Notting Hill Carnival Strategic Review - Intelligent Space

integration of commercial floats with existing Carnival bands was again, a central message in
their presentation to the Carnival Review Group. Adequate funding to enable the organisation
to carry out its work was also a critical concern, although many of its members had the
advantage of being resident DJs on a number of radio stations and were therefore able to draw
an income from their DJ-ing skills all year round. In relation to the type of music played at
Carnival, the CMA called for the introduction of a Carnival ‘music policy’ that placed the
emphasis on the prominence of the more ‘traditional’ forms of Caribbean music, derivations and
sources – soca, calypso, highlife, zouk, salsa and reggae.
1.70 The Review Group were extremely encouraged by the work currently being undertaken by the
CMA to develop its own public safety code of best practice for its members. Entitled, ’On de
Road’, the code aimed to set out the minimum standards and health and safety requirements for
all mobile performance units participating at Carnival. One of the organisation’s key objectives
in this regard was to have the code approved by the Health and Safety Executive. Full
compliance with the code would then become a prerequisite to a band’s eligibility to perform at
Carnival.
Sound Systems Have a Place at Carnival
1.71 The views presented by the British Association of Sound Systems (BASS), the representative
voice for static sound system DJs, were in contrast to those of the costume bands, steel bands
and soca DJs. As an organisation, BASS received no financial support from the arts funding
bodies or the Carnival organisers (save for a small appearance fee). A great deal of the cost of
performing at Carnival was met by the DJs themselves personally. Some of the more successful
sound systems are able to attract sponsors in recognition of their huge following and
attractiveness to young audiences. There was a clear strength of feeling that more adequate
funding was required to ensure that basic health and safety requirements (such as the provision
of adequate staging and crowd management measures) could be met. There were also the
‘hidden costs’ of performing at Carnival – equipment hire and transportation costs for example.
1.72 BASS were not in agreement with the Review Group’s interim recommendations that those
sound systems attracting larger crowds should be re-located to larger sites such as Wormwood
Scrubs. This, they argued, would only serve to place larger crowds together and cause friction
between different sound systems and their followers. Moreover, the recommendation was
viewed as ‘punishing’ the sound systems for their success by banishing them from the main part
of the Carnival environment. As an arena that had made a significant contribution to the August
bank holiday weekend, this was seen as unacceptable. BASS was firmly of the opinion that
sound systems were an integral part of Carnival’s cultural environment, playing music from the
Caribbean and all over the world. In 1988 a 7:00pm shutdown time for all static sound systems
was introduced and this had always been adhered to. Ironically, the 9:00pm close-down time for
the rest of Carnival had yet to be achieved and at Carnival 2000, it was the mobile music floats
that could still be found on the road as late as 01:00 am.
1.73 It was felt that more could be done by the traditional Carnival arenas to embrace BASS members.
There appeared to be little or no recognition of the fact that the sound system DJs were able to
use their abilities, knowledge and experience of the Carnival crowd to recognise problems around
them and implement positive measures to quell crowd disturbances when they arose. Many had
taken it upon themselves to finance the purchase of their own video cameras in order to record
any signs of trouble. They appreciated the importance of working in partnership with the police
and emergency services in order to deliver a safe and enjoyable Carnival. In many cases and
without any direction from NHCT, BASS and its members had developed their own strategies to
address safety issues. The prospect of losing more sites within the Carnival environment was not
an acceptable option for the sound systems. Rather, they argued that more sites should be
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