THE Bahamas All-Star Band made history yesterday as the first international marching band to participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.
The group of 120 youngsters braved blisteringly cold weather to showcase unique Bahamian dance moves while playing Bahamian music.
The Bahamian band was fourth in the prestigious lineup, joining the top marching bands in the United States, theatre performers, elaborate floats and famous giant inflatables. This is the first time in the parade’s 88 years that an international marching band has been selected to participate, tourism officials said.
More than 3.5 million
people are estimated to have lined the parade route to view the festivities live while more than 50 million viewers watched on television and the Internet.
Director General of Tourism Joy Jibrilu said the Ministry of Tourism was proud of the band’s “magnificent performance”.
“The Ministry of Tourism is proud to have sponsored such a wonderful performance and such an historic moment in our history,” Ms Jibrilu said. “We also extend our congratulations to band Director Luke Caley on this stellar performance. All Bahamians should be proud to see our Bahamian youth display our culture to the world in such a tremendous way.”
Mr Caley had encouraged Bahamians this week to tune in to the parade. “We added a little flair to some of our most popular routines. We have something different for our fans, including new uniforms, and you may not even recognise us when we come out fourth on Thursday morning,” he said.
Comments
The_Oracle 9 years, 4 months ago
Would have ben nice for Someone to have made an announcement PRIOR to the parade so interested Bahamians could have planned to watch it, I caught it by accident, then saw it proper on the replay in the afternoon.
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