Scotiabank Caribana Festival is an exciting two-week cultural explosion of Caribbean music, cuisine, revelry, and visual and performing arts. In its 43rd year, it became a major international event and North America’s most significant cultural festival. As Carnival is a global cultural phenomenon, patient the great metropolis of Toronto and its environs will come alive as the city explodes with the pulsating rhythms and melodies of Calypso, Soca, Reggae, Hip Hop, Chutney, Steel Pan and Brass Bands. This colourful exhibition and display of genius is a musical panorama that will bring a pleasing smile to the ancestral titans of Pan and Calypso music.
Scotiabank Caribana Festival is an expression of Toronto’s multicultural and multiracial society. An increasing number of attendees and participants come from the US and overseas. The events are planned months in advance. The costumes and mas band displays are elaborate, delicately worn, and designed for movement. They move in a breathtaking spectrum of colours best reflected in the King and Queen Showcase on Parade Day. No Scotiabank Caribana Festival is complete without African Drumming along with the Arts and Crafts displays celebrating “Things Caribbean”!
In 2010, the Scotiabank Caribana Festival season was destined to be six (6) weeks, culminating in the pinnacle of Parade Day on the Lakeshore with a kaleidoscope of music, colourful costumes, theatrical mas band displays, steel bands beating intricate orchestrations coupled with mouth-watering feasts of Caribbean cuisine and delicacies. http://www.caribanafestival.com/pagedisplay.aspx?i=233