After three years of absence due to the health crisis, the carnival resumes in 2023 for the happiness of young and old. In the Antilles-Guyana, the carnival is part of the cultural heritage. We have fun, we sing, we dance. We hide and let go. We criticize, we denounce or we caricature. Immerse yourself in the heart of the 2023 Carnival festivities.
This documentary invites you to experience the most beautiful moments of Carnival 2023 in Overseas France through the cross-portraits of Doricka (Martinique), Auguste (Guyana) and Jean-Michel (Guadeloupe).
Doric joined the young group Toxic Groove Vibes (TGV). About forty musicians and twenty dancers from all over the “island of flowers” make up this group formed two and a half years ago, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. They rehearse at a frantic pace and stamp their feet while waiting for this unmissable parade. Carnival traditions will resume their rights following the years of health crisis. The group will be on all parades to participate in this popular, deliberately outrageous jubilation.
Impossible to evoke the Guianese carnival without describing its essential and unique character: the Touloulous are the queens of the carnival! Disguised from head to toe, the Touloulous caricature the bourgeois of the 18th centurye and XIXe centuries. Padded silhouettes in elegant and richly adorned dresses, masked, gloved and hooded: they are mysterious. The women change every detail, including their voice. One goal: to remain in absolute anonymity. Augustethe costumer of Toulousepassionate regarding couture and elegance since childhood, disguises more than 2,000 each year.
Jean Michelfrom Guadeloupe, is the conductor of the association Mas Ka Kle which works daily to preserve Guadeloupe culture from a cultural, artistic, carnival or musical point of view. His group, made up of nearly a thousand revelers, punctuates his parade to the sound of kas, chachas and conches with lambi. Mas Ka Kle is one of the most famous “gwoup a po”* in the West Indies. Their apotheosis: the Zulu parade.
*The term “skin group”, or “gwoup a po”, was used at the end of the 1970s by the Akiyo group, which used drums covered with animal skins, in particular goats, to distinguish themselves from groups that use plastic drums or snare drums.
Find other videos of the carnivals of Guyana, Martinique and Guadeloupe HERE
Achievement Helene Mourot-Braudel
Production Eden with the participation of France Televisions
Duration : 52 minutes – © 2023
