We can’t say we weren’t warned that Christmas time was going to be busy!
Celebrations around here have nothing to do with the Christmas we’ve always experienced every year back home. Instead of the usual family evenings spent around the fireplace with blankets on our laps, in Montserrat there is a Christmas Festival full of entertaining events cheering up the whole island and bringing people to celebrate on the streets.
One of the most expected events is the Calypso Competition which brings to the stage several local artists who write their own songs for the competition. Calypso music is usually accompanied by lyrics that talk about social issues, some of them highlighting controversial topics related to the island. The competition is divided in three elimination rounds and the community comes to support their favourite artists all the way up to the very final.
Another well-attended event is the “Night of Pan”, an evening that brings together several steel pan groups from the island and abroad. Steel pan is another crucial element in the music of the Caribbean and a very useful instrument to bring people playing together. Since I arrived to the island, I’ve been part of “Volpanics”, an adult community steel pan group with whom I’ve been playing a varied repertoire - it’s been a good way to learn some local songs!
Apart from performing with this group for “Night of Pan”, we were asked by a student to help him rehearse a steel pan band with a few students from the Secondary School. Only at the concert I found out that, unlike the other schools, the Secondary School hasn’t been represented in the last editions of this event, so I was glad to help them return!
During Christmas time, our band PULSE got invited to perform for various events, some of them part of the Festival, like the Opening ceremony and Princess Show, as well as some other events at the Governor’s house and in local bars. Besides that, on Christmas day there was a Carol Singing event in which we performed both with PULSE and with the Adult section of the National Youth Choir.
Even though it was a completely different Christmas to what we are used to, my family came over (bringing with them loads of delicious food!) and we had some wonderful days exploring the island with them. While they were around, we arranged a guided tour to Plymouth, the capital city destroyed by the volcanic explosion almost 20 years ago. It was quite impressive to get so close to the buildings, some of them partly buried but still with some people’s belongings on the inside.
To close up the Festival, there was a Street Parade on January 2nd which brought a Carnival feeling to the main road, with thematic trucks being followed by their enthusiastic troops, all colourfully dressed-up, dancing to the loud music and celebrating the new year!
