Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr. Daniel Johnson yesterday dismissed a call by Carnival Band Owners Association President Dario Tirelli, who recently insisted the government needs to remove Junkanoo from carnival.

Johnson said he "doubted" that would ever happen and added that keeping the Junkanoo aspect in carnival makes the festival unique.

"Generally we call it Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival," said Johnson. "Why, because everyone in the world has a carnival. Only us in the world have a Junkanoo carnival. All it speaks to is we are distinguishing ourselves from the rest of the world as to what we do on the carnival occasion, stage, place [and] space."

Last week, Tirelli said the association is going to advocate the removal of Junkanoo from carnival.

Tirelli insisted the festivals are two completely different things and including "Junkanoo" in the title is only "messing up" carnival's image.

Tirelli said there should be "no tie-in" between the two festivals and combining them as one is confusing the international market. He also insisted the event should be rebranded as "Bahamas Carnival" which was its original name when the Christie administration first announced plans for the initiative.

Shortly after its creation, the government decided to rename Bahamas Carnival, Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival, in the face of criticism that the festival wasn't Bahamian enough.

Critics suggested carnival would "dilute" Bahamian culture, and that by hosting a carnival event, The Bahamas was essentially copying a cultural event of another country. Many said the government should provide more support to Junkanoo, rather than copy a street festival synonymous with places like Trinidad and Brazil.

Despite the criticisms over the past two years, Johnson said carnival is a success story that adds to Bahamian culture.

"We're trying to move to what we called five fabulous seasons," he said. "We have the Junkanoo season, a Goombay season, a Junkanoo carnival season, a jazz and heritage season and a rake 'n' scrape season.

Johnson also commended the carnival bands for the role they have played in helping to establish carnival.

"It's not a problem as to what people call it, each group has their own name and those are private entities," he said. "They are doing well and they've grown from last year so we have to congratulate them."

Events for Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival begin today with the opening of "Da Cultural Village" and performances at the Junkamania concert.

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