(Updated October, 2023.)
By Frank Ulom
As the day draws closer to this year’s Carnival Calabar and Festival, THE PARADISE NEWS has decided to run a history of the biggest street event in Africa including its participating bands.
History of Carnival Calabar:
The Carnival Calabar also known as Calabar Carnival and Calabar Festival has been a game changer for the economy of Cross River state and its people since its inception in 2004, when the then governor of the state, Donald Duke, had a vision of making the state the hub for tourism and hospitality in Nigerian and in Africa.
Calabar has become the pride of Nigeria as far as tourism, carnival and hospitality are concerned. Calabar Carnival is a unique display of African heritage, showcased through music, dance, drama and visual creativity, which is reflected in the design of floats, costumes and make-up. Since its inception, this festival has grown tremendously in popularity and scope.
It is not uncommon to now have families choosing Calabar as their tourism destination for their annual Christmas break which has made the carnival grow in leaps and bounds.
The event is already in its 18th edition and counting with more bands being inculcated into the event. So far, there are 5 competitive and other non-competitive bands participating in every edition. The Carnival adopts a theme every year to complement the activities of the event. Theme’s like; Green Carnival, Ain’t No Support Us, Migration, Africanism, Humanity, Climate Change, etc., have been adopted in recent years. In 2015 & 2016, Climate Change (aka Green Carnival) was used as it signifies the effort the State is using to keep its large forest to help reduce global warming.
PROGRAMMES:
The programmes are drafted each year by the Carnival Commission Board of the state and each year, new activities are inculcated into the plan. In 2009, the ‘Carnival Cup’ a football competition was organised amongst the five Carnival Bands which are; Seagull, Passion 4, Masta Blasta, Bayside and Freedom Bands.
The festivals also include music performances from both national and international artists which are the likes of the late Lucky Dube, Fat Joe, Young Jeezy, Nelly, Kirk Franklin, 2Face Idibia (now @Baba), P-Square (Now Mr. P and Rude Boy), Kizz Daniel, Iyanya, etc. The festival also embodies performances such as the Fashion Show (Calabar Fashion Show introduced in 2016), Beauty pageant (Miss Africa introduced in 2016), Boat Regatta, Christmas Village, Traditional Dances and the Annual Ekpe Festival is a yearly event that brings in Revelers to the state.
Carnival Calabar Themes:
From 2004 till date, the Carnival has adopted different and unique themes to match the activities of the year. Apart from the themes being unique, the event also plays its role accordingly.
2008 Theme: Sustaining Earth Treasures through Our Culture
2009 Theme: Land of our Birth, Our People, Our Heritage
2010 Theme: Our Strength and Resilience; the Bedrock of Our Future
2011 Theme: Endless Possibilities
2012 Theme: The New Dawn
2013 Theme: Ain’t No Stopping Us
2014 Theme: Celebration Time
2015 Theme: Climate Change
2016 Theme: Climate Change – Bigger, Bolder, Better
2017 Theme: Migration
2018 Theme: Africanism
2019 Theme: Humanity
2022 Theme: Agro-Industrialisation
2023 Theme: Season of Sweetness
Below are the participating Carnival Bands, their origins and what they signify.
Competitive Bands
1. Bayside Band:
Bayside Band is one of the five Carnival Bands registered in the annual Christmas Festival of Cross River State of Nigeria. Membership in the Band is open to all Nigerians and foreigners. The Band is easily identified by its characteristic and distinctive aquamarine colour.
Bayside Band is a corporate body with charity and sustenance of carnival parades as its objectives. Its corporate structure comprises a 7-member Advisory Board and an administrative office headed by a Program Manager. The control and management of the Band is vested in the Advisory Board which meets quarterly to consider all transactions relating to the band. Funding of the Band is derived from membership contributions, and gains of year-round entertainment activities which include but are not limited to theatre shows and orchestra.
Leader: H. E. Donald Duke (Former Governor)
Band Color: Blue
Contact Person: Austine Cobham
Phone Number: 08037264860
Website: http://baysideband.org
2. Seagull Band:
Seagull Band is one of the Carnival Bands registered in 2005 for the Cross River State annual Christmas festival. It is the most stylish and coordinated body with the main objective of promoting and sustaining the Tourism and Hospitality industry and at large, to enhance the status of the underprivileged through charity. The band display the African Culture through aesthetics, talents and innovation, paraded annually during the Carnival.
Seagull Band is identified by its eye-catching distinctive colour – red and maintains a defined hierarchical structure it is the band that recognises and celebrates our own Nigerians and other artists, movie stars and beauty queens. The band is under the dynamic and charismatic leadership of the vibrant distinguished Sen. (Princess) Florence Ita-Giwa (OON) who is ably assisted by Mrs. Affiong Effiom (Fulbright School) Lecturer in Theatre and Media Studies, University of Calabar, Nigeria.
3. Freedom Band:
Freedom Band which is identified with the colour Yellow; was founded by Capt. Henry Brisibe and Mr. Larry Esin in 2005. Since its establishment, the band has consistently been among the best three in all previous editions of the Carnival Calabar event. His Excellency, Barr. Efiok Cobham, the Former Deputy Governor of Cross River State, is presently the grand patron of the band.
4. Masta Blasta Band:
The Masta Blasta Band also known as “The Orange Family“, is the largest & most entertaining of the 5 principal bands of the annual Carnival Calabar.
The Masta Blasta Band was established in December 2005. Also known as the “Orange Family”, the band has a membership base of over 10, 000 members from all over the world. They are the largest and most entertaining of all the 5 competing bands on parade during the annual Carnival Calabar (the largest street party in Africa).
The band has evolved over the years to become a brand name of choice and reference point, through the charismatic leadership of the band leader in the person of Chief Senator Gershom Bassey, Senator representing Cross River State Southern district. The Masta Blasta Band is the only band that accommodates and caters for the “belonging” needs of all segments of society. Their all-inclusive approach to the Carnival Calabar encourages an enviable synergy between family, and friends and embraces the participation of both local and international visitors to the joys of taking part in an international carnival parade.
The Orange Family is currently the overall champion of the 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Carnival Calabar. They are on record, as the only band that has won the most prices in all categories of the competition within a single year, in the entire history of the Calabar Carnival.
5. Passion 4
Passion 4 is the most successful band in Carnival Calabar, having been nine edition Champions and two edition first runners-up in the sixteen years of the existence of the competition aspect of the carnival. Passion 4 has been declared as Africa’s most outstanding band by all its adjudicators as the band continues to grow in creativity, organisation and style in Africa’s biggest street party.
Passion 4 whose former leader and founder’, Mr Chris Agibe who also served as the former Executive Secretary of the Cross River State Carnival Commission has a new band leader called Barr. Attah Ochinike, the Attorney General and former Commissioner for Justice of Cross River State.
Passion 4 which is also the green band is the only band that creates a level playing field for children and adults to have fun. The band is every sponsor’s ideal platform for partnership and the mileage we offer is next to none.
On October 16, 2022, two more competitive bands were introduced by Governor Ben Ayade during the first dry run. The two new bands are the Calas Vegas Band and Diamond Band.
Non-competitive Bands:
The non-competitive bands, most of which were introduced recently, include;
1. Wise Up Band:
The Wise Up Band was created in 2016 on the verge of taking the HIV/AIDS campaign to the streets and as to reduce the rate of catastrophic disease by 2030, a date range set by the United Nations and World Health Organisation.
The Band has top sponsors including; the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Mediatrix Development Foundation (MDF). Other MDAs and Sponsors include; the Office of the Wife of the Governor of Cross River State, Education for Vaccine (Eva), Excellence Community Education Welfare Scheme (ECEWS), State Agency for Control of AIDS (SACA), Cross River State Ministry of Health, Cross River State Primary Health Care Development Agency, UNICEF, fhi360, LOPIN 3, Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN) and many others.
2. Hit FM Band
Hit FM band is a newly integrated band and with what they have in stock, they may be one of the most curative bands in the near future. Known for its Entertainment and Music, Hit FM Band is owned by Hit 95.9 FM Calabar and is among the registered bands in 2016.
3. CNS Band
CNS band is of the Nigerian Navy and is the first military/force band to participate in the Carnival Calabar since the event’s creation in 2004. The band is incorporated to show the love the service has for the development of tourism in Nigeria. CNS band was created in 2016 and discontinued the same year.
4. Governor’s Band
The Governor’s Band was created in 2015 and has its leader as Senator Professor Ben Ayade, Executive Governor of Cross River State. Members of the band consist of the Governor, his Wife, Dr. (Mrs.) Linda Ayade, the Legislative Council and all dignitaries of the Cross River State Government.
THE PARADISE NEWS will keep you updated for more introductions as soon as possible. Thanks.
