
The context and meaning of Notting Hill Carnival
The context and meaning of Notting Hi...
Words by Nicolas-Tyrell Scott | Photo curation by Angela Phillips The beam of a late summer's sunshine on the body as soca rouses the spirit, the jubilance of West Indians chanting, whistling, wining and in laughter across the carnival route, the unexpected and familiar embraces with any and everyone across the day — the British summer’s finale, and yearly celebration of Caribbean culture is Notting Hill Carnival. Photo by Giles MoberlyCelebrated yearly — for the most part — since its 1966 inception, Notting Hill Carnival lays its roots in West Indian solidarity, lineage, resistance, and celebration. Manifested in the wake of Kelso Cochrane’s death, the Windrush generation were promised ease, work, and refuge in a post-war United Kingdom; instead, racial tensions fuelled the Antiguan’s tragic murder in Notting Hill. Resistance in its thousands erupted not just at his funeral but in post-intra and intercommunal relations between Notting Hill’s West Indian, African, Irish, and English demographics, leading to the activist feminist and journalist Claudia Jones’ idea of erecting an indoor Caribbean Carnival in Notting Hill. Conceived as a concept taken from the Caribbean, and carnival’s origins in the 17th and 18th century eastern and southern Caribbean islands, carnival unites West Indian, African and Creole practice, in its most traditional form, platforming soca and calypso. Francophone islands, including Guadeloupe, Dominica, St Lucia, Martinique, and Grenada, as well as Spanish-owned Trinidad and Tobago at the time, would come to influence the first iterations of carnival.In 1966, following multiple Jones-led carnivals indoors, the country gained its first outdoor festival, infusing Notting Hill with not just music, but coteries yearning for a taste of home. Pan-Caribbean in its evolution, carnival expanded in meaning, infusion and context across the 1970s, when soundsystems would usher themselves into the festivities. Referencing the impact that reggae had had on the country and Jamaican culture at large, soundsystems were debuted through Carnival organiser Leslie Palmer. Cultural expansion at the time was necessary to re-centre West Indians who had become curious and immersed in sound system culture. Palmer recalled “Carnival couldn’t be one band’. There were no stalls, no costumes. I thought, ‘this cyah work’”. Simply put, the variety of music genres and quality of sound system production would distinguish Notting Hill Carnival from West Indian carnivals worldwide. Photo by Giles MoberlyCarnival is so much more than a frivolous excuse to get intoxicated and celebrate the Bank Holiday; the bacchanal is a form of cultural production, a spiritual embrace with ancestors and thanks to their courage, liberation and reclamation of our autonomy. J'Ouvert, a practice formally observed on the Sunday morning of day one of Notting Hill’s two-day celebration, inaugurates carnival, but also lays its roots in Trinidad, as part of a wider practice of Canboulay — mockery and reclamation from slave masters. J'Ouvert in a Notting Hill context has come to inaugurate the festival, but its true roots are never forgotten. In Spicemas, Grenadian culture, Jab Jab forms part of their J’Ouvert — which is orchestrated using horns, black paint across the body, chains, and other provocative elements. Participating in Jab Jab in Grenada two years ago, changed me forever and was a transcendent, deeply intricate experience that enlightened me. Grenadians in London routinely honour their tradition in Notting Hill year-on-year, highlighting diaspora practice weaved into contemporary culture. Photo by Ethan ParkerIn my years at Notting Hill Carnival, I’ve seen intergenerational exchanges build bridges between multiple generations of West Indians. Even in my own experience, it’s helped me to see the fun my great-grandmother must’ve had in her days. As a child, I remember a year she came, walking stick in tow, to catch a glimpse of ‘the road’ in action. A strong, stubborn, and determined lady in her time, she made it, getting her hour or two immersed in the action a stone's throw away from Westbourne Park station. Having lived in Shepherd's Bush most of her life with my late great-grandfather, West London was often my stomping ground a few weekends a month. From the long-gone Roti Hut on a Friday with my grandmother — I still can’t find a roti in the city as good — to walking past the plot of land that would eventually become Westfield, I remember an older era of West, and the community tied to it, both old and young. Like most things, time evolves areas, terrains, street corners, families, but Notting Hill Carnival to me is a reminder to keep fighting for the traditions and exchanges between old and young that matter.As we enter the second-half of the decade, it is imperative that Carnival is protected.In my years playing in bands like Island Mas, the stark difference between carnival with a band and carnival as a civilian is day and night. In 2024, four bands were removed for failing to adhere to the Notting Hill Carnival bands' music policy. “I see our role as preserving the culture – calypso and soca do not enjoy the same commercial impact as other forms,” Matthew Phillips, Notting Hill Carnival’s current chief executive explained to Soca News. Cultural preservation is what allows for meaning, identity and understanding in a world that exists in a diversely rich fashion — anchoring and continuing to protect the likes of soca and even more so calypso is paramount.In a country that’s benefited from West Indian communities in tailoring, music genres — including grime, jungle, drum and bass, afro-swing — sport and food, respect for the road is important too. Masqueraders often bear the brunt of entitled attendees who, at times, interfere with and directly enter the rope that partitions band members and patrons, and the general populace. It's instances like this that ruin the heritage and festivities for all. Like any form of cultural practice, remembering to respect an area, community, or space, as a guest is paramount, as the beauty in cultural exchange is found first, with respect. Photo by Adrian BootCarnival has been, and will continue to be, exuberant in the best of ways. An experience one feels in the days, weeks, and months following — an experience we West Indians refer to as tanbanca. As it dawns on west London once more, we remember the sacrifice, meaning, and context forever more. From Trinidad and Tobago to Notting Hill, our ancestors paved the way for our expression; they are the reason behind our meaning, and we are the reason and heartbeat behind its evolution, fortified in West Indian tradition. See you on the road.