Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Kaci Fennell as Queen of the Band - How the Road March Queen and Judging of Bands is Byron Lee's defense against Cuba

Jamaica has not been quiet ever since Kaci Fennell, Jamaica's representative to the Miss Universe pageant returned home. Nor will they ever be, short hair and all! 


Kaci Fennell placed 5th in the Miss Universe pageant in Doral, Florida on Sunday January 25th  2015 as stated in the article “Jamaica’s Kaci Fennell Places Fifth In Miss Universe”, published Sunday January 25, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner and “Kaci Fennell finishes 5th in Miss Universe”, published Sunday, January 25, 2015 11:05 PM, The Jamaica Observer.


However, many Jamaican may not know that Kaci Fennell has now been selected to be Jamaica Carnival 2015 Road March Queen on Saturday, February 7th, 2015, a first for Bacchanal Jamaica's Carnival Road March as noted in the article “Kaci Fennell to lead Bacchanal 2015” published Saturday, February 07, 2015  BY RORY DALEY Observer writer, the Jamaica Observer.

The announcement was made by Bacchanal Jamaica at the Knutsford Court Hotel in St Andrew, on Thursday January 5th 2015. Bacchanal Jamaica theme for Jamaica Carnival 2015 is “Untamed”, quite fitting given the National Costume that Kaci Fennel wore to Miss Universe 2015, basically a planned advertisement for Jamaica Carnival.


Also, her official title in this year’s Bacchanal Jamaica Carnival 2015 is Queen of the Band and is a first for Bacchanal Jamaica, apparently in a bid to capitalize on her popularity post Miss Universe 2015 to quote Bacchanal Jamaica Director Michael Ammar Jr,: “The title is the first time for Bacchanal. This is to show Kaci how proud we are of what she's accomplished, not just as Miss Jamaica Universe, but as part of the Bacchanal Jamaica family”.

King Alarm will be using their KingTracker technology to allow participants to track the progress of the Jamaica Carnival 2015, possibly via a smartphone App or Web App. And yes, there will be Drones to take aerial footage of the Road March as they're becoming increasingly popular for events such as Carnival 2015 as noted in my blog article entitled “FAA approves more Drone Contractors – How to use Drones for Journalism in Jamaica the coming Trend after smartphones in 2017”.

Residents living in the hidden village of Swallowfield and NannyVille will be lovin' this, as Mas Camp will bring a smile to many a vendor who sells their products within the National Stadium. 


This as Bacchanal Fridays officially kicks off on Friday February 20th 2015 with Socarobics following on every Friday afterwards at the Mas Camp at the National Stadium, sandwiched between Arthur Wint Drive and Mountain View Drive in the middle of what's referred to as the Golden Triangle.


Not sure what the route will be for Jamaica Carnival 2015 Road March but the date is now known from the Bacchanal Jamaica Website, Bacchanal Jamaica Twitter Page and Bacchanal Jamaica Facebook Page: Sunday, April 5th 2015.

Beach Jouvert is on Saturday April 4th 2015 and Bacchanal Jouvert is on Friday April 10th 2015. So too is the Season Pass Ticket for Mas Camp from Friday February 20th 2015 to Sunday, April 5th 2015: JA$18,000.


Good to note here that Bacchanal Jamaica is planning to have Jamaica Carnival extended as a year round event in a bid to keep tourists interested in coming to the island. Hence the reason why Kaci Fennell was used to advertise the idea that Jamaica’s national Dress was a Carnival costume.


Interestingly, this approach may be Jamaica’s offensive against Cuba, whose increasingly friendly relationship towards the US of A means that they’ll be competitors with Jamaica for Tourism Dollars as predicted in my blog article entitled “Cuba and the Internet – 11.4 million Cubans Without Basic Cell Phone Service the largest Market when Spectrum Auctions Announced”.

Kaci Fennell as Queen of the Band - Trend towards Road March Queen in Byron Lee's spirit

As Queen of the Band or Road March Queen as I know it, she'll be leading the Jamaica Carnival Road March, which means as of writing this, she'll definitely be spending a lot of time in the gym as well as Jogging to build muscle.

Kaci Fennell will need to be physically fit and in tip-top shape if she's to lead as Road March Queen.

She cannot falter or show tiredness, neither can she be seen to be helped if tired. She must be strong and maintain the vibes to keep the other revelers going and following in her footsteps.

Such is the responsibility of the Road March Queen.

Another first is the inclusion of a Road March competition among the fifteen (15) Bands and their Costumes sponsored by various Corporate Companies with some that are a part of Bacchanal Jamaica Carnival:

1.      Agrion
2.      Euphoric
3.      Fantasy
4.      LehwegoSleek
5.      Lijuan
6.      Marjuni
7.      Moriko
8.      Oneykos
9.      Peeny Wallie Mas
10.  Tendars
11.  Thira
12.  Tuulikki
13.  Unleashed
14.  Xylina
15.  Zola

And yes, the Bands will compete against each other and be judged at the end, marking a return to Byron Lee's original vision of what Jamaica Carnival 2015 should be; a high impact, competitive yet fun workout for all Jamaicans.

Hopefully this trend of appointing the representative in future Miss Universe into the Carnival Road March as the Queen of the Band will be an ongoing trend. Hopefully too, it’ll evolve into a Road March King and Queen being selected to dance together and lead the Jamaica Carnival Revellers trippin’ down the road.

Children and their involvement in Carnival would also be most welcome. This as it would encourage tourists to come to Jamaica and “Play Mas” by taking advantage of appropriately priced Costume packages where tourists can buy costumes and other apparel so as to be able to fully enjoy the Jamaica Carnival experience.

Finally, in keeping with Byron Lee’s vision, Jamaica Carnival needs to become a National Carnival event, with the entire island being involved in “Play Mas” all over the island!

But how do I know this and I’ve never been a part of Jamaica Carnival, muchless play Mas' or attended Jouvert?

Because I've lived it vicariously through the news as well as more recently through my Brazilian friends when I was working at CLARO Jamaica back in 2009!

Jamaica Carnival has Kaci Fennell as Road March Queen - Rio de Janeiro Carnival is the Gold Standard

I know all this as I'm a big fan of Rio De Janeiro Carnival ever since I was told about in when I use to work at CLARO Jamaica. While there, I met a lot of Brazilian Nationals working alongside the Mexicans and they told me details of Rio De Janeiro and their famous statue of Jesus, called the Cristo de Redentor.



More importantly, they also showed me pictures of their annual Carnival in Rio De Janeiro, which is a spectacle that's a riot of colour not unlike the pictures show in the article “Rio de Janeiro Carnival: Dancers parade through Sambadrome, in pictures”, published 17.02.2015, The UK Telegraph.


The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, which started on Saturday February 14th 2015, is now at the Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome, where the rain failed to dampen the spirit of the revellers as note in the article “It won't rain on our parade! Downpours fail to dampen spirits as Rio Carnival produces a stunning riot of colour”, published 16 February 2015 By MICHAEL GADD, DailyMail.

So if Jamaica Carnival doesn’t measure up to the excitement of Rio De Janeiro's carnival, Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival or even Barbados Cropover, it won't generate the interest among working professionals and Millennials that's needed to give Bacchanal Jamaica the financial boost that it needs to continue hosting successive Jamaica Carnivals year after year!

Kaci Fennell post Miss Universe 2015 - From Miss Universe to Trinidad and Tobago Carnival Controversy

For that reason, I hope Kaci Fennel will have a great experience in Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival, despite the controversy surrounding her choice of Carnival attire as show on Kaci Fennel Facebook Page.



Post by Kaci Fennell.

Here's a second look on the same costume on Kaci Fennell's Twitter Page!




Personally I’m not fond of her costume either as per my Tweets, but that's just my fashion sense talkin'!



Good to note here that this Carnival thing was originally my suggestion, as per my post on my Twitter Account on January 27th 2015.



Most of my criticism over her loss was centered around her short hair as noted in another tweet n my Twitter Account. Please note the name is misspelled in the Hashtag #Kacifennel, as I had no ideal “Fennel” was spelt "Fennell" with two “ll”.



In fact, many Jamaican expressed their displeasure with result as noted in the article “Social Media Protest Over Kaci Fennell Fifth Place In Miss Universe”, Published Monday January 26, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner , despite the fact that  Kaci Fennell appears ok with being fourth runner up as noted in the videos from the Jamaica Gleaner and the Jamaica Observer.



Still the focus of my article isn't whether she lost because  of her short hair, as I kinda like it, despite myself being fond of long haired females. Plus, overall this is our best showing yet, topped only by Yendi Phillipps who came Second or First Runner up to, ironically the same Miss Colombia back in 2010.

Neither am I interested in the controversy over any representatives from the Government of Jamaica being on hand  to welcome her home when she landed as can clearly be seen from the videos above.

This oversight or perceived slight was rectified when Information Minister Senator Sandrea Falconer presented Miss Universe Jamaica Kaci Fennell with an Orchid arranged in an Ikebana fashion as noted in the article “Kaci Fennell gets token from Information Minister”, published Friday, February 13, 2015 7:04 PM, The Jamaica Observer.


So folks, with that out of the way, let's look forward to the Jamaica Carnival 2015! Prayin' it comes back to National Stadium and goes islandwide in keeping with the Vision of the Great Dragon, Byron Lee!

Kaci Fennel Facebook Page
Kaci Fennell Twitter Page
Bacchanal Jamaica Website
Bacchanal Jamaica Twitter Page
Bacchanal Jamaica Facebook Page
List of Bacchanal Jamaica Carnival costumes




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