Bahamas Carnival Tabanca

Bahamas Carnival: Yes Please!

The Tabanca is real in the Bahamas. Bahamas Carnival officially has us all in our feelings at Caribhype. We’re blue like the Eden Carnival Group costumes we discarded too soon onto the side of the street – it was restricting the waste pelting.

This is the second year the Bahamas has put on a Caribbean style carnival and it only continues to get better. Notwithstanding the continued controversy over the government’s spending taxpayer money on a party (we have no problem with that), the carnival seems to be getting the attention it deserves, and serving the government’s ultimate purpose – putting foreign heads into hotel beds.

But, we’re not here to talk bureaucracy or debate whether or not the Bahamas should have a Carnival versus completely changing its Junkanoo model to be more carnival-esque. We’re here to tell you we had friggin ball and are working on a cure for this damned Tabanca.

What we liked:

World-class soca artists perform on a world-class stage in a concert that costs an individual less than six pack of Kalik (Bahamian beer)
It’s three days of concerts
There are lots of food vendors out at the carnival site. And then there is the Fish Fry which is the carnival site, which has food. (Food, food, food – yes!)
The Carnival site is the beach.
The costumes were great – many used authentically local material.
The parties – we’re talking about ‘Suits’ here – was absolute fire.

We can’t express more how much of a good time we had at Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival. The weather was absolutely perfect for the revelry that was planned for the streets of Nassau. We have a proper tan, and lots of shoulder pain – worth it.

While some thought the Carnival route was too long, it is still less than pulling two days on the road in Trinidad. Bahamas is a proper warm-up for Trinidad, if you’re a carnival novice. If you’re a feteran, it’s a slight cool down. Any way you slice it, the vibes were proper, with tabanca properly settling itself into your psyche after crossing the stage at Arawak Cay.

Even if the amount of foreigners the Bahamas government hopes to attract to its annual carnival does not steadily grow (we doubt it won’t), Bahamians themselves surely showed up and showed out. In only two years Bahamians have gone from tepid soca listeners to rabid enthusiasts. It’s no wonder then, why the Bahamas Festival Commission saw fit to bring in some of the biggest acts in soca music, including Destra, Bunji Garlin, and Patrice Roberts. Not to be undone, the Bahamian artists switched their performances into high gear, in no small part due to Sony Music execs keeping an eye on them. Visage put on an amazing show, with lead singer Dyson Knight baring it all in his signature rip-my-damn-shirt-off move for the ladies. Careful ladies, the female vocal lead is he woman.

There was so much more we could say we enjoyed about Bahamas Carnival, but on balance there were some things that could change. We played Road Fever (Mas) with the Enigma/Eden combo. Their costumes were great. They have an incredible HQ – an entire bowling alley. Their sponsor is one of the largest on the island. So why could we not get one drip of alcohol while we waited two plus hours to leave the staging area? We Caribbean people – especially those who know carnival – we drink from we reach the party. Nevermind it’s 9am. To add insult to injury, the liquor was then abruptly cut off with another hour left on the road.

While it isn’t clear whether they were following commission rules, or simply set their own libation limiting liturgy, someone needs to do something about that particular buzzkill. Didn’t help that some Enigma execs were slightly rude about it when we complained. That was a slight speed bump in the road to our reckless wok-up. We did hear of some women having their costumes hot-glued to their bodies (by mistake we hope) and having to jury-rig their costumes just before hitting the road. Mas camps and costumes beez like that sometimes.

We topped off our Carnival Experience with the Suits boat cruise, put on by Icebox Entertainment. At the last minute the organizers transformed the boat into a jouvert ready vessel, replete with a water truck and copious amounts of powder. We ‘tief a whine’ on everyone from debark to docking and were properly saturated and painted. Well done Suits team. Sorry, whomever had to clean the boat.

Alas, in its second year, Bahamas has shown that it can party safely, put on amazing shows and concerts, and show-out on the road. We will definitely be back!