This year, Dinagyang spectators can watch the “opening salvo” of the festival through live streaming on various Facebook (FB) accounts on January 14.

“Everybody will still feel our opening salvo, not necessarily going down to the streets of Iloilo City Proper and cheering, but rather we will bring the drums to your homes,” Gabriel Umadhay of the Iloilo City Covid team said in a press conference on Tuesday.

The opening signals the start of the Dinagyang Festival with participating tribes performing in the city’s downtown area giving their audience a preview of their performance during the day of the festival competition.

With the restrictions being imposed in this city, currently under Alert Level 3, ground events are restricted as these are eyed as super spreader activities.

Umadhay said seven barangay-based tribes would have a caravan to be streamed live in the Iloilo City Government, Iloilo Festivals Foundation, Inc. (IFFI), and the Jerry P. Treñas FB accounts.

“In 2020, they were part of our Dinagyang competition. However, with everything that is limited, we re-channeled their creativity to our drumbeats caravan,” he added.

In the same press conference, IFFI executive director, Joyce Clavecillas, said the drummers would be on board several trucks and pass by the city’s main streets.

A short virtual program featuring the trailer of the Dinagyang tribes competition will be shown before the start of the caravan on January 14.

The showing of the trailer will launch the competition, which has been filmed and will be aired on January 23 on the same media platform.

Prof. Eric Divinagracia, director of the Dinagyang Tribes Competition of the IFFI, said video clips were taken while the seven participating tribes carried out their live performances in December.

Their live performance will comprise 60 percent of their score during the judging while the remaining 40 percent will come from their digital performance. (PNA)