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Aspirations and Achievements
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Picture Credit: NORBERT A.
MUELLER
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The Notting Hill Carnival is here with us again. This year's theme is
"aspiration and achievement in unity".
Around a million visitors are expected to descend into Notting Hill
and surrounding areas between 27 and 28 August as the streets of west
London are filled with floats, steel bands and dancers.
Architects of Europe's biggest street festival say they want to
capitalise on the initial feeling of "euphoria" felt by many Britons
after London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
Organisers say they also want to show that there is no shortage of
aspiration among young black men.
Carnival's roots
The Notting Hill Carnival actually began in St Pancras and moved
around until it found its home. From town halls it has now grown to a
huge event and gets royal approval. Carnival's roots date back to the
Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833 when the first Caribbean carnival
was held in Trinidad.
Black Caribbeans took to the streets for their own carnival party,
with song, dance and costumes. Over the next century, carnival developed into a strong Caribbean
tradition, particularly in Trinidad, where the five disciplines of
carnival were established.
When the first significant numbers of West Indian immigrants came to
the UK in the 1950s, they brought their musical traditions.
But what began with harassment of individual black men by white gangs
blew up into a full-scale riot in August 1958 which continued for weeks.
The following year, carnival's first British incarnation took place
in St Pancras Town Hall, organised by West Indian Gazette editor
Claudia Jones.
For several years it was held in various halls but settled in Notting
Hill in 1964, thanks to the vision of local social worker Rhaune
Laslett.
As other West Indian immigrants and white locals joined the
festivities year on year, carnival grew to its current huge proportions.
It even got the Royal seal of approval when Notting Hill performers
began the parade on the Mall which represented the finale of the
Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations. It still retains a strong
Caribbean flavour, with colourful costumes and the pulsing sounds of
calypso and soca.
Many traditional events on the continent of Africa culminates with an
estatic parade of groups in the streets.
Led by the chiefs riding on either horses or in a palanquin the
entire community jubilates and celebrates with music,
traditional drumming and dance.
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