This past Saturday, the competition segment of the klopse carnival kicked off at Athlone Stadium and it was gevaarlik.
The items on display were the Best Board, Klopse Jol, Senior/ Juvenile Drum Major, Best Dress and Grand March Pass.
It was a great pleasure to watch the teams and this year, on the first day, it was not only the big teams who were amazing, but all of the teams were also outstanding.
For the first time since I’ve been writing my column about the carnival competition, I got to speak to the Best Board judge, Lloyd Sanderson.
He explained to me that the Best Board gets judged while the team carries the board in while performing the Klopse Jol.
DIE DONNEWEER: The fantastic West London All Stars had the whole crowd singing along
He went on to say that it is important that the board is a board and not a table being carried by the team.
This means that although you want to make a big board, it should still be easy to carry and should be held above your head.
He then said that his favourite board in all of his judging career was that of Woodstock Starlites at Green Point Stadium.
It was a board depicting the Aids epidemic and its message was ‘Death to Aids’. The board was light yet the detail was strong and one guy carried it.
The Grand March Pass item was, as always, a crowd favourite. One of the most memorable moments of the day was when Kensington All-Stars did their Grand March Pass.
JUDGE: Lloyd Sanderson
The wind lifted the mat and tripped them, causing one of the members to fall and nearly the whole marching squad to follow.
This was a young marching squad, most probably the youngest in the competition.
They pulled themselves together and marched on, much to the approval of the crowd.
Grand March Pass is an item that instils discipline in your team and, oh my, what discipline and sheer heart were shown by the young Kensington All Stars marching squad.
The other teams who stood out in the Grand March Pass for me were Juvie Boys and West London All Stars.
However, the reason why the stadium was packed to capacity was for the Klopse Jol.
For me, the best jingle squad in the competition was new kids on the block Playaz Inc. Their jingle squad was choreographed and had a side-to-side movement that was quite breathtaking.
This must have taken lots of practice and time but in the end, they took it up a level.
The Juvie Boys, as per usual, had the crowd on their feet when they entered the arena to perform Klopse Jol.
This was just upon their entry and as they passed, it was clear that they still have it when the whole stadium erupted, singing “Ons is die Juvies”.
Last season, the Juvie Boys did stand still when they performed the Klopse Jol and were disqualified or lost the item due to this.
But this year they moved past quite fast, indicating that although they want to entertain the crowd, they also want to win the carnival.
The Klopse Jol ’s criteria state that one should not stand still when performing Klopse Jol. On the day, there were a few teams who did, so let’s wait for finals and see if they get a prize or not.
When District Six Raw came past for the Klopse Jol, I had to stand up and jol.
The band Impronto was amazing.
Challa once again proved why he is one of the best band leaders on the road and in Klopse Jol.
District Six Raw, donning their Tetris gear, rukked the stadium and what helped them was when Impronto played the Tetris song.
Nou dit is slim en baie creative.
Baruch Entertainers, former carnival champions and now in their second year, rocked with their creativity.
VUURWARM: Baruch Entertainers in action
The thing I admire about Baruch is that they are adding elements to their klops which are slowly starting to die out.
As usual, Joshua van Staden, who was the face of klopse last year, led the team in, followed by the vuurwarme voorlopertjies, but this year the thing that impressed most was the three moffie voorlopers who were jolling in front of the team.
They were hilarious, falling all over the place. All these add-ons give Baruch a nice feel between old school and new school klops, so thumbs up to them.
The day was rounded off by the team that is now branded as “Die donneweer”, West London All Stars.
The West London All-Stars is the first to have launched their team anthem. As they entered the arena, they started blowing it and they had the whole stadium on their feet, singing to the sound of the band, “hie kom ons, ons is die All-Stars en ons maak nou plesier. Ons maak die skare mal en ons kom deur soes donneweer”.
With that said, it was a beautiful day of klops and a well-run event by the Kaapse Klopse Karnival Association. Well done!
I do believe the new Computicket system has lifted the profile of klops and in time will be effective, so well done on this.
Looking forward to this weekend and the Moppies and Combine Choruses.
Die ding gaan ruk so stiek uit.