Masquerade art form, historical events to be highlighted for Mash

Oct 23, 2012 News

The fact that the masquerade art form is currently in jeopardy has prompted the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport to engage intervening measures.
According to Minister with responsibility for the Ministry, Dr Frank Anthony, “the masquerade art form is suffering because the bands that we used to have we are no more having them.”
Against this background, he said that efforts are being made to organize an international conference on masquerade later this year. The Minister said that the Ministry is collaborating with the Guyana Cultural Association of New York to host the event in December.
“They will be coming here and we will be talking and discussing our masquerades…We will be looking at music lyrics and we will also be showing some films and hopefully out of this workshop we can re-energize people to get more involved in the masquerade bands.”
These bands, according to Dr Anthony, have a long tradition and “we do not want this part of our heritage to disappear so it is incumbent on all of us to sustain this art form.”

Culture Minister Dr Frank Anthony makes a presentation flanked by representations of mannequins depicting the birds of Guyana

The Minister’s disclosure was forthcoming as he officially launched the 2013 Mashramani activities on Friday on Main Street Avenue.
The Mashramani activities, which will entail a number of events including song competitions, physical display and building décor competitions, are set to culminate on February 23, 2013 (Republic Day) with a grand, colourful street parade.
However, according to the Minister there are plans to make the parade even bigger, a move which will warrant the support of more companies and organizations including Non-Governmental Organisations.
“The parade is as good as we make it and therefore I am appealing to people to come out and make it a big and wonderful parade,” said the Minister.
Relating very ambitious expectations for the ‘celebration after hard work’, Dr Anthony said that come next year “we have the opportunity of celebrating two important milestones in our country’s history.”
He was at the time alluding to the 250th anniversary of the Berbice slave revolution and the 175th anniversary of the arrival of the first indentured immigrant to Guyana. “…In 1763 you would recall that we had the revolution in Berbice…I want to challenge some of our companies that we must not let a milestone like this go unnoticed and so I feel that one of the fitting ways that we can celebrate this, is to have a nice float depicting 250 years since the revolution.”
The Mashramani activities, according to Dr Anthony, will also entail a special excursion to the Berbice River in an attempt to enlighten those who are unaware of where the revolt occurred.
In throwing out his challenge to the corporate society, the Minister said that “we need to take these milestones on board during our parade to showcase these important and historic events in our country.”
“I want to challenge you to not only make our parade next year fun but we must make it educational as well, so that we can teach the current generation about our heritage and our history,” said the Minister.

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