Before “Jours Gras”, Kariculture.net publishes an album with about 100 photos to thank all the participants in carnival parades in January and February who allowed it to photograph them.
Would it be excessive to say that carnival groups in Guadeloupe – large or small – are art schools where members learn not only some artistic disciplines such as music, dance, singing, visual arts, theater but also life in groups, or relations with the public or the media? Certainly, not.
In an entertainment company like Eurodisneyland Paris for example (where I worked when I was a journalism student, several years ago), the managers always told employees – called “Cast Members” – that they are “on stage” when they are working, which means that they must behave in an exemplary manner (smiling, courteous, etc.) and forget their personal problems.
During these various parades, we appreciated the sense of showmanship of the carnival lovers to stage the theme of the day or evening. It must also be said that all these people who pay their costumes and other spending with their limited financial resources to participate in carnival come “to let off steam”, to forget their daily concerns and above all to exist in a Guadeloupean society which is modernized and where the people of modest means become invisible; “I was seen in the carnival parade so I exist”.
Guadeloupean carnival lovers seen around the world
Throughout the last few weeks, we have noticed that the carnival lovers
have become professionals in the visual communication and allowed us to photograph them. Indeed, there are those who have a beautiful smile or who look serious when they see the camera; there are those who look for the camera; there are those who feel the presence of the camera even if they do not look at the lens and offer their best profile; there are those who ask you to take pictures of them. It is important for all these people to immortalize their participation in this great traditional festival.
At Kariculture.net, it is very rare for us to ask the carnival lovers to strike a pose so that we photograph them, the vast majority do it naturally without us having to ask, with a smile and with pleasure…
In addition, the participants in carnival who read Kariculture.net know that, unlike some local media whose broadcast area stops in the island of Marie-Galante in the Guadeloupean archipelago, thanks to the magic of the Internet, as soon as our webmagazine will have published their photos in an article translated into 3 languages (French, English and Spanish), these will be seen in France, the Caribbean and around the world.
Note that Kariculture.net makes photos to publish and not to stock on a computer or a USB key so, for each publication, there are between 50 and 100 pictures…
An irreproachable behaviour
We have never heard a carnival lover pronounce our famous “tchip!” as a sign of irritation or a crude insult because he did not want to be photographed. These people know that their possible bad attitude will rebound on the entire carnival group.
Thanks to all these carnival players – who know that as soon as they are in the street they are on stage and they must be irreproachable – we have been able to offer you every week and during two months many photos of parades. Of course, there were two or three people who turned their heads quickly and looked away when they saw the camera because they surely had things to hide. Maybe they had told their wife or husband that they were going to visit a sick relative in the hospital while they were in the streets of Pointe-à-Pitre playing drums, dancing and singing in a carnival group like “Akiyo”! It has already happened… In this case, we did not insist because we are for peace in homes…
Next Saturday, we will enter the period of “Jours Gras” which will mark the grand finale of these carnival festivities and we will have new photographs to do during the various parades. But, we already thank all the participants in carnival 2019 for their professionalism and for allowing us to photograph them.
