Category: Entertainment

The Best Western Belize Biltmore Plaza will come alive on Saturday night with loads of laughter. Comedy Belize is hosting an All-white Comedy Belizean Jam with a star-studded lineup of comedians. We spoke with Delroy Fairweather, the owner of Comedy Belize, and comedian Hot Topic.

 

Delroy Fairweather, Owner, Comedy Belize 

“I wah tell yo straight to the point, laughs. This is what it is going to be about on Saturday, just straight laughter. From the time you get in that building until the time you leave, it will be nothing but solid laughs. The lineup is a firebrand lineup. I always work with Hot Topic to bring these guys. He is like a, I would call him a mentor and consultant. In this comedy game you need to have someone who knows what is happening out here. Again, Saturday night starting at seven p.m. sharp. That is what we pride ourselves with, Best Western Biltmore Plaza. Sixty dollars for the tickets. You could reach out to the Biltmore for tickets. Six ten two six zero one, six ten fifty-one ninety for tickets. Or we could use the baddest app bout Belize right now, Kwiq Pass.”

 

Hot Topic, Comedian

“It feels good to always come back and always build different lineups. We always cater to the people in Belize. Anything we see our minds racing we want to talk about it and bring laughter to it and just have a good time. The crowds get bigger every time and that is what we are looking forward to on Saturday. So things you see and don’t want to talk about, we going to talk about it and make it funny. From the P Diddy to the Shyne, whatever. We just know how to twist it and make laughter come out.”

 

Tonight, all roads lead to the Lord Rhaburn Plaza where renowned Punta Rock artist Chico Ramos is being celebrated as a living legend.  The annual concert series is in its third year and the Institute of Creative Arts and NICH have put together a show that promises to be electrifying.  Here’s Kim Vasquez, the Director of ICA.

 

Kim Vasquez, Dir., Institute of Creative Arts

“Tonight, we have the third edition of the Living Legends concert series taking place at the Lord Rhaburn Plaza.  If you don’t know where Lord Rhaburn Plaza is, it’s at the Memorial Park behind the stage.  This is the third edition; we began the concert series in 2022 with the inauguration of the plaza and the awardee that year was Lord Rhaburn himself.  And we did it again last year for Gilharry, they were celebrating their fiftieth anniversary as a band.  So once again, we are back with the third edition of the Living Legends series and this year are so excited to be honoring the Godfather of Punta Rock, Chico Ramos.”

 

Isani Cayetano

“How do you go about the selection of these Living Legends, in terms of to pay homage to them?”

 

Kim Vasquez

“Okay, so the concert series is coordinated by NICH.  It is, you know, under the auspices of the National Celebrations Commission, Chairman, honorable Francis Fonseca.  This is something that I think is very much in line with his vision, recognizing artists, cultural workers while they are still among us. And, you know, so far it’s been very organic so far.  We had been approached by Shane with whom we have a good relationship here at ICA.  Gilharry 7, he said, “Ms. Kim, it’s the band’s fiftieth anniversary, because of the legacy and everything, can we do something?” And I said that would fit perfectly with Living Legends concert series and that’s how we did that one there, a different format.  And then, again we started to discuss when we convened the National Celebrations Commission and, you know, the recommendations were brought to us and they said, you know, this is timely, we need to do this for Chico. We want everyone to come out, it’s going to be a spectacular show, there’s a lot of history that’s going to come out, a lot of cultural heritage that’s going to be told, the narrative of his career of Punta Rock.  There will be guest performances by Lord Rhaburn himself as well.  Chico Ramos will take the stage eventually.  There’s Supa G, Kenny Gladden and the New Generation Band, Harrison “Doggy” King.  There’s going to be lots of food and drink and entrance is free.”

Mas Camps 2024 wrapped up with a splash on Thursday night after a downpour of rain fell upon the final three participating bands. As we’ve reported, this year’s carnival bands brought a flurry of colors and energy to the streets of Belize City, as they prepare for the road march on Saturday. Despite the torrential rains, eleven bands were still able to bring the energy and excitement Belizeans have come to expect during the September Celebrations. Here’s News Five’s Britney Gordon with a recap of the four-day camp.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

It’s been four days of music, movement, and madness at the Mas Camps 2024. This year will see five junior and six senior bands in the carnival road march. Night one started off with the Sunshine Masqueraders Junior band bringing the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory to Regent Street.

 

Lisa Sutherland, Operational Manger, Sunshine Masqueraders

“Our theme for this year is Wonka Land and we’re giving the three sections of Wonka Land. So section one is the cotton candy and gum drops, locally known as juju. Section two is the chocolate and the golden ticket, and they will be wearing purple and gold. Section is the peppermint and lollipop and they are going to be dressed with a backpack and colors of the rainbow.”

 

Fort Revelers were the next stop of the night where band leader, Leroy Smith explained that he is proud of himself and his team for what they accomplished as first-time entries. He told us that the Fort Reveler’s theme hails from the depths of the sea.

 

Leroy Smith, Band Leader, Fort Revelers

“My theme for this year is god and goddess of our sea, which is queen Galatea and the back section is King Poseidon.”

 

Britney Gordon

“How many sections do you have?”

 

Leroy Smith

“We have two sections. The first section is pink and purple and the second section is all shades of blue.”

 

Britney Gordon

“It looks like a lot of work went into them, we see that the energy is all the way up to here. How are you feeling coming out of judging? Are you confident?”

Leroy Smith

“I’m confident because for my first year, I think I’m doing so wedel so far.”

 

On the second day, the Trench Town Masqueraders kept their spirits high, despite the heavy shower later in the evening. Before the rain began, junior bands Jump Street Posse and Collet Royal Revelers were able to bring their A-game for the judges.

 

Voice of: Marina Welcome, Band Leader, Jump Street Posse

“Let me start with the dynasty first. Dynasty go along with the queen that go along with the queen that won first place for the king and queen. It’s all about the revelers and the time clock. And then we have to go a little farther where we stamp harder with our culture. We have the Garifuna, we have two different set of Maya and we even have the Creole.”

 

Paul Lopez

“So culture is at the center of this theme.”

 

Marina Welcome

“Definitely. This is Belize. You cannot do nothing without involving your culture.”

 

Band leader, Samantha Soberanis explained how she decided to think outside of the box for her group’s theme.

 

Voice of: Samantha Soberanis, Band Leader, Collet Royal Revelers

“This year’s theme for Collet is summertime: a glimpse of children at play. When school closes in June, the parents trying o wonder what will my child be doing during the summer? And I said majority of the time students don’t want to go to summer classes and that’s because thy already stuck in a classroom for eight, to ten months. So I said okay, instead of focusing on going to summer school, let me think of the things that they love and they enjoy.”

 

Day three, the party was back on as junior bands Black Pearl, Soca Massive and senior group, Belizean Jewels took to the streets to liven up the night. Both Belizean Jewels and Soca Massive’s kings had taken home the crown at the Carnival King and Queen competition in the senior and junior categories, respectively. Belizean Jewel, band leader says that the win was a great achievement for the group, as supplies were hard to come by this year.

 

Kadejah Tunn-Retreage, Band Leader, Belizean Jewels

“Challenges, I would say definitely supplies this year Belizean Jewels went extremely loud with feathers. like I said one of our costumes holds over forty feathers. to get that capacity of feathers in Belize is a little bit hard so the shipment and all that is a lot of logistics behind it but we’re grateful for our logistics manager who kind of coordinated all of that together for us”

 

As band leader, Pauline Bradley says costumes must be able to withstand the September showers.

 

Pauline Bradley, Band Leader, Soca Massive

“Whenever I come back with my ideas I tried to think about stuff that will stand against the weather because everybody knows that come carnival day that we will have rain, So I always try to make sure that I have durable costumes that would stand against our weather.”

 

The energy never subsides, as the three senior bands Soca Moca, Mother Nature Creations and Titans wrapped up the Mas Camp. Mother Nature Creation’s spokesperson told us that 2024 makes twenty years since the band began participating in carnival.

 

Spokesperson, Mother Nature Creations

“Tonight is a very influential year for us, very big year. We get to celebrate twenty years at carnival. Twenty years and not just twenty years, but twenty years of being the only senior mas band that carries the name Mother Nature’s Creation. We no change name to this one then then five years after to that one. Mother Nature’s Creation for twenty years.”

Soca Moca’s queen costume took home the Carnival crown this year. Their spokesperson told us how they aim to make their group welcoming for all Belizeans to enjoy through their music, costumes, theme, and attitude.

 

Spokesperson, Soca Moca

“Its 2024. We are a family. Despite what anybody says Soca Moca is a camp of love, we welcome anybody we don’t cause any problem and even so we’ve been trying to be our best regular self because we want to put on a good product. we want beautiful costumes with vibrant revelers and a team so that people can identify.”

 

Titans band leader, David Matus told us that his band is the largest of the bunch and although they are not competing, they are excited to join the celebrations with everyone else on Saturday.

 

David Matus, Band Leader, Titans

“It’s a great feeling you know this is what we want we want to see the end product on stage we want to see the end product on the day. We’re seeing two hundred members on the streets but these elaborate costumes it’s an awesome feeling because you know you know the time putting is well appreciated.  We’ve been solo from February we decided in January. If one person falls all we add another because we have a waiting list.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.

There is a new Carnival King and Queen. The forty-ninth competition was held over the weekend in Belize City with a total of eighteen competitors, five in the junior male and five in the junior female categories. And in the senior king and queen categories there were four and four, with the Fort Revelers being a no-show at the eleventh hour. For those who attended the Carnival Queen and King competitions at the Belize City Civic Centre on Saturday night, their favorite presenters adorned themselves in costumes made of designs and color blends never before seen. News Five’s Marion Ali was there and filed this report.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

From the time the competition began around seven pm, until it ended before nine, eighteen king and queen competitors in the senior and junior king and queen categories rallied for the loudest cheers and most importantly, the favor of the judges. President of the Belize Carnival Association, Patrick Thompson explained to us that the competition was really for bragging rights over who rules the Carnival Road March as far as kings and queens are concerned.

 

Patrick Thompson, President, Belize Carnival Association

“This is where these costumes get their individual judging because they are not judged on road march. They are just to enhance the groups’ storyline, and the judges have their criteria where they will be looking for the mobility of the costume, the originality, the blend of colors, and  how the player display the costume rather than just dance or push or pull the costume. We don’t want to see if that person can do the latest dance, you know, because that person and the costume should be one.”

 

The judges were carefully studying the costumes even before the competitors wore them for their presentations. At the end of it all, Jump Street Posse won the Junior Queen Category, while Soca Massive won the Junior King Category. In the Senior Queen category, Soca Moca won, and Belizean Jewels captured the Senior King title. Head Judge, Jerome Ali explained to News Five what impressed him and what didn’t.

 

Jerome Ali, Head Judge, Carnival King and Queen Competition

“The costumes were well put together.  We had seen that colors and most of the ideas put together. I like what I saw tonight. The impact I was looking at is how well these king and queen players perform. And that was the main aspect of what we’re really looking at – how they take that costume and carry it through to create that true carnival spirit that we wanted to see.”

 

Marion Ali

“And how impressed were you with that segment?

 

Jerome Ali

“The impact was good. I could have seen a little more because I noticed some of the costumes were a bit weighted. That prevented a lot of, well – the movement that I wanted to see due to the fact that the material that is being used in Belize compared to the Caribbean is that light. Somehow I feel that these mass builders need to get their hands on lightweight materials.”

 

Carnival President Thompson said the results of the king and queen competition have no bearing in any way on which group wins the prizes in the various categories for the road march, which will take place this Saturday.

 

Patrick Thompson

“Once this competition is over tonight, it doesn’t, it doesn’t factor – it is not a carryover of points to the road march, but in our rules, it states that the king and the queen must be in the road march because like I said, it is a part of their entire storyline that they are depicting carnival day. And as a matter of fact, I would say that these are the two major characters within their storyline. So there is a major point deduction for not being in the road march of all these costumes must be in the road march.”

 

Marion Ali for News Five.

We also got input from Commissioner of Police Chester Williams on the regulations outlined by the Belize City Council for the new carnival route. ComPol Williams repeated that vehicles obstructing the carnival route will be towed and vendors along the route will be removed. He says the police department has enough personnel to ensure a safe carnival weekend.

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“The police have a job to do and we try as best as we can to discharge our duties without any complaint and work around whatever obstacles that may arise. And so the September celebrations committee, which is chaired by the honorable Minister of Education have decided on a route for the carnival and the police are going to follow that route. We have done our groundworks in terms of running the route and to see what challenge or challenges that we may have on carnival day to be able to ensure that the carnival moves from its starting point to where it is going to come to an end without any hindrance. And so, we believe that we will be able to police the event without any incident. Police officers will be along the route, so we’re not going to depend on city traffic. Yes, if they are there to assist we welcome assistance. But we do have the manpower to ensure that we cover the entire route of the carnival. And as well as to have police officers who are going to accompany the carnival to make sure that it’s safe and no incident occurred during the carnival itself.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Will you guys be out there removing vendors if they decide to sell along the way?”

 

Chester Williams

“Well, certainly the vendors cannot sell on the street. If they’re parked, if they’re on the, not the sidewalk, but if they’re parked on the edge of the street without hindering the sidewalk, they can stay there. But no vending will be allowed on the sidewalk or the streets. The day before the carnival, the police will run the road with our tow truck. And any vehicles seen parked along the road, on the road, the owners will be asked to move it. If they don’t move it, or if we cannot find an owner, then we’ll tow it away.”