MAS JUMBIES 2009 DIABLOUS IMPERIUM

’Ouvert 2009, the streets are once again going to be populated by drunken revellers covered in mud, oil, paint, powder, and chocolate , celebrating the dawn of another carnival. Dragons, Imps, Bats, and other creatures and characters of the traditional carnivals descend from the surrounding hills, turning back the hands of time , transporting the streets of Trinidad and Tobago, if only aesthetically to the very birth of Carnival. Then out of the darkness, enters a horde of devils in an untraditional form, but in a traditional sprit, turning the streets into a Devils Realm.

The award winning band, Mas Jumbies presentation for J’Ouvert 2009, is ‘Diablous Imperium’, Latin for the Devils Realm. Designer Brian Wong Won has drawn inspiration from the Devil and Dragon bands of the early 20^th Century. To bring to streets of Port of Spain a mas they have never seen before. 

“Diablous Imperium also takes its inspiration from the paintings of the Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516). He is famous for his highly complex, imaginative and iconographic paintings of demons, half-human animals and machines. His paintings are often described as “a world of dreams and nightmares”, both profound and fantastical.”

Wong Won also draws reference to the tradition of Latin the Language of the Church in the early 20thCentury. He uses Latin names for the sections, which depict the 7 deadly sins of mankind, the theme of J’Ouvert 2009 presentation.

To date three of the seven sections have been launched.

Check them out 

Accedia Diabolus. Sloth

Invidia Diabolus. Envy:

Ira Diabolus. Anger:

FROM CARNIVAL TO CARNIVAL

o we at that point now, most of the big Carnivals have past, with Miami waiting to end the year. Some of the big fun bands in Trinidad have already launched, the global buzz on the internet has already jumped up and come down, some 2009 presentations have already sold out, while others are yet to launch... the action and hype has started and paused, carnivalist globally waiting for the second half of the start of the 2009 season to begin, and I have not added my voice to the chorus yet?

Remember when September into October was when the first set of band launches used to start?

I must be slipping.

But there is so much going on in my life and globally right now, that I have not had the time to really stop and smell the flowers, see the colours, and observe the rapidly changing face of my culture as yet.

Too much going on in the world, the Credit Crunch making mas out of the world’s economic super powers, in London 5000 people lost their jobs just so! The reports say some 40,000 have to follow, and then some more, will I be part of those horrors? Russia and the US seem to be looking at another cold war. Is the United States of America ready for a black president; is this white dominated world ready? Are black people ready? If the USA does put a black man in the white house, what does that mean for black people globally, if only symbolically? Does it mean “we reach!” according to the boss Iwer George? Or does it mean nothing? 

I have recently been looking at the possibility of returning home for good, the UK is great but for my soul and sanity, Trinidad is much better, but how do I know for sure when the time is right?

I can hear home calling me though.

Anyway it is during this lull in the pre carnival excitement, this, coitus interruptus before the creative energy of my people explode once again , that I have found some time to smell the flowers , see the colours, observe the advances is style and design , and add my voice, my views, to the chorus of worldwide critique and celebration.

Armageddon might be around the corner, the end of days might be upon us, but Carnival coming first!

Yes people the Mas Assassin is back, MASSASSINATION is ready to rumble, and Carnival 2009 looks like it going to be an interesting one, to say the least.

WHAT A SHAME, what a shame...

ometimes I wonder about us as a people, I wonder to myself why are we so messed up? Is it a case of post dramatic slave disorder, that we pay absolutely no attention to our past? In the past weeks I have posted entries on the violent history of the Notting Hill Carnival. The daughter of Trinidad’s Carnival, Notting Hill shares a similar history of resistance, and rebellion for West Indians, against an all powerful all oppressive establishment.

Like I said in the past, Carnival is not just about Jam and Wine, soca and pretty mas, it is also about oppression, and resistance and a celebration of the heroes who led this small West Indian community against the might of the old colonial masters for rights and freedoms, not in the heat of the West Indian Islands, but on the cold streets of the old masters backyard and won.

Even names like that of  the woman who founded the event we now call the Notting Hill Carnival, Claudia Jones while known by some is sadly not recognised or respected by others. Are we Caribbean’s the only ones who forget our heroes of the past, and present?

 

The reason I ask this question, is because of an incident that took place during the Notting Hill Carnival this year, onboard one of the floats. Toyin Agbeto was distributing, flyers campaigning for a 3 minute silence to be held in the memory of Trinidadian Black activist Claudia Jones who is also known as the founder of the Notting Hill Carnival, I myself got one of these flyers and thought it was a great idea to pay tribute to the heroes of yesterday whom without their sacrifices, and contributions, we as a people could not enjoy the freedoms we take for granted today.

Now Toyin Agbeto is also a hero of the people, for those who don’t know him he is the brother who last year, walked into the Slavery Bicentenary service at Westminster Abbey, where the then Prime Minister Toney Blair and the Queen of England sat in attendance and demanded from the two an official apology for England’s leading role in the slave trade and slavery in the Caribbean and the Americas.

Of course after such a stance against the summit of this countries establishment Mr Agbeto has been harassed by the Police, and other forces, as expected, close in on him.

So I was quite shocked and gravely disappointed, to read that during the Notting hill Carnival, this 21centry African voice, was attacked on a BBC 1XTRA float , what makes it worst are  the photos that show the t-shirts of the individuals on the truck...LAGNIAPPE .

 My question is, how can the very beneficiaries of Afro/Caribbean activism in the UK, in all ignorance, and without doubt arrogance   have a part to play in the attack, and humiliation of a present day hero of the afro Caribbean community?

This my friends is what happens when historic value and cultural knowledge   is replaced by chronic ignorance and hubris, when all we see in our selves is a good time, a sexy costume, and jam and wine, we implode attacking and rejecting the very root of our existence.

Forget about culture vultures, the people on that float in those red LAGNIAPPE t-shirts, are sad examples of the cancer that is eating away the very soul of our culture, what a shame.

 

LETS SMASH ATOMS:

Last night I got a call from my 14 year old cousin, she had a question for me, “is the World going to end tomorrow? All my friends are talking about it, is it true?”
In an instant I got a flash back of my childhood in Trinidad, March of 1982 the alignment of planets was about to take place it was called the ‘Jupiter effect’ this was also to be the end of the world that morning I woke up my Aunt sent me to school saying “these people don’t know anything, only God knows” , and so I went to school to find a lot of students stayed home and a couple teachers too…needless to say nothing happened.

So I replied to my little cousin “Yes their going to try and re-create the big bang on Wednesday and the world might implode or explode, they don’t know yet, so say yuh prayers and we will see”, she stuupes and replied , why them people have to play God for anyway?”

Everybody have ah mas to play yes, some spend their big money to play ah mas others spend their big money to play a God....

GET READY FOR BAKKANAL

Gary Cardinez

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_features?id=161371952

After a successful debut as a mas band (D Gulf) in 2008, the husband-and-wife team of Ronnie and Caroline McIntosh launched their 2009 presentation Bakkanal last Friday evening at Club Ambassador, Long Circular Road, St James.

Caroline McIntosh designed the costumes, which explore Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival "then and now" (1839-2008) and creates a practical insight into the fun and excitement of the "greatest show on earth".

She says there is never a Carnival without a Bakkanal and invites the masquerader to be a part of some of the events that make Trinidad Carnival a Bakkanal.

The duo showed their enthusiastic guests nine sections which included Cockfight, Blue Devils, Chutney Monarch, Panorama, "Wasa Fete, Dimanche Gras, Soca Monarch, Calypso Fiesta and Envy, a guest section from New York.

Carnival band launches continue this weekend with Trevor Wallace's presentation titled Dance Yuh Dance at the Lure, Sweet Water Marine, Chaguaramas tomorrow from 9 p.m.

On Sunday it's the turn of Meg Cheekes with her Pulse 8 presentation of Hot, Hot, Hot...Sizzle and Burn at the Queen's Park Oval, Tragarete Road, Port of Spain.

 

IM BACK!!

WOOOH! what a Carnival, as a student of the Art form Mas this years Notting hill Carnival was a journey into the spiritual dark side of mas, The esoteric world that only certain elders can advise you on how to defend yourself in, while other elders try to cancel or neutralise your creative flow, what a draining experience, what lessons I’ve learned.

Education is a funny like that mix and blend what you know, with what you don’t know, and you can find the answers. Those negative forces out there should read Macbeth… then they might think again.

Yes people Carnival is not just feathers beads, wine Jam, steel pan, fete, and confusion, there is so much more, as an elder told me “is not as simple as you think”, but when I gather all my thoughts on this topic I will comeback to it.

Notting Hill 2008
. What a Carnival!