Carnival of Notting Hill

The Carnaval of Notting Hill is a Carnaval which is held the last weekend of August, Sunday and Monday (non-working with the the United Kingdom), in the district of Notting Hill with London.

This carnival was initiated by the black immigrants resulting from the the Caribbean, in particular of Trinidad, which represent a strong proportion of the population of the district. The first edition took place in 1964.

The carnival is centered on a procession which makes the turn of the district, on a course of almost 5 kilometers. Throughout this event, all the district is interdict with circulation, and two stations of the Métro of London are also closed. The procession is made up mainly of sound systems mobile, of the semitrailers whose platform is furnished with enclosures diffusing of the strongly rythmée amplified music. The majority of the sound systems are followed by a group of masqueraders , participants disguised according to a specific style to their group. The procession also includes/understands Steelband S and schools of samba. The course passes in front of a jury, which notes the groups. A classification is thus established each year (general classification and classification by type of group). Many a sound systems static is also installed in the streets of the district where the procession does not pass.

The traditional musical genre of the carnival is the Soca (a mixture of Soul and Calypso originating in Trinidad) but the musics originating in Jamaica like the Reggae and the Ragga is also very strongly represented there. One also observes the more minority presence of musics dancing like the House or the Drum and low or the Funk and the Hip-hop.

In 2005, the carnival counted more than one hundred of sound systems (static or mobile) and its frequentation was evaluated to approximately 2 million people.

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