Barbados Celtic Festival Street Parade 2024 Showcases Diverse Bands Celebrating Cultural Heritage

Scores of Barbadians flocked to the streets on Saturday to witness the vibrant Barbados Celtic Festival Street Parade in Bridgetown.

Commencing at the Central Police Station and concluding at Golden Square Freedom Park, the march, which forms part of the celebrations associated with the 2024 Celtic Music Festival, showcased several bands in a mash-up of culture and musical talent.

Director Jeanna Leslie noted the growth and significance of this year’s staging revealing that “it’s the biggest festival [they’ve] had since COVID.”

“The festival has grown. As you can see, we have around 200 players right now including players with the Police Service Band, Barbados Defence Force Band, Cadets, and a mass band of Pipers and Drummers from all over our Celtic countries,” she said.

Highlighting the festival’s main purpose, Leslie told reporters that, “There’s such a rich cultural heritage here in Barbados, and we’re hoping to bring some of our history here and learn from all your amazing musical talents. There’s loads of different bands here. We’ve got people from Ireland, Scotland, Germany, England, Canada, and America.”

Emphasising community involvement, the festival director noted, ” We’re always looking for people to get involved in any shape or form. We do a huge outreach programme where we bring it into schools. We’ve got three schools performing with us this year. The festival is inclusive, and we want people to come and get involved and have a great time.”

Director of Music for the Barbados Defense Force Band, Captain Brian Cole detailed the band’s contributions to the festival sharing an involvement in logistics and transport support.

However, he told reporters that the band’s biggest support area lies in the execution of the Saturday street parade.

Outlining the preparations leading up to march day, he said, “It starts on Thursday with an all day session … two pipe workshops in the morning to get the different pipe groups synchronised, as well as getting them to learn a few of the local folk songs.”

Cole shared that a recital follows on the same evening and then mass band rehearsals involving members of the Barbados Defense Force, Barbados Police Service, and the Barbados Cadets Corps.

Describing the parade day’s proceedings, he said, “We march through Bridgetown highlighting the musical collaboration and the cultural exchange, including the traditional dress. This year, for the first time, more of the band members are in kilts. You also hear music from groups both from Barbados and Scotland, playing traditional music from each territory.”

Reflecting on the band’s journey, Cole shared that the local band travelled to Scotland in 1999 where members were introduced to Scottish music and dressing.

“This gave us an opportunity to improve on playing with the band. It’s not as simple as it may appear. It does take some coordination and figuring out but every year I find that we are getting better, [since] we only get one rehearsal to make everything come together as the festival has a packed schedule,” Cole said.

The music director further noted that the day’s festivities continued beyond the parade with a party. (SM)