bishop should Excommunicate him for trying to change religious practise.
That is just a microcosm of what is going on in Dominica. We will continue to be back and not only stay the same place but regress. That is the state of Dominica. The power that be will keep creaming of the top and leave the la westa for all the others. In a few years the only thing left in Dominica will be these people and animals because everyone else will leave. Since I have been at school I remember that Dominica had 72,000 people. Well apparently we still do according to surveys. I don’t think that there are 62,000 people left in Dominica.
No one what anything to change. The English man came and told us how to do things and we have not changed since. I don’t know if we are waiting on him to com back so that he can change things for us. If we don’t help ot like ourselves and our country no one is going to like us. We have been independant for 32 years. What have we done? The only thing that we seems be good at is begging. If andy of us had a 32 two year old child that made decisions or was in the same situation that we are in we as parents what not stand for it. So, why is it that we think that things are great the way they are?
We need to change or name like Java and Bombay did! We need to combine the independence celebrations with carnival and start to be more productive. We have enough day off as it is. Then, We need to MARKET our country so other people other than Dominicans know were it is!
Dominicans are just too resistant to change. People you cannot have improvement without change!!!!!
I hope Mr. Bully doesn’t give up entirely, because our carnival will never compete with Trinidad’s no matter how well its planned, it just can’t. The majority of people who want to keep the original date either just don’t see carnival as a way for the country to develop or have never been to Trinidad carnival. The number of regional tourists is huge, most of which would never chose Dominica over Trinidad, but would like to come to Dominica’s carnival nevertheless. Change the date, improve planning, lets get things moving Dominicans!
Change is always hard to accept yes it is very close to many of our local festivities, but which month would u chose.
The date should definitely be change if Dominica wants to contend on the world stage with Trinidad and other places. No one it seems other than Dominicans knows about our carnival, thus we should either promote it better or simply change the dates. Changing the dates won’t be such a bad thing – since Trinidad’s carnival is established and trying to compete would be a waste of time. Besides… Dominica needs to step up and be more internationally know and if we can achieve that with our festivities, why not try to take advantage by showcaising it without having to compete with other more established places. I hear about Trini, Belize and Bajan carnival, even lil ANntigua carnival i hearing talks about, but zero, nada, zilch about Dominica’s. Infact, most people i know think that Dominica is the Dominican Republic. Maybe we shoudl first start by distinguishing ourselves properly. Dominica needs to be promoted a lot better than how it is now… we need change and whoever is responsible for promoting the island and it’s activities — SUCK at it…. time to step up or give up.
rivers what does carnival has to do with reiligion please explain i dont want to say it doesnt but i cant see what it has to do with it at all educate me on that one
just check ash wednesday.
@Fisher: Yes Fisher you’re right about the advanced planning that is now a norm in Trinidad, but the folks in T&T do not have to plan Independence Celebrations just three months before their Carnival.
I think the issue is that we Dominicans are simply resistant to change. A change to June could be proposed for at least one year on a trial basis. This would allow patrons and organizers alike to get a feel for Carnival held at a different time of year.
I think it’s worth a try.
My 2cents.
@Fisher:
Fisher,
I could not have said it any better. Dominicans are a last minute type of People. Plan the damn carnival from ash wednesday and the results will be better. Change the date and it will be the same bambow.
can someone answer this question is dominica carnival only for dominicans or is it an opportinuity for dominica as a country to broadcast it self on the international scene because we dominican refuse to change or make changes if we continue to keep carnival date the same how do we offer people a chance to experience dominica and its carnival we dont give people a choice we force their hands for example if a dominican wants to experience trinidad carnival he/she has to miss dominica’s carnival avd vice versa for some one from trinidad the same goes for the tourist out i think i would be perfect if we had our carnival a week after trinidad visitors from up north could fligh down to trinidad the on their way back catch dominica carnival by competing with trinidad and all the other countries who have activities at the same time as dominica we miss out financialy and me miss out on the chance to sell dominica to the outside world
Can Mr. Bully tell me if he has conducted a study to find out how many Dominicans go to Trinidad to celebrate their carnival instead of cominig to Dominica???
I myself have not, but I don’t think there are many who go there to cause a great impact on our economy. Because at the end of the day this is what it is all about “Money!”
I have a lot of respect for Mr. Bully for what he has done to preserve our culture in Dominica. This time I disagree with your ideas to change the carnival dates.
Carnival is not only cultural but religious too.
Good move Mr. Bully. Hard work is all it takes. There is no magic date. Proper and advance planning will do the trick. I really do not think that there is a significant amount of people debating whether they should go to Dominica or Trinidad for carnival. I think we can improve on our carnival without changing the date. Last year’s carnival serves as testament to that.
looking at 20 -20 cricket on tv from Trinidad in July this year carnival costumes for various bands were already on display and being advertized.Registraion for bands for carnival 2011 are already open.This is the kind of forward planning we need to take DA carnival to the next level…not changing the date.
If anyone can tell me how advanced we are in planning for carnival next year,you would see the major difference between us and T&T.
Whenever we change the carnival date to, we would still have 12 months before the next one and if we we did not start our planning earlier we would always find ourself behind and rushing like “:formee foo” when carival is approaching
true.
Leave well alone eh Alwin, you are flogging a dead horse my brother.
“Dominicans and their religous/catholic mindset”…..time…
when it set doe unset it bec if u do u will regrete it