Jamette Carnival (BdC 20/36)
The term Jamette carnival was used by the upper classes in the mid to late 19th century to describe the carnival of Africans in Trinidad. It is a creole word derived from the French word diametre (diameter in English) and refers to a phrase commonly used at that time to describe persons outside of the diameter of respectability. It was used to denigrate the African traditions and practices during carnival, which were considered aggressive, sexually suggestive and inferior. Moreover, it served to distance from the upper class, European carnivals celebrated at that time.
There is an expectation that in carnival you remember tradition, participate in revelry, stay up late (in fact, that aspect is tied to a West African commitment to observe without sleep), and play yuhself. Many of us have heard complaints about the lewdness and debauchery in carnival – that some people “have no behavior”. For Africans in Trinidad, and in other Caribbean islands too, carnival was not always about spending tons of money, looking pretty in sequins and beads, “profiling” as they put it. In fact, far from it, it was always about fighting the status quo, and about people who were the marginalized lower class boldly reminding people that they exist and have a voice.
The more the middle class and elites clamoured for their presence in the carnival, the “prettier” it became, loosing some awareness of its substance for a new style.
What we have today is a wonderful festival that is diverse, complex, controversial and quintessentially Trinidadian. It has deep African roots, but it is totally Trinbagonian. And, as a few carnival queens said, it is about freedom – freedom to play a wayward independent statement mas, freedom to be a jamette, or to be that all-inclusive prince or princess for two days. But freedom is not real if only those with access to money and power can buy it. So the next time you’re in your all inclusive fete or section with your premium drink and sushi in yuh hand, think about that 
.
Peace
Calypso Fiesta (BdC 20/36)
Emrold “Brother Valentino” Phillip rounding up the calypso semi-finals.
South people know how to throw a party. And that’s exactly what Calypso Fiesta is. Officially the semi-final round of the National Calypso Monarch competition, Calypso Fiesta is an all day, down-to-earth, relatively* inexexpensive day of fun, kaiso, food and drinks. Several heavy hitting calypsos on politics, social issues, and a few not so heavy, caught the attention of the crowd. Although, the crowd seemed to lack some of the usual grit, as it seemed no calypsonian was really booed or “papered” on stage. Legendary (or notorious) patron Joanie, known for raising that black umbrella with a roll of toilet paper on the top if the people think you’re singing something worthy of the sewer 
, is a usual staple of Calypso Fiesta. I heard an announcer allude to people getting that habit out of their system with the recent faux pas after results of the Chutney Soca Monarch. Although it’s the semi-final round, this event is often one of the toughest crowds to perform for. From noon yesterday 40 calypsonians vied for the coveted spots in next Sunday’s Dimanche Gras competition for a chance to beat reigning 2011 monarch, Kurt Allen. The finalists are:
1. Brian London – We Fed Up
2. Devon Seales – Ah Need Me Carnival
3. Dexter ‘Stinger” Parsons – Mystic Revelations
4. Dr Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool – Wounded Pride
5. Joanne “Tigress” Rowley – Woman To Woman
6. Karene Asche – Uncle Jack
7. Kizzy Ruiz – De Engine Stall
8. Michael “Sugar Aloes” Osouna – Not One Word
9. Rodney “Benjai” Le Blanc – Trini
10. Tameika Darius – Ungrateful
11. Weston “Cro Cro” Rawlins – Compare and Contrast
Following the show there was an afterparty with many notable calypso and soca greats. And the people stayed to show how they do it. For more photos go to http://www.studiolafoncette.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3203 or the Facebook Page.
The original Disco Daddy, Robert “Lord Nelson” doing his thing at 80-years-old, still strong.
2011 Young King (and unusual addition to the finals list), Rodney “Benjai” LeBlanc giving the crowd another performance of his Iz ah Trini
Neil “Iwer” George making an early pitch for crowd choice in the International Soca Monarch competition next week.
Red Cross Kiddes Carnival (BdC 19/36)
Little masquerader from the Lilliput Children’s Theatre’s Changing of the Guard
It was really hard to choose a photo of this young man, he was playing the hec out of that mas! Calibe Phillip, “I Rule Things” from San Fernando band, Jacqui & Associates presentation – Elements of Life” (full disclosure, I went to high school with his mum, Analisa Brown).
The Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross Society hosts an annual children’s carnival competition every year. The categories for individual masqueraders include Babes in Arms, and boys and girls groups from ages 3-5 to 12-15, along with floats (as in costumes build on a flat surface moved by wheels), couples, small, medium and large bands. The babies costumes are often built around walkers or strollers and you can sometimes find a child who you just know will be playing “serious” mas for years to come. Children’s carnival is an opportunity for youngsters in Trinidad and Tobago to participate fully in a big part of the national heritage. Their events occur all around the island from at least the third weekend before carnival (before Dimanche Gras, Carnival Monday and Tuesday), and culminate with big nationally sponsored parades in the capitol, Port-of-Spain, San Fernando, and in Tobago. Many schools and community organizations form bands, several of which include the themes of their band in the lessons taught in class. Carnival is part of the national schools curriculum also. Here are some photos from yesterday’s Red Cross. For more please go to www.studiolafoncette.com or join the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Studio-Lafoncette-Photography/45398357245
Putting it all together (Kids) (BdC 18/36)
Top photo, young masquerader from Lilliput’s Lagahoo in 2009, immediately above, masqueraders from their 2010 Uprising.
People wonder about the process. How does all of this happen. Trinidad carnival is similar to that of Brazil, but it’s not samba schools in the parades. Anyone can join in, from infants with costumes made around strollers and walkers, to octogenarian masqueraders in wheelchairs. I’ve seen it all.
The dedication of several behind the scenes people, is what makes carnival possible. Particularly in the area of children’s mas, women dominate the scene. They organize bands in their communities or through schools as teachers, often they design, teach themes to children, sew, glue, tack, nurture, prod families along the way to that big parade on Carnival Saturday. Thousands of individuals, many of them women, create mas bands so that the rest of us can walk into a mas camp, view a photo, modeled sample or drawing of a section, pay money to register, and collect a costume before the big day(s).
Here’s a look at one such notable mas woman, who’s behind-the-scenes contribution results in a socially conscious, attractive and affordable children’s band every year, and a stage production in May.
Noble Douglas of the Noble Douglas Dance Company Inc. and Lilliput Children’s Theatre
Noble Douglas organizing and corralling on Carnival Saturday 2009 at the NCC parade.
Noble Douglas is a reputable dancer and dance teacher in Trinidad & Tobago, who runs her own Lilliput Children’s Theatre. Each year in May the theatre puts on a stage production that follows the theme of their carnival presentation. Ms. Douglass has won numerous awards and prizes for her work in dance, and in Children’s Carnival. However, she irreverently says that she gives them away to the children – the true reward for her years of work. With the help of her long-term designer Merylle Mahabir, the team produces children’s bands that speak (loudly) to social and political issues in a manner that is child-appropriate, novel, and humerous. For example, their 2009 production, Lagahoo, used the Trinidadian mythology of lagahoo to find a way to communicate with children about the dangers of nice looking strangers – as a response to the unfortunate but growing trend of crimes against children. They had another band called Smelly, in response to public outcry about the construction of an aluminium smelter plant in Trinidad, one about the barge of toxic waste that the government allowed to travel through national waters without concern or alerting the public, and yet another about the dangers of fast food and increase in transnational fast food chains. Deep stuff for children huh. Somehow they seem to do it in a way that conveys an appropriate message to children.
Merylle Mahabir has designed mas for Lilliput for over 20 years. She is also an interior designer and part owner of a successful design business. I interviewed “Aunty Noble”, as she is called by many and Merylle last year. To hear their story in 4 parts click here.
Merylle Mahabir and Noble Douglas
Mud Mas (BdC 17/36)
Many non-”West Indians”* wonder what on earth this mud mas thing is about. Why do people smear clay on themselves? Why submit to such a dirty, grotesque exercise? Some scholars, such as Dr. Ian I. Smart, professor of Afro-Hispanic Literature, of Howard University, suggest that the covering of mud is part of a connection with man’s humanity (as in the Christian idea of “to dust you shall return”). However, there are links to various other ideas – namely the West African practice of masking with mud and clay to cover the body and transform into an other-worldly spirit. In his book about the African elements of Trinidad Carnival, Hollis Liverpool describes the Jamette carnival, where Africans who now lived in barracks instead of on plantations would play a defiant, nasty mas. They would hurl urine and excrement at the pompous middle class elite, taunt and ridicule those who were privileged and contributed to their suffering. Today, mud bands in the UK, Washington DC, New York and other cities where Caribbean carnivals have sprung up, mud bands tend to be very popular. Mud mas is often another form of devil mas – exorcising societal demons, demonstrating the inner devil of those who oppress. The mud covering takes many forms and colours. In modern times it has become popular to substitute paint, charcoal, or even abeer – the dye used during the Hindu festival of Holi or Pagwa.
*By West Indians I mean people of the Caribbean former British colonies – including Guyana, as to distinguish from the potentially more “accurate” term Caribbean – which includes Spanish, French and Dutch-speaking islands of the Caribbean.
Sailor Mas (BdC 16/36)
Sailor Mas is another element of connectedness with the rest of the world that is evident in Trinidad & Tobago carnival. According to Hollis Liverpool,* during the Canboulay Riots of 1881 the British colonial government stationed British war ships in the harbour. In 1907 there was a visit of a US war fleet to Trinidad, which influenced the surge in sailor mas from that time until 1946 or so. These events brought a reaction that had been seen before in Trinidad carnival. The seriousness of a military presence and the image of power over the oppressed was responded to with jamette carnival.
The sailor in Trinidad carnival was a response to this show of might, they mocked the authority and engaged in the same abhorrent behaviors as before – taunting and tormenting the middle class and the elite. Masqueraders wore simply fashioned costumes made with undershirts, papier mache goggles, stockings for face masks.
In 1941 a US naval base was established in Trinidad, which significantly influenced the modern sailor mas. Nationals who had migrated would frequently return for carnival with epaulettes, medals, and other parts for the costumes, which made them look authentic. Liverpool mentions that a favourite passtime of young men was also to snatch hats off of sailors. The sailor portrayal also depicted the behavior of servicemen when they came ashore. “Bad Behavior Sailors” played drunk, wore underware outside of their clothes, carried baby bottles, harassed women and were generally disorderly – as were the actual sailors on passes from their stations. They sometimes enacted a special dance with fancy footwork, several sailors dancing from side to side in horizontal rows. Sailor mas Sparrow’s Jean and Dinah are two calypsos the capture the sentiments of the populace about the impact of soldiers’ presence – at least on relations and economics.
The Fancy Sailor, apparently, is the result of a clamouring for more “pretty” mas by the middle classes. This new category of sailor mas became prominent in the mid 194os. Sailors were also associated with steelbands, the most impactful one, according to Liverpool, being Desperadoes in the 1950s depicting an American film, with their members outfitted in full military regalia.
Hollis Liverpool, Rituals of Power and Rebellion, pp 360-361. http://www.amazon.com/Rituals-Power-Rebellion-Tradition-1763-1962/dp/0948390808/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298483690&sr=8-1
Indian Mas (BdC 15/36)
Indian Mas in Trinidad & Tobago
Indian Mas, Carnival 2009
Calypsonian, researcher, Dr. Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool explains in his book* that while some mas forms emulated the elite, some were a means of mocking them, and many expressed rebellion. In conversations with masqueraders for his doctoral research, they explained that “Red Indians” represented the persecution perpetuated on tribes by colonizers. Mas was not simply for escape, it depicted the suffering of other oppressed groups, and was a statement of solidarity with the Native Americans, and defiance toward their oppression by Americans and the Spanish. This is true for typical African masquerade of the time as well, such as playing Masai, Zulus, Watusi. In an interview on Carnival Tuesday 2011, I heard a masquerader in Indian Mas convey the same idea. He said he has always played Indian mas and it began in solidarity with Native Americans who suffered in the Americas. Interestingly enough, many people know by now that Indian mas is not germane to Trinidad and Tobago carnival. It is an institution in New Orleans Mardi Gras, which boasts a remarkable history of intricately designed native costumes created by Africans in North America – Black Indians – who inter-married and made alliances with native tribes during and after slavery.
Indian Mas today seems much more revelry, and less defiance and rebellion to me. Moreover, the invention and availability of imported materials and the general trend towards huge costumes means Indian mas is not just personal and small, but grand large scale costumes drawn on wheels, such as last year’s national titleholder’s costume. When asked what carnival means to her, Queen of Carnival, Rosemarie Jaggesar, a veteran Indian mas player said i meant freedom. In that way I believe the mas has transcended the historical background of our ritual, borne out of struggle and oppression, fueled by defiance, rebellion and innovation, and ultimately a celebration of our freedom. But that comment I heard on the broadcast made it clear, we still remember.
Rosemarie Kuru Jaggesar, Queen of Carnival 2010 portraying Waka-Nisha, The Sacred Water Carrier
*Liverpool (pp) http://www.amazon.com/Rituals-Power-Rebellion-Tradition-1763-1962/dp/0948390808/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298386675&sr=1-1
Rosemarie Kuru Jaggesar (BdC 14/36)
Rosemarie Kuru Jaggesar, backstage at the NCC Queen of the Bands Semi-Final Competition, Carnival 2010
When I interviewed Rosemarie Kuru Jaggesar, she said had been playing mas for over 30 years. She said she just wanted to be on stage that first time, and she found it hard to leave the role of queen, she could not imagine herself not being there – a sentiment shared by so many Mas women and men. She told me that part of her motivation was that she wanted to prove that “indian mas could win nationals”, and she was sticking around because as long as she had strength she would try. This year will be her 29th year as queen. Ms. Jagessar has also raised four children while managing a business as a florist and event manager. For the past 32 years she and her husband, Lionel Jaggesar, have produced bands in San Fernando, in south Trinidad. She doesn’t know when she’s hanging up her mas boots, and says that she hopes to eventually work as a carnival judge. In her 30-plus years in mas, last year was her 16th time in the finals, her 26th time in the semi finals and her 28th year in the National Queen of the Bands competition. That night her portrayal, Waka-Nisha – The Sacred Water Carrier, from the band Sioux Nation received enough points to enter the finals at Dimanche Gras in 4th place and for Dimanche Gras, Ms. Jaggesar was crowned the Queen of Carnival 2010. Check out our interview, you can hear her for yourself.
Rosemarie Kuru Jaggesar – Wakanisha The Sacred Water Carrier, Queen of Carnival 2010
Inez Gold, Mas Woman (BdC 13/36)
Inez Gould, Sorceress of the Ruby
Inez Gould has been playing mas since 1994 with D’Crew. She describes Pamela Gordon and Anra Bobb as her role models saying that she has learned a lot from them. She has won Queen of Carnival only once, but places in the top five regularly. She sees Carnival as an art form but says that today’s Carnival is missing some of the substance of the past.
Anra Bobb, Mas Woman Extraordinaire (BdC 12/36)
Anra Bobb’s house is overflowing with trophies of her national and regional titles. Her husband and partner was the late band-leader, Leslie Bobb. Together they spearheaded Leslie Bobb and Associates – one of the most successful mas bands in southern Trinidad. From the Bobbs’ home in Cocoyea they produced an adult and children’s band every year, for which they won several competitions. Since 1983 Anra Bobb has won the national Queen of Carnival title 4 times, and won numerous South Queen titles. She is now a member and D’Midus & Associates and she competes in the northern regional queen competition. Additionally, she heads Anra Bobb and Friends, her children’s band, which continues the legacy of the immeasurable work she and her husband have contributed to the southern mas scene. For the full interview with Ms. Bobb, click here.
Junior Queen from Anra Bobb & Associates 2010 Kiddies Carnival presentation.
Lenore Caterson, International Mas Woman (BdC 11/36)
ADITI – GODDESS OF THE PAST & FUTURE
Lenore Caterson is a Trinidadian native now living in Montreal Canada. She says has played mas since she was at least 3 or 4 years old, and has played queen of the band countless times. In the Dimanche Gras finals for the Trinidad & Tobago Queen of the Bands title she placed third in 2007 as Shaki-Goddess of D Forest (winner of the 2008 New York carnival title) second in 2008 with ‘Peesunt D Daughter of D Chief of Kitwanga’ and eighth in the 2009 finals portraying The Sacred Bird in the Kingdom of the Dragon. She participates in carnival competitions in her hometown of Montreal, Canada, in the Toronto Carnival (Caribana), in the West Indian American Day carnival in Brooklyn, NY, Miami Carnival, & other North American cities, and of course, in the motherland, Trinidad & Tobago. This is no small feat, as it involves a commitment of getting these enormous costumes to various regional and international locations. Last year she played Aditi – Goddess of the Past & Future from Legacy’s 2010 band, Masala.
Here’s an interview with Ms. Caterson.
Mas Women – Gwendolyn Smith (BdC 10/36)
Gwendolyn Smith – Ibis Queen OF Caroni
In 2009 Gwendolyn Smith was a first time carnival Queen. She told me she is a full-time professional athlete in track and field, which in theory, should prepare the body for such a physically demanding job. Despite being an athlete, she said she hadn’t quite gotten used to pulling such a heavy costume. She said, “You can’t imagine how difficult it is to carry a 10’ by 10’ costume.” From what I could see though, she was doing just fine.
I interviewed Gwendolyn before she competed in the semi-final round of the Queen of Carnival competition. Later that evening she shared that it was also an opportunity to create a shift in her life after a year of grief over the tragic murder of her partner. She described how he was shot by a stray bullet over a year ago, which put a dark cloud over her and her daughter’s lives. She saw this as an opportunity to start living again.
Big Mas (Mas Women etc.) BdC 9/36
Queens of carnival aren’t your run of the mill beauty queens. For the most part they a big people – big costumes, big responsibilities, big personalities – if not externally, they are internally extroverted and it shines when they strap on the harness of a 200 lb costume and prance across that stage in “de Big Yard”. There was a controversial beauty queen show that, during the height of the Black Power movement caught the wrath of the people for being a throwback to a colonialist ideology of “bright is right” and only allowed, or awarded young women of a certain “class” and “colour” the opportunity to be carnival queen. But the contemporary Queen of the Bands is a masquerader wearing a large costume that is the highlight of a section or the central idea of a carnival band.
Gloria Dallsingh, the only female queen who designs, builds, and decorates her own costumes in the adult Queen of the Bands competition. To quote Gloria, “I eat, sleep and dream mas!”
In January 2010 Support Women Arts NOW (SWAN), a non– profit organization geared at promoting women artists, announced their third annual SWAN Day. People were invited to host their own events across the US and internationally, and announce them on the SWAN Day calendar. I decided that I would use my trip to Trinidad & Tobago Carnival as an opportunity to focus on women who compete in the national Queen of Carnival competition, and women who lead children’s carnival bands during the festival. I compiled a list of bandleaders and carnival queens, with the help of writer/poet, Zahra Gordon, made some contacts and readied my gear. This culminated in a photo exhibit in Washington DC in spring of 2010.
I found the Mas women accessible, inspiring and a joy to interview. They seemed passionate and committed to their mas and they were pleased to share a part of that joy with me. You can listen to the interviews and view more photos from the Mas Women and Women Behind de Mas: A Photo Exhibit by clicking here .
Gloria Dallsingh, Wings of Freedom, Carnival 2010
Soca (BdC 8/36)
Soca is a “descendant” of calypso. The term was coined in the 1970s, and the genre is attributed to Garfield Blackman, whose calypso sobriquet at the time was Shorty, later evolving to Ras Shorty I, when he became a spiritual man. Ras Shorty combined the calypso with American soul beats and the rhythms of the indigenous chutney music to produce a more contemporary art form that was still used for socio-political commentary, but became the center of the carnival party scene.
A quintessential early soca melody (in my opinion) is Lord Nelson (Robert Nelson)’s Disco Daddy is a good example of how those beats were fused (here’s a live version of him singing that song). When I hear it I think of James Brown and Issac Hayes in the intro, but then, when you hear the chutney in the melody, it becomes truly Trinbagonian.
Austin “Superblue” Lyons, eight-time Carnival Road March, & five-time Trinidad Soca Monarch (International Soca Monarch) winner.
Fay-Ann Lyons, three-time Road March winner, winner of both International Soca Monarch and Groovy Soca Monarch, daughter of Superblue and calypsonian, Lynette “Lady Gypsy Steele, niece of Winston “Gypsy” Peters .
Grenadian artiste, Tallpree
2009 Soca Monarch and Road March title holders, JW and Blaze
Canboulay – This Myth that Carnival is About Lent (BdC 7/36)
To begin, Canboulay comes from the “Creolization” of the french words, cannes brulées, or burning canes. Burning cane fields as I understand it, was another form of African resistance as the fields in which they toiled under inhumane conditions, belonged entirely to their oppressors.
Some assert that Trinidad & Tobago Carnival is a pre-Lenten festival, influenced by the French because of the European presence in the 19th century colony, and its occurrence before Ash Wednesday. But there are several reasons why this festival, which is similar to those in occurring during August, or December other Caribbean islands is prior to the Christian Lent.
How about convenience? How about colonization, adaptability and ingenuity. Think about it: in 1881, or 1800 or 1700, who was going to let African’s observe Egungun, or Gelede, or a true Ashanti funeral? Anybody hanging around with an Ibo or Hausa surname out there? Oh wait a minute, they didn’t permit those either did they.
Between 1881 and 1884 riots occurred in Trinidad, propelled by the British police captain’s antagonizing the African people who fought for the freedom to publicly wear masks, have stick fights, drumming and other ceremonies – to have their own carnival. The Governor General at the time (Britain’s representative to oversee the governance of the colony) had previously managed the situation by restricting policing during the carnival period. When the people rioted in 1881, the violence, the overpowering of the police force, and the deaths that occured caused a big embarassment for the Crown, and ultimately Carnival was allowed.
Each year in East Port-of-Spain (and now in San Fernando) in the neighborhood where much of the original rioting ensued, a re-enactment takes place.
And if you pay attention, you sing, dance listen and feel, you may shed a tear for those who suffered, you might feel for a moment the true meaning of the anguish suffered by those “bois women” and “bois men” referenced in the Canboulay script. Your spirit might just be shaken by the sheer might of what our ancestors experienced and what they accomplished. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLBupp7g_vQ
Le Pays-wo (Pierrot Grenade) (BdC 7/36)
According to Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool, PhD, the Pierrot Grenade is a form of mas that combines the French Pierrot and the Yoruba Egungun. From French Pierrot (before 1838), to Pays Roi (1838 – 1880s) and finally the Pierrot Grenade in the 1880s-1890s. The Pierrot, dressed in a long elaborate suit of satin strips with a head covering, often bells on the ends and a whip represented the King of Dahomey (or Country King in some instances). He inflicted a tongue lashing on adversaries and when two Pierrots met a fight would ensue with whips and an entourage armed with bottles and stones backing each one. Similar to the Midnight Robber, the Pierrot Grenade of today will strip your dignity with words not with lashes.
Pierrot at Canboulay 2010, Picadilly Greens, East Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, WI
Children portraying Pierrot Grenade, Downtown Children’s Carnival, 2009, Queens Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
Photo of the Week 6/52
Pan Practice at CAFÉ
This week’s photo of the week was difficult to decide from the choices I gave myself. In the midst of all this carnival activity, I want to share something related that speaks to how Caribbean people around the world hold on to their culture and pass it on to their children. Even if you don’t care about that. These kids are just cute
Enjoy
L
Little girls from the junior pan class practicing “Move It!”, CAFE, Hyattsville, Maryland
Did some work for the Cultural Academy for Excellence last week – one could say “A Day in the Life of CAFE”. The Cultural Academy for Excellence is a music and academic program focused on the steelpan based in Hyattsville, Maryland, USA. CAFE includes a youth orchestra, Positive Vibrations Steel Orchestra, a beginner’s band, and now, I understand, a newly minted adult pan class. On Saturdays they have academics during the morning, the older students are preparing for the Maryland Mock Trial competition, and art and chess classes. You can find more information on CAFE at www.cafeyouth.org
The Midnight Robber BdC (6/36)
Midnight Robbers, circa 1955, La-Brea, Trinidad, West Indies
Moko Jumbie Robber, 2009, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
They come like thieves in the night. Not to steal your possessions, but to steal your pride and your dignity, the only weapon being their tongues. Influenced by American cowboy films of the 1920s and 1930s, and stories of urban bandits, the Midnight Robber became another traditional carnival character.
They call them spirits, ancestors. We call them Moko Jumbie (BdC 5/36)
As a child I would be scared of my life of the tall imposing figures dominating the scene at carnival. I remember being in Point Fortin one year and I hid behind my aunt, frightened beyond words as the Moko Jumbies passed. Moko jumbies are prevalent in almost every Caribbean carnival. Known as Chakaba or Nyon Kwoya in Guinea, or Agere in some parts of Nigeria, they are an integral part of West African ceremonies. Tradition has it that these spirits are high above the common man because they represent the connection with our ancestors and their height gives them access to that spiritual world.
Devils, Jab Jab, Jab Molassie (BdC 3/36)
A Paramin Blue Devil near Queens Park Savannah on Carnival Tuesday night, 2009
Devils, Jab Molassie (Molasses Devil)
Anti sinnin’, anti-oppression, anti devilish overseers, French “planters” (what a nice neutral word) and British governors who beat, imprisoned and oppressed people, lest they forget who was in charge and superior. Become the devil in all of us, stamp out the devil outside, even if is just for two days.
Paramin Blue Devils reeking havoc near Picadilly Greens, East Port-of-Spain, Carnival 2010
I remember being scared out of my life by devils as a child. Usually they were the black variety – molasses devil – but covered in oil, such was their dedication to the mas (allyuh know how hard it is to wash off oil after Jouvert done?)!
I spotted these (above) on Carnival Tuesday one year, and after Jouvert the next. And although I was behind a “big” camera and a media pass, although their was a barrier behind me and them some times, I was still a bit scared I have to admit. Allyuh could say what yuh want, I paid them my money yes!
Grenada Jab Jab in DC Carnival, 2010
I’m Posting Every Week in 2011
I’ve decided I want to blog more. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now. I will be posting on this blog at least once a week for all of 2011.
I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similiar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.
If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way. Don’t worry, this will be one of the rare posts with mostly words. I plan to maintain my custom of posting photos, Photo of the Week, Trinidad Carnival, and other events. I encourage you to forward links to all your friends and family via email, facebook, or any other medium, and please subscribe if you’d like to be informed when the blog is updated. I look forward to informing and hopefully amusing you with these contributions and I really want to hear from you too.
Peace, love and Mas in yuh life,
L
Dame Lorraine, Bra and Panty Mas (BdC 2/36)
A traditional Dame Lorraine, DC Carnival
Bra & Panty Mas, DC Carnival
The Dame Lorraine was a creation of Africans in the Caribbean. Intended to mock the aristocracy and their fancy balls, the Dame Lorraine was usually played by a man, dressed in finery with umbrella and gloves (but a nurse maid’s hat), with exaggerated backside and bosom. However, carnival has been known for men dressing as women otherwise – in stuffed bras with lipstick and ladies underpants, or in a house dress or “nightie” with no attempt to hide male features. Often misunderstood by outside cultures, this male as female character is not new to the African Diaspora. For information on Gelede and the practice’s African origins check out Zee Speaks here.
Dame Lorraine DC #2
Youth in Port-of-Spain Jouvert carrying on the tradition, Trinidad Carnival
New York, Labor Day Jouvert
Return and Get It – Blogging de “Canaval” (1/36)
“Se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenki.”
Literally translated it means “it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot”.
Sankofa, the Adinkra symbol of the Akan people, from what is known today as Ghana, “teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone or been stripped of, can be reclaimed, revived, preserved and perpetuated”.*
Today’s post is dedicated to the Sankofa spirit of Carnival. And to “open the way” to any good African ceremony, one must give a blessing, a libation. So I ask the Creator Spirit, the Creative Spirit, the Eternal Source, to open the way for this series I give thanks to my ancestors and elders especially the unknown ones who carried the essence of things important in their souls across oceans, across violence and despair, transformed it into resistance, rebellion and celebration. I give thanks for the Mas Men/Mas Women past and present (especially EGR, DAR, ZBG), the griots (specifically CYR), the musicians (RR), and the care givers (especially JPF) without whom we could not have what exists today. I give thanks for the crazy, dedicated, passionate pilgrims who toil for months making costumes, arranging music, practicing, organizing, feting, dancing, singing and preparing for another carnaval.
In many interpretations dis is WE carnival, return and get it!
E. G. Robertson, King Ahab: Photographer unknown, edited by L. Robertson Toney, Studio Lafoncette Photography
Masking and Mas
To “play mas” is the term used by Trinbagonians to refer to what we do. Not not march, not parade, not masquerade. According to Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool, for Africans mask and masking are “interlocking aspects of most African celebrations.” A masquerader becomes that which he or she inhabits. It’s not a man playing a dragon, or a woman playing a jamette, it is The Dragon, or the Jamette, The Midnight Robber or the King. My grandfather would say that long ago, people went to pick up their costume with a hired car, and today, they go with an envelope. Here he is, EGR as King Ahab on Carnival Tuesday, circa 1948. My grandmother tells stories of taking the children to the Savannah to see mas, waiting excitedly for “Daddy” to pass, and they would shriek in delight the moment he crossed the stage. He was a worldly royal figure in his robes, unconcerned with anything and anybody but dancing de mas.
Mas to make mischief on Jouvert Morning
Mas to protest and take action: February de Mas Avenger, A Black Power Superhero
*Quotation taken from the W.E.B Dubois Learning Center, http://www.duboislc.net/SankofaMeaning.html
Before Calypso there was Kaiso, Kalenda and Griot (BdC 4/36)
Joanne “Tigress” Rowley’s performance of “Yuh Ain’t See Wajang Yet” gave her the 2nd place at Dimanche Gras 2009
Before the music was Europeanized, “civilized”, commercialized, there were griots. Before all the contemporary twists on this artform, there was kaiso, and chantuelle. Work songs, fight songs, religious and ceremonial songs contributed to the original “calypsos.” In the 19th and 20th centuries, as today they were a medium through which the ordinary, but talented man (or woman) could satirize and ridicule those in power (who over 20 years old doesn’t remember Pam and the bed wetting?), or highlight social injustice, political drama or the irony of life. And if de calypsonian come with a sweet tune, de people still say, “Kaiso!”
Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool, National Calypso Monarch 2009 with his performance of “Doh Touch My Heart”
February 8, 2011 | Categories: Trinidad & Tobago Carnival 2011 | Tags: calypso, carnival, Chalkdust, chantuelle, griot, Hollis Liverpool, Joanne Rowley, Kaiso, political commentary, political satire, postaweek2011, Tigress, Trinidad, Trinidad carnival, Zee Speaks | 3 Comments »