Super Eight matches at Providence stadium
Logistics cited for lack of shows during break
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
April 5, 2007
A decision had been taken not to provide any cultural entertainment at the Guyana National Stadium during the lunch break in the Super Eight matches because of logistics, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony said.
Several persons have expressed their disappointment at the absence of any cultural entertainment at the stadium except for a group of tassa drummers welcoming spectators at the entrance of the stadium and the intermittent roll of drums during the highpoints of some matches.
"A group of tassa drummers only, surely that is not reflective of our Guyanese culture," one disappointed Guyanese fan, Carla Griffith said as rain threatened the day's match between South Africa and Ireland.
Dr Anthony told the Stabroek News that the tassa drummers welcoming the people and trying to add to an atmosphere of merriment was their own initiative. "Those are people who are doing it on their own. They are people who have come in and have asked the LOC (Local Organising Committee) to use their instruments on the ground."
Dr Anthony said that any other group could have done the same thing as the tassa drummers but they did not. Given that there were restrictions on a number of items, when asked whether there was a move to advertise for persons wishing to stage their own performances independently to add to the colour of the event, Anthony said no other such initiative was taken.
As to the reason why there are no cultural performances on the ground, Dr Anthony said that staging a show on the ground would have entailed bringing in a number of artistes and stage props. "When we looked at the logistics for 20 to 30 minutes shows," he said, "we found it would have been extremely difficult making plans for operationalising them within the short period."
Following the opening ceremony of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 at Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica on March 11, Dr Anthony was asked about the noticeable absence of Guyana in the cultural showcase at the event which was broadcast worldwide and he had said that this country did not send any local performers to the event because of the short time allotted to every country's cultural contingent.
He had said too that when cricket arrived in Guyana in the form of the six Super Eight matches, Guyana would have had ample opportunity to showcase its culture through a number of cultural performances during the lunch break.
In addition, he had noted that there would also be cultural performances at the National Park, the National Cultural Centre, the Roots and Rhythms Show at the National Exhibition Centre at Sophia and at the Umana Yana which a group out of New York rented for putting on Guyanese cultural programmes during the period of the Super Eight matches.
Guyana contributed US$50,000 to the opening ceremony of the Cricket World Cup 2007 and was fairly well represented even though the country did not send any artistes to the event which captured a two-billion television audience.
Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago-based Guyanese journalist, Rickey Singh was also disappointed after boasting to his Trinidadian counterparts that Guyanese could hold their own in music, song and dance against any other Caribbean country, known for their rich culture.
Singh told the Stabroek News on Wednesday at the stadium that he was enjoying himself and had to take the "tantalise" from his Trinidadian counterparts, who also came to Guyana, specifically for the West Indies match against Sri Lanka and found the entertainment on the ground missing.
He said he was especially "fooled" about the food because he boasted about Guyanese food being the cheapest and the best in the Caribbean and expected to find the traditional pepperpot at the stadium but found none.
He promised his friends that they would get pepperpot before they leave Guyana.
"Believe me," he said, "it is not that they are not enjoying themselves, they are. It is just my boasts that I am worried about," Singh said.
There are, however, food stands around the stadium's concourse, which according to Singh, don't reflect the diverse foods that Guyana is known for and "they certainly aren't cheap," he said.