Shas­tri Boodan

Free­lance Con­trib­u­tor

Wing-o-Ra­ma’s pre­sen­ta­tion of Wings of Time and Cen­tral Elite’s Pas­sion are the win­ners of the Ch­agua­nas Car­ni­val Large and Small Band com­pe­ti­tions. The Ch­agua­nas Bor­ough Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee re­leased the re­sults for this year’s cel­e­bra­tions yes­ter­day.

The Queen of Car­ni­val ti­tle went to Heather Dawn Fran­cois, who por­trayed Peace and Love from Cen­tral Elite’s Pas­sion.

The King of the Band ti­tle went to Mar­lon Fran­cois, al­so from Cen­tral Elite, for his por­tray­al of Flag Par­ty. The In­di­vid­ual Male ti­tle went to Anand De­ok­ie, who por­trayed Ser­pen­tis from Mad­ness Crew’s En­chant­ed Gar­den. Shantel Cole of Cen­tral Elite won the Fe­male In­di­vid­ual ti­tle with her por­tray­al of Spir­it.

Com­ment­ing on the win, Wing-o-Ra­ma band­leader Man­noo Bridge­lal said he was ex­cit­ed at the achieve­ment.

“This year the band paid trib­ute to Dan­zo Bal­roop, the band leader of Chase Vil­lage Car­ni­val. Dan­zo passed away in 2024 af­ter a long ill­ness. Some mem­bers of Wing-o-Ra­ma once played with Chase Vil­lage Car­ni­val and we be­lieve that Dan­zo did a lot for the de­vel­op­ment of Car­ni­val in Cen­tral,” he said.

Bridge­lal said the band had 190 play­ers and was di­vid­ed in­to four sec­tions. He said costs were down and mas­quer­aders paid just $200 for a cos­tume.

In the Ju­nior Bands Cat­e­go­ry, House of Jaqui’s Spec­trum of Life won the large band cat­e­go­ry while the small band cat­e­go­ry went to 500 Kids for their por­tray­al of Pa­tri­ots of T&T.

In the J’Ou­vert com­pe­ti­tion, I Can­dy’s Life in Colour took home the large band prize while We Dut­ty’s Essence of J’Ou­vert won the best small band.

The J’Ou­vert King and Queen awards went to J’Ou­vert Junkiez. Ganesh Kallicha­ran por­trayed the Man with the Ham­mer to take the King ti­tle while Lee Ann Singh took the ti­tle with Woman in Com­mand.