Our correspondent Shaman Freeman Powell
is live at the Notting Hill Carnival. Hi
Shimani. It looks like you're taking
part in the parade there.
>> I I am taking part. I've infiltrated the
Extreme Carnival band which is currently
repping St. Lucia. As you can see, it's
all very chaotic. Carnival is now in
full swing. I'm currently with this band
who's got this amazing costumes. As I
say, they're representing St. Lucia.
Today is adults day. Yesterday we saw
the children's uh parade. Today is the
day for adults to have fun and take part
in the carnival parade. I'm actually
joined now by Kai. Kai Henry. Now Kai is
19 years old. It's your first time,
isn't it, at Notting Hill Carnival. Tell
me a little bit about why you're taking
part and what this means to you. So I
said to myself, I was not going to go to
Notting Hill until I went to St. Lucian
Carnival. And I did that last month. So
here I am represent Lucia again. And how
does St. Lucia, how is it different to
what we see here in Notting Hill?
Because it's very multicultural here.
It's about Caribbean culture, but it's
very London as well. Listen, it's very
British. I feel like St. Lucia is less
diverse because obviously we have
cultures coming from everywhere.
Trinidad, Jamaica, Grenada. In St.
Lucia, it's a bit more, you know,
contained. We have Buon, we have SOA, we
have Denry. But at Notting Hill, it's a
bit more dance hall, less SOA. But we're
going to bring back SOA. Watch.
>> Bringing back SOA.
>> And tell me about your outfit, cuz that
is incredible. How much work goes into
that?
>> It takes months for them to make. This
is a smaller band. So, we have three
costumes. I believe this one is Bion. I
think behind you have SOA. We have Afro
Beats for the inclusivity and a few
other things. But yeah, a lot of work.
>> And for someone that's never been to
carnival, can you teach us a dance?
Teach us a move. How do you move to the
to the rhythm of the music?
>> So when you're walking on the road,
>> they kind of just have to walk. Okay.
Like that.
>> Right. Are my hips swaying?
>> Are they playing? Okay.
>> There you have it. Around a million
people will be taking part this weekend
enjoying the celebration of Caribbean
culture, of British culture, of
multiculturalism. Of course, there are
also safety concerns too. There are
thousands of police officers present.
You can see some now actually. They're
lined on every corner ensuring that
people uh the public are safe. They're
also using uh live facial recognition
cameras as well to ensure that everyone
has a good time and enjoys
carnival.
>> Impressive dancing and also impressive
walking backwards by you and your
fabulous guests. Thank you. Thank you
both very much indeed.