Once Upon a J’Ouvert: Part three of a three-part series by SONJA DUMAS

I THINK I began storming 3canal’s J’Ouvert band in 1997. They had begun calling it 3canal in 1994, but this had been preceded by their band called Jocks Tuh Pose – clever wordplay with which some pierrot grenades will be duly impressed, I’m sure.

But the 1997 moment was a huge one for the group of young men whose unanticipated hit Blue with its bombastic lyrics threatening to “turn the whole world upside down” and its updated stick-fighting, lavway-like rapso beat spoke to the old construct of J’Ouvert upsetting the social order, but in an upbeat, contemporary way to which the young people of that era could relate.

It was, for many, a watershed moment in the history of modern J’Ouvert in Trinidad’s urban space. Many of us in the arts world of Port of Spain jumped on the 3canal bandwagon then, and never really left.

Note my open confession of storming. There was a small fee, I think, if not in 1997, but in other years, and I did pay it once or twice, out of a twinge of guilt.

But for the most part, I was in the band gratis – just like the J’Ouvert bands of eras gone by, when community trumped commercialism and people were happy to see you “in de band.” Paint was sharing, humankind was chipping or wining, and tings was sweet.

To whoever experiences this in their current J’Ouvert band: I enjoin you to cherish it and to understand that beyond all the commercial trappings, that is where the cosmic core of J’Ouvert lies.

But let’s delve into this whole commercialisation-versus-community thing a bit more. They are not always at odds.

Many moons ago, I wrote a rather long, as-yet-unpublished business systems analysis about the band that is now 3canal and what I call their J’Ouvert entrepreneurship. I return to that reflection to give a little insight here into a Carnival business model that, in my opinion, reflects the traditional, community-based foundation of its “product offering.”

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In the later incarnations of band preparation, the group procured a dedicated space in the form of the Big Black Box in Woodbrook. They crafted it into a reimagined version of the barrack yard of 19th-century Port of Spain by creating both a physical and psychological space where people could casually enter and congregate. It welcomed, and still welcomes, all – regardless of background. You can sometimes wander into the yard and just sit, or attend a paying function such as one of their backyard jams or someone else’s production.

It is this inclusivity that became the hallmark of their activities, and it’s why folks like yours truly (and many others, mind you) could perennially storm de people band without being extricated.

This is not to say that they don’t have a business model. The bar in the Big Black Box brings in income, as do the rental fees from producers using the space. Their famed 3canal Show and their J’Ouvert band do have costs attached.

But the group never