I received a late invitation to cover Kings & Queen’s preliminaries in the Savannah last evening. I accepted because it is one of my favourite parts of the Carnival, and a dream of mine to perform. The show, however, always takes too long. But is one of those things where it is better to see…
Last week (Tuesday 11th, 2025) I attended the latest exhibition of the work of master artist LeRoy Clarke at Castle Killarney (Stollmeyer’s Castle). I spontaneously decided to visit the exhibition since I was up and out early for the BP Breakfast talk about sponsorship of steelpan at the Energy Conference. The exhibition had just been…
As has become his habit, when Robert Young hosts a band launch, he creates an experience. And so, on Thursday 13th, February he hosted a talk at Propaganda Space on Erthig Road, Belmont to share Kongo Day with the public. He held a similar talk a week prior, but Thursday was special. It would also…
“You see Trinidad and Brazil we have the same vibration. Ile Ife, Ile Ife, she make me to understand.” Bahia Girl – David Rudder A conversation on Africa in the Carnival has to come with caveats. The earliest reporting of the Carnival was done by White elites who were hostile to the activities of the…
Trinidadians are being chastised for not learning the lessons of the pandemic. Cultural Studies Lecturer Dr. Kai Barratt says the One Caribbean Music Festival featuring Dancehall artist Adija Palmer aka Vybz Kartel is a type of insecurity that exists in this country for foreign validation. The organisers say the show which is scheduled for Carnival…
Originally written in 2021, my friend Keegan shared his unbroadcast interview with his late mentor Acid. I knew that I had to use it responsibly. Acid was a vision in the gayelle, like Keegan he made kalinda look like dance. His death is a lasting loss, and he like so many in T&T deserve justice….
Sharing because I think this needs to be a new project of mine, getting into the history of the Caribbean Carnival. Note, I know there is a discussion where Crop Over is better described as a festival and not a Carnival, which is also a point of further interest for me. But for me, this…
Originally published in the Trinidad Guardian in January 2021 under the title ‘Leave me let me wine” this article and video that explored the history of our wine, so the conference mentioned took place in 2021. The Caribbean wine is a thing of wonder, and sometimes derision. We have a love/hate relationship with the movement….
This article and television news report was produced in 2020, and it was written in response to a common criticism of the modern Carnival, that designers and masqueraders love of nudity was killing creativity. I attempted to explore that argument without prejudice. Published in the Trinidad Guardian (print and online) 22 February 2020 Source: http://www.guardian.co.tt/article/validating-naked-mas-6.2.1059944.a2db36df0a…
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.