President Courtney introduced the speaker, Michael Williams, a pioneer in the Caribana community, currently known as Caribbean Festival. He is the creator and artistic director of his costume band, which was founded in 1973.

 

 

 

Michael was delighted to be invited and to share with us the history of Carnival, which started from the emancipation of slavery as an annual celebration in the Caribbean. In the beginning, the participants used different elements to make sounds and music, such as the steel drums, which evolved into Steelpan music, the largest percussion musical instrument in the world. From this, the Steelpan Orchestra emerges, followed by participants wearing costumes and dancing in the annual parade.

 

Caribana started in Toronto in 1967 with the Centennial holiday. It is the largest tourist attraction in the city that, brings in close to $500M revenue from over one million visitors participating in the festivities. Most of the costume and steel bands come from Scarborough. There are also guest bands. The “King and Queen” competition is where the band leaders showcase their creativity and talent for the year.

Michael plans to ‘pass on the baton to his successor in the near future. His goal is to get financial support from the city to build a center with a banquet hall and a museum that displays the history and artistry of the festival.

 

Basil Dias thanked the speaker for the presentation.  Please see the presentation by clicking on this link:   video1152464573.mp4