The Mash Secretariat has added new activities to this year’s celebrations of the country’s 49thRepublic anniversary.
At a press conference Monday morning, the Ministry of Social Cohesion’s Department of Culture, Youth and Sport outlined the activities to take place in the next month, leading to the annual Mashramani Costume and Float Parade on February 23.
“In addition to our celebratory events, we will also be having a number of events that focuses on our Republican Status, which will include the Republican Lecture Series the Child Art and Essay Competition, among others,” said Andrew Tyndall, the Coordinator for the Ministry’s Mash Committee.
Mash 2019 will be celebrated under the theme, “Celebrate Mash 49 with Victory in Mind –Rediscovering El-Dorado.”
Pop up Concerts is one of the new activities for this year.
“This is a new introduction to Mash, and basically what the Pop up concerts do is sensitize the general public on what is happening with Mashramani” while simultaneously providing a platform for artistes to promote their music.
Promotion over the years has been a challenge for the artistes, according to Mr. Tyndall.
“We have already kick-started Mash, with the Mashramani All-Stars Concert, the Region One edition, which saw a number of former and current monarchs performing along with artiste from Region One.
“We thought it was a fitting way to kick-start mash; we had about 1500 to 2000 persons attended that event and it was really phenomenal to see the way people embracing the Mashramani festival across Guyana”, Mr. Tyndall said.
Other activities being planned includeSteel band concerts – which will be held in every Region – Banks Main Street lime, and Calypso, Chutney and Soca singing competitions.
A major part of the celebration for Mash is the Children’s Competition, Costume and Float parade, which will take place on February 14 to 16. This event showcases a lot of creativity and provides an opportunity for persons who excel in the performing arts.
Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr George Norton expressed the hope that there would be more bands on the road this year and not just the regular banks from the government ministries.
“We are trying to move away from a float parade where one Ministry after the other Ministry after the other Ministry is coming down the road; we want to see more corporate involvement in our mash parade”, the Minister said.
“In 2019 we look to improve on what we did for Mashramani 2018, we started remodelling and rebranding the Mashramani festival.
“A major part had to do with taking a number of national events out in the into the Regions.
“In 2019 we want to continue that same vein and as a result, we have a total of 39 activities on the calendar of events which will span a period of 6 weeks”, Mr. Tyndall said.
Also present at the press conference were the Carib Soca Monarch competitors who introduced themselves with a preview of their songs for the competition.
The semi-finals for this competition will be held in Linden while the finals will be at Durban Park, Georgetown on February 16.
Cultural Director Tamika Boatswain said the general public will be able to vote for their favourite artiste on social media and this year the ‘People’s Choice’ artiste will be awarded separately from the competition.
