Atlanta to host Summit of Caribbean Culture

There are more than a hundred Caribbean-styled carnivals celebrated around the world annually. Of these, the city of Atlanta is the first carnival on the international Caribbean Carnival calendar, after the premier festival of its kind in T&T each year. This year, on May 23 and 24, the Memorial Weekend in the US—a Summit of Caribbean Culture is expected to convene as part of the ’09 Atlanta Carnival festivities.

The venue is The Masquerade, the premier outdoor facility located in downtown Atlanta, at 695 North Avenue, and artistic delegates will represent various Caribbean territories. For the first day of the two-day Summit the extremely popular Red Hot Flames will carry the flag of Antigua and Barbuda; Peter Ram is the Barbadian rep; the Virgin Islands will have its representation from their super group the Jam Tyme Band; while Vincentians Zolah, Jamesy P and Skinny Fabulous are expected to proudly fly their country’s national colours.

T&T delegates are former Road March Monarch Neil Iwer George, KMC and Patch, and Boston-based on-the-rise Soca siren Jadine (pronounced Jay-deen) will play the role of host along with the Atlanta Organising Committee. The ten-hour festival marathon will commence at midday and showtime is 3 pm. The Web site is www.atlantacarnival.net and it is also declaring Day 2 of the Summit (May 24) to be a breath-taking exercise which will bring together a plethora of top-quality stage stars.

Convening on Day 2 will be Trinidad’s eight-time Road March Monarch SuperBlue, former Road March monarchs Shadow and David Rudder, and chutney soca sensation Hunter, internationally acclaimed Vincentian Kevin Lyttle (of Turn Me On fame). Supporting these celebrated entertainers with top-draw musical accompaniment will be the incomparable Vince Rivers and D Soca Unit band. Much preparation is being put into getting things properly set at the picturesque official Caribbean Festival Village location.

Security for the two-day event is of prime importance and the Organizing Committee of the Atlanta Caribbean Carnival is assuring that everything is ideally in place. People from all over the world are due to converge on the city of Atlanta for their 2009 carnival festivities. Expectations are mammoth and memorable on the Memorial Weekend. Source