Battle of the Bands: Jamaica Carnival 2017

By Amilcar Lewis 8 years ago

It is important to understand the steep step-up in organization, promotion and overall excitement this year’s Jamaica carnival has over last year’s version. Aided, it seems, by an increasingly strong presence on social media by the average Jamaican, the hype kept building and building for the seemingly daily soca events. Each party gathering more and more interest with curious patrons filling venues across Kingston and the wider island landscape. As mentioned in before there was certainly a potential for an oversubscription of parties in relation to potential patrons.

However, it seems that there were then enough vibes to go around for the three weeks leading up Carnival Sunday, a day which would feature for the very first time 4 different bands taking to the road in the capital city. These bands: Xodus, Xaymaca, Bacchanal Jamaica and Jamaica Carnival, all took differing routes around a similar section of Kingston. Each of the four delivered varying experiences for their revelers. Buzzebly/Backayard caught up with a few of the participants on the day and got their impressions on what may go down to be a pivotal day in the expansion of the Jamaican Carnival experience.

How was the attendance?

Ravn – Xodus

It was well attended/crowded

Marlon – Xaymaca

Attendance was VERY good! I swore it was the whole carnival at some points.

Rolando – Bacchanal Jamaica

Attendance was not as it was the last time I went in 2015

Kris – Bacchanal Jamaica

The attendance, in my opinion, was less than previous years. That was obvious from even the sale of costumes because normally every single costume would be sold out. This year there were a lot of costumes still available til the end

Franco – Soca DJ

Bacchanal was king once again by sheer numbers. Xodus came in 2nd based on quantity supported by uptown Jamaica. Xaymaca International lived up to its name with the widest cross section of locals and foreigners.

What about the lunch spot organization?

Ravn – Xodus

Our lunch spot needed more work

Marlon – Xaymaca

Our lunch spot was very organized with air conditioning and all. The ladies even had a pampering room to fix makeup etc. done by a certified MUA.

carnival-jamaica-bacchanal

Rolando – Bacchanal Jamaica

The lunch setup was good enough.

Kris – Bacchanal Jamaica

Lunch was not normally disorganized. I never really had a problem getting lunch. I had a problem in the past when I jumped with other bands. Usually if I jumped with Frenchmen there is no problem with lunch, it took me like 2 seconds to get my food but with a lot less people.

Franco – Soca DJ

Xaymaca lunch spot was in air conditioning at the Spanish Court hotel. Really fancy.

Princess Ayae – Jamaica Carnival

There were snacks and KFC on the road but no lunch stop.

What was the societal mix to you within your band?

Ravn – Xodus

A post shared by Xodus Carnival (@xoduscarnival) on

All age ranges. Middle to upper class, men probably outranked women or it was about the same. Mostly Jamaicans though

Marlon – Xaymaca

The only class of people there was ‘carnival enthusiasts’. Xaymaca wasn’t not about segregation, we had a lot of foreigners.

Kris – Bacchanal Jamaica

Regular mix, you have your uptown, your downtown and your midtown. I would say Bacchanal was mostly midtown there weren’t any super super uptown.

Franco – Soca DJ

Foreign revelers chose Bacchanal because it was the less uptown option, I kid you not. Xodus was more catered towards the uptown crowd. Xaymaca was more of a cross section.

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Here is some Twitter feedback about each band

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Amilcar Lewis

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