00:00Despite global tensions, income challenges and uncertainty about the future,
00:05Konata Alain of Dirty Dozen says people are still making space for culture and connection.
00:12There's so many things happening around and you have every reason to want to like step back and not do anything.
00:20It's expensive to do things. You're not really sure about the future, like what's going to happen next.
00:27It's anybody's game now.
00:31But he says even with those pressures, the pull towards community remains strong.
00:37The things that are happening around us, the income challenges, the wars that are happening,
00:43people still seeking community. People are still seeking to like to be together.
00:47Like, you know, there's so many things to like pull us apart.
00:51And every time it does that, people just know we want to come back together.
00:55We want to do things together. We want to celebrate something.
00:59I mean, we want to escape sometimes.
01:01You know, we want to connect sometimes.
01:03We want to reflect.
01:05But I don't think we want to do any of those things alone.
01:09This need for community is exactly what Carnival represents, he says.
01:14That is where we just beat up. That is where we just share. That is where we gather.
01:18That is where we let go of things, where we express, where we cry, where we laugh,
01:24where we just kind of like sometimes forget for a moment or remember deeply wherever you stand.
01:30And we can't escape this. Anything can happen. And we will find a way to reach each other.
01:38That same idea of togetherness is driving Pondergrass.
01:42A live musical event held this Carnival Tuesday focused on accessibility, authenticity and crowd energy.
01:52It's not being accessible to people. It being raw and authentic.
01:57We're not going there to pretend.
01:59We're showing up with our friends. We're showing up with our team.
02:02And we make sure we have fun.
02:05Sometimes we just kind of forget Carnival is supposed to be fun.
02:09But it could feel stressful. There's a lot of money you had to spend and people you had to organize.
02:14And you're not sure if you're going to get the value that you want sometimes when you go out.
02:19And so for me, a big part of the value that people experience is that.
02:24The event highlights artists with their catalogues and shared musical experiences.
02:30I love diving into people's catalogues and especially artists that you may not have heard for a while
02:36or who may not be creating the amount of music that they may have been doing before.
02:42So we've had the KMC and he come and he sing all the tracks that we kind of grew up hearing and that was fantastic.
02:49And while there are regular artists who are associated with Pondergrass, such as Iwa George and Preeti,
02:55this year patrons can expect a few surprises.
02:59Following the event, the Dirty Dozen group will prepare for its Juve celebrations on Carnival Sunday.
03:05Allen says while buying patterns have shifted this season, support for Dirty Dozen remains strong.
03:12Alexander Brussel, TV6 News.
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