In the pantheon of Trinidad Mas Characters, the Sailor Mas is probably the most dominant. And the fancy sailor mas costume is the most popular. Those are the ones you see where the base is an American sailor uniform heavily embellished. It could be white. But that is more for traditional sailor mas, the kind…
Playing myself. A masqueraders account of the experience on the road for a Caribbean Carnival. Three veteran masqueraders detail how this is more than just a fete, but something closer to a genuine religious experience.
Robert Young’s band Vulgar Fraction’s presentation for 2017 is called the Caribbean Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. The models were people Robert selected from the crowd. He dressed them and they began twirling. The band has a loose structure, but I was surprised by how I was warming to it. The costumes,…
Soca’s favourite winer boy, sorry Machel, has entered the soca arena. We featured the song before on this blog, but yesterday, as a present for the Carnival babies, the video was released on YouTube. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz-lR0UT7No?rel=0] A few years ago, Uncle Ellis was a Port of Spain sensation for dancing in front of KFC Independence…
I attended the Mastering by the Mentors Awards Ceremony on Monday. I posted during the event, you can read that entry here. I was really touched by the tributes that came pouring out for Stephen Derek. You got the sense, that far above his talent, he was a kind and decent man, and the most…
Note: I first wrote this in 2023. This year many people seemed to have taken to Paramin to experience the Blue Devils and just enjoy a different type of Carnival. It really does seem like this Carnival was the one to give us what we needed, and I love that for us. I will explore…
