Over 15 000 klopse spectators filled the Athlone Stadium on Saturday to kick off Day One of the Hollywoodbets and Kaapse Klopse Karnival Association (KKKA) carnival competitions.
The competitions will take place each week until Saturday, 3 February, with knockout rounds determining the winners.
The sold-out 2024 season opener saw KKKA troupes competing in four categories including: Grand March Pass, Klopse Jol, Best dressed Troupe and Senior and Junior Drum Major.
The teams who took to the field to compete included: West London All Stars, Philadelphians, Seawind Entertainers, Posh Vibrant, Fabulous WS Starlites Exquisite Golden Gates, CPT Hawkers, Carnival Boys, Young Wild Apaches/Last Tamahawks/Young Comanches, Playaz Inc, Juvie Boy Entertainers, Ashwin Willemse Orient CD, TV Stars, Manenberg Superstars, Original D6 Hanover Minstrels, West Bank Entertainers and MP Young Tycoons.
The excitement lit up the stadium as each team was hyped by hundreds of fans who chanted their names from the stands.
Teams came to haal uit en wys in the much-anticipated Klopse Jol category, where rehearsed choreography of tambourine dance routines, voorlopers and kriewel kings put their best foot forward to show off the best gees.
The Exquisite Golden Gates put on a spectacle as they released pigeons as they performed their 2024 theme song Daar Vlieg a Voeltjie Oor Die Stadium.
Another interesting gimmick saw West London All Stars (WLAS) having high fences as props and police officers pretending to block their team from competing as they performed their theme song Maak Oop Die Hekke.
The pre-planned stunt upset some WLAS fans who reacted by throwing bottles onto the track to defend their team.
WLAS member Shakier Adams said: “So our slogan this year is ‘Maak oop die hekke, West London is baas’, hence we had hekke on the track to fit in with the plan of our theme.”
The 19 participating troupes will be split into two sections. Troupes from Section 1 will compete for top honours on January 6 and 20, while Section 2 troupes will battle it out against each other on January 13 and 27.
The winners of the two sections will go head-to-head on February 3 where the best of the best will be decided.
venecia.valentine@inl.co.za