Here’s one of my Carnival musings:
Yuh ever chip with a steel band on Carnival Monday? specifically Trinidad All Stars?It is an experience, you do not have to stay for the entire day. Try it just once, try it.
Hear nah, they present a 16 section band almost every year on Carnival Monday, sometimes they win band of the day-Monday, Best Costumed steelband and any other category that they fit into.
This year their theme was Let’s Dance, various costumes inspired by the various types of dances found here at some point in time, all complete with appropriate headwear- namely hats which not only looks chic but provides some shade in the blazing sun. These same outfits can be used for the rest of the year- Anya is not the first to incorporate fashion into mas; steelbands have been doing this for years. The most important component, is the full bodied sound of the accompanying music (less than half the band).
Now, here the masqueraders are disciplined, they chip along and enjoy them selves with abandon without disturbing other people’s personal space and they definitely don’t look like they will fall off the edge of that stage…(something I am fearful of when I see the mega large bands and the shenanigans those masqueraders carry on with). In addition to that there is no need to hog the stage or in fact prevent the free flowing movement of the sections by posing for every single camera in sight. In fact this band is just as huge as the popular large bands but they do not take as long to cross the stage.
Do not mistake what I am trying to say, there is noting wrong in posing so that someone can document your presence/participation on the stage, in the band of your choice, wearing what you prefer, preserving that carefree image of you for who knows how long.
But I ask, how come it is those very same camera people (both still and video) who eagerly cross the stage back and forth, for two days, looking for pretty masqueraders enjoying their vulgarity, do not rush to snap these masqueraders in the steelpan band? In fact they get impatient for them to finish their presentation, this is where they take their little breaks, some may snap one or two photos but that’s just to say they did, there is no real eye for the subject. As a result this type of participation is recorded by only the adjudicators, some spectators and of course those participating.
I understand people may not want to see these bands on the road but think about it, the best thing about our Carnival is that it is participatory in nature. Having the free choice not only to be part of it but also the ability to choose which dimension/ faction you wish to be part of. That is one of the treasured things we have in this world. Not preserving or in fact wishing any component gone, is in fact denying others, their choice of expression. This contributes greatly to what will be the demise of what we call the greatest show on earth. We need to be attentive to the imagery transmitted to the rest of the world but more importantly the images we perpetuate among ourselves. People tend to forget WE make the festival;just as “all ah we is one”.
When there is no regard for the sound of the pans on the road being drowned by the speakers of the various DJs, when the songs of the Minstrels, the speeches of the Midnight Robbers and Indians are relegated to one night and drowned by those very same speaker boxes we wined on enthusiastically a while ago, when any component stops being photographed even if only for the sake of recording its presence then we have lost ourselves, in fact we would have allowed a part of us to die.
I make any sense?
