SEYCHELLES UNVEIL CARNIVAL 2014 POSTER AS SONG CONTEST LAUNCHED BY MINISTER
(Posted 31st October 2013)
Seychelles’ Tourism and Culture Minister Alain St. Ange yesterday unveiled the poster for the ‘Carnaval de Carnivals – The Carnaval International de Victoria’ which is scheduled for 25th to 27th of April next year.
He explained to the media that Seychelles’ had opted to shift the dates from the conventional carnival period to April to allow the major world powers of carnival, Brazil, the German carnival club of Duesseldorf, the Notting Hill Carnival, Trinidad and Tobago and others to be well represented in Victoria without a conflict of interest back home, where their own celebrations could be adversely affected with key players and groups absent. In fact he confirmed their presence as already confirmed, in addition of which French carnival groups too are expected to come to the Seychelles to perform.
Festival partners as co-hosts will once more be La Reunion, which has been on board since the inaugural event in 2010, with Madagascar, Mayotte and South Africa already signed up as new co-hosts for the 2014 edition. While the participation of the same carnival group from Mauritius, which won the runner’s up prize for best performance last year, has already been confirmed, no word has been received yet if Mauritius will finally come on board as a co-host or again forgo this great opportunity to showcase itself in front of the world media. A 10 minute video on YouTube featuring Minister St. Ange’s presentation and answering the question about Mauritius’ participation is now available on line via this link: http://youtu.be/2JxIIKFTAz4
The carnival has been adopted by the recently incorporated ‘Vanilla Island Organization’ as one of their key annual events, supported by VIO as well as the other member islands. It is hoped that new member Maldives will take the opportunity to be present in Victoria, and with La Reunion, Madagascar and Mayotte already confirmed it leaves only Mauritius and the Comoros to still confirm their official participation as co-hosts.
It was also confirmed that the opening ceremony will again be held next year at the centre of Victoria, around the ‘Little Big Ben Clocktower’ as the general weather pattern was unlikely to bring any rain over that period, unlike last year where on the eve of the festival the island was swept by a rainstorm, forcing organizers to move the opening ceremony into the international conference centre to be on the safe side.
The parade route for next year will by and large be the same proven route of past years passing the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and Kenwyn House before moving on to the Clock Tower roundabout and beyond.
At the same time of presenting the 2014 poster was the song competition launched, aimed to find the 2014 theme song for the carnival festival with the winning composer / artists taking 30.000 Rupees home, besides the lasting fame they will be generating with their song. The competition has in the past years been hotly contested and the judges, by the look of things, will have a tough job to decide for a winner.
The most significant change however was the news that Air Seychelles and Etihad had come on board as major corporate partner of the carnival festival, providing airtickets to participating groups and the invited media who will once again flock to the archipelago to cover the three day event, termed by Minister St. Ange as ‘continuing to remain the Seychelles’ most visible and best advertised calendar event of the year’. Air Seychelles General Manager Commercial Justin Gosling represented the national airline at the function.
At the end of the Festival Kreol with the closing gala performance at the Creole Institute at Au Cap last evening all eyes are now on the next big one, the Carnival, even though in between will still come the Festival of the Sea aka SUBIOS which will be held at the end of November. Visit www.seychelles.travel for more information on the Seychelles annual calendar of events to perhaps coincide a holiday visit with the unfolding of one of the archipelago’s major showcases. Seychelles, truly Another World.
