Fiona Compton

I’m Fiona Compton, and I am an official ambassador for the Notting Hill Carnival, I’m also a cultural and history specialist, I’m a Caribbean historian and my role is to help connect people to Caribbean history and culture.

Notting Hill Carnival is important to me because it is a spiritual passage, it’s a homage to my ancestors, a lot of people also see Notting Hill and condensing it, or looking at it in a very reductive way that it’s just a 2 day street party and yes, it is, but it’s also a celebration in homage to our freedom, our emancipation from slavery. It is looking at how our ancestors managed to preserve our culture despite all the laws, stipulations and oppression to stop us from our expression and that is what carnival is, so it is extremely meaningful for me, in terms of our extended family, it terms of the rituals behind getting our costumes ready, it’s not a two day thing, it’s a year long thing actually, and it’s such a labour of love.

Carnival is also built from revolutionary acton, the fact that enslaved people were banned from drumming, from singing, from blowing the conch shell, from all of these things, our expression, because the drum is such a foundation of ours, and the fact that we were banned from doing that, banned from moving, that carnival celebrates that we are able to still preserve these things and how we shape that I think that especially for the diaspora, because there are millions of us here, and the fact that we have these 2 days to celebrate ourselves unapologetically, you know, the fact that we cover ourselves in paint, powder and oil, all of those things come from our liberation from slavery and it’s a homage to our ancestors when you see people covered in black paint, and the chains and shackles surrounding them, that is a homage to our ancestors, and to actually say, you say I’m black, well let me show you black, I’m going to make myself black.

All of these things are extremely important for us. As for London, our culture brings so much vibrance - it’s a necessary outlet for us in order for us to express ourselves. I don’t think I could function on a daily basis without having to have that kind of spiritual purge on carnival day. That’s why it’s very important to London.

Even the steel pan, this is you know, it was birthed from the fact that drums were banned, drums made from skin, so that’s how people improvised, and they created steel pan as a way to still keep the rhythm in our hearts. So I just want, as carnival grows, and it’s growing and growing, and we’re getting all these major platforms and business and companies and media outlets joining into the carnival and profiting and making a lot of money off of it, but I think I don’t want carnival to lose its integrity because without it’s integrity it’s going to be meaningless and I think this is what makes carnival special from most other festivals, it’s steeped in meaning, in history, in context, spirituality.

And when I say spirituality people think you’re being pious but actually wining is spiritual, okay? In terms of covering ourselves in paint, powder, oil, chocolate, all of these things, this is spiritual practises, and I just want people to connect to that, because I think when you have a drum, it incites something in you, that is in-explainable, and that is literally the spirit of your people coming back alive in you. So once you recognise that, it’s just going to make carnival be this indescribable and necessary rite of passage for you that you have to do every single year. So that‘s what I hope that, people reconnect to this very beautiful element that makes carnival different from anything else.