2006: Beach J’ouvert – a box of chocolates

Bacchanal Beach Jouvert took place on Saturday, April 15, 2006, at James Bond Beach, Oracabessa, St Mary. This is how The Gleaner reported on it.

Beach J’ouvert is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get. The warm, April sunshine reigned supreme as it waxed and waned on tops of hats. High cirrus clouds dotted the clear blue sky, while a cool breeze dashed in from the turquoise Caribbean Sea. This year’s event got off to a slow start with a trickle of revellers parading on the grounds. But by 4:30 p.m., the trickle was replaced by a roaring flood. With a plantation feel, James Bond beach worked up a sweat as the straw hats worn by the many shaded the burning high tempo energy that was later to come, ‘shaken, not stirred’. Allison Hinds’ Roll It Gal seemed to have been the theme song for screams of joy as teens and old alike rolled their kettledrums. It was a scene For Your Eyes Only.

Drums of paint, scooped up copiously in an orderly fashion … human cattle getting branded. A tropical green lightened the atmosphere as ice-cream coloured paint dripped from beautiful bodies. It was a tie-and-dye affair. A few of the fairer sex retreated to the sea where they floated like water lilies as they washed the paint from their precious weaves. The scenery was like an NDTC-choreographed show. It was simply movements in paint. The chocolate wrapper was now unravelling, the sweetness yet to come. The Red Bull girls were decorated in their purple colours strutting around on their padded wings. Their Beetlejuice-covered thighs and their rhythmic wines signalled that it was SHOWTIME! It was a Licence To Kill.

Destra, backed by Atlantik, held sway for more than an hour as the magical Trini wooed her captive audience. She scorched the already charged atmosphere as she jumped and pranced with her monster hit Carnival. Maximus Dan fired up the place with his reggae-laced soca and the wining never stopped. Beach J’ouvert was a snapshot captured in time, it was simply earthly divine. As the Bond flick would say, Tomorrow Never Dies.