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| Skullzman. |
I like many others around the world stayed up to watch the first launch of Carnival 2k11 Skullduggery. I for one was not disappointed. A lot of post launch post mortems have resulted with different conclusions, some liked it some loved it, others hated it. Yet others thought it was complete and others incomplete.
I think skulduggery is a triumph, while critics call it a jouvay band, ole mas, cheap looking, etc what they all fail to realise is that, this is what Peter Samuel and Co wanted , this band is a fun band in the truest sense of the term, the fun bands of the bikini and beads stopped being fun a long time ago. Their fun with all the razzle dazzale of marketing photoshop and now promises of ‘intimate experiences’ has the 21st century masquerader so far removed from the spirit of carnival, MAS and FUN that they will not recognise fun MAS, it if it fell from heaven with a sign saying ‘I am mas’ in neon lights.
For the weeks preceding the launch there has been articles in the Trinidad press and on the net, there have been interviews and articles on the designer, band leader and theme of the band, hinting what the band will be all about, yet many of us seemed to miss the clues .
The Promo for the launch voiced by Peter Minshall just about summarised the entire band he called it “mas resurrection, after false alarm” who can remember the theme of 2010’s band of the year?
And if you, do what was resurrected?
Carnival traditions.
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| Two Face. |
“Mas with wit, mas with mind, just like long ago...” before the ‘bacchanal elite’ led by the middle class, took over carnival, mas was much more, than the bling and vanity of today, it was a social expression, like calypso mas too commented on and ridiculed through satire the society of the time, this was not mas to a formula, this was creative expression through high thought and social observation. Skullduggery is a mas in this creative stream, it is filled with symbolism not in just the names of the section, but the mas itself, a practice long lost to the ‘bacchanal elite’ if in fact they ever knew it.
‘Bacchanal elite’ is a phrase created by the author Earl Lovelace who states in the essay ‘In the Voice of the people’ “What we have arrived at then is an elite that I call the bacchanal elite, an elite that is familiar with the region in a way which the colonial elite was not, but has no culture beyond entertainment to fight for or to advance and that can only have money as its god.”
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| Skettleton |
In a carnival today where themes don’t exist and fantasy plumes and glass stones, reflect the pretty but cold reality of societies soul, Skullduggery to the ignorant eye is almost an ‘anti mas’. while bands today are designed by as many contributors as there are sections all seriously competing against each other under one banner in the name of ‘fun’. Skullduggery is designed by one designer looking at society and what it has become, satirising reality in a colourful parlance that we know.
But seem to don’t want to know.
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| Mamaguy(female) Source, Trinidad Carnival Diary. |
Real mamaguy!
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| Baajohn: (Female)Photo source, Trinidad Carnival Diary. |
Skullduggery is without a doubt a mas with its fingers on the pulse of contemporary society, and with the trappings of plastic chains, recycled plastic bottles, and handmade paper accessories this mas not only pays tribute to the creative traditions of Trinidad Carnival, but reflects a supreme confidence in the made in Trinidad brand, and in so doing becomes a polar opposite to the themeless mamaguy of the bacchanal elite, for whom nothing made in Trinidad seems worth celebrating.
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| Peter Samuel. |
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| Sonya Sanchez Arias. |
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| Socucouyant. |
So to those who think the mas needs tweaking, pants too long, to much going on ...look again , look at the mas not through the fog of fantasy but the lucidity of reality, look with the eyes of a calypso, look for the message, the signs and symbols in the transcript, and if it still look off key look at the society...it look on key to you?
Mas Assassin.
Skullduggery Mas Camp Day One from Mark Lyndersay on Vimeo.
A quick panorama of the Skullduggery Mas camp on the evening of July 09, 2010, our first day of business for the band.
Mas Assassin.
Skullduggery Mas Camp Day One from Mark Lyndersay on Vimeo.
A quick panorama of the Skullduggery Mas camp on the evening of July 09, 2010, our first day of business for the band.
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9 comments:
Well said! Mr Samuel accomplished his vision and created exactly what he wanted. I think Skullduggery is a fresh, fun, and very creative band that is actually saying something to the masses. People have become side tracked and brainwashed to what mas should look like. Its not all about the glitz, it should be more about expressing ones creativity, history and social commentary. These designers have done all of the above. This band above all brilliant!!!. These designers took Trinidadian words and turned it into 3 dimensional mas. Talk about innovation! I am very excited to be a part of this! For me it is like watching a child being born...
Congrats to the Skullduggery team!
When I came up with the Skullduggery concept and designed the sections for this band all I wanted to do, is bring Something different to the MAS, something fun, and masked under the humour, something to think about. My designs are not Minshall, they are not BBF. They are Sonya, plain and simple! Everything about my culture that I love and dislike. The good and the bad wrapped up into one with lots of heart, soul and humour. ( let's face it as Trinis we love to laugh and see the humour in things. This is my attempt at bringing back. A little Ole mas, a little jouvay, a little Monday, a little Tuesday. Good or bad, love or hate, people are talking, so that's good!I always say, " a kick in the butt is only a few inches away from a pat on the back". When I think of all the criticism that Minsh got over the years with his designs, I smile and think "I'm in good company"
This is my first child. I will learn and I will grow, and I will get better.
Massassination I thank you for your kind words and your wonderful interpretation of Skullduggery.
Blessings!!!
Hi Natalya... A note of correction ... The vision was Sonya Sanchez-Arias'. She was the designer while Peter Samuel is the Bandleader. Its wonderful that you get her concept and that it is being recieved with such excitement and anticipation(...for what you will see on the road). The band is brilliant and Sonya is brilliant!
Here are some of my thoughts: I love my curry and I love a good Roti, but I'd be pretty upset if I was forced to eat curry every day of my life. Too much of anything is bad.
How could it be that we have so much variety in faces of our people, so many flavors to choose from in our food, our music, our culture, but no variety in our MAS? What happened? Don't tell me that this is what everybody wants. NO WAY!
This is all everybody is given to choose from. And sadly the only thing that our new generation of masqueraders has been exposed to.
I know for sure, that what all those people want is to play Carnival to play a MAS, but there must be choice, Masqueraders should not hoarded into large bands through peer pressure and lack of choice.
Please! even when you go to buy a Shake and Bake, yuh get ah whole set ah choice of what yuh want to dress it with. Nuff said!!!
For me the real success of the Launch was not the unveiling of my designs but rather the unveiling of the people who wore them. I was so surprised at the kids that showed up to wear my prototypes, they came from every corner of Trinidad, and waited for hour just to be fitted. Most of them knew nothing about Minhsall or MacFarlane, or anything outside of the BBF that they have been exposed to. They put on my prototype costumes and transformed into the characters, like they had been playing that kind of MAS their whole lives.
They became individuals, not just the sections of a band. For me that was the highlight of the night. I gave them the paint and the canvas and they became the Art. They are the real heroes of that night.
I share your sentiment Sonya for a nation with such a diverse population of people with and so many cultural influences why are these people stuck in BBP mode. As a child I was told to much of one thing is not good why cant people see the damage this mono mas culture is causing .
I hope SKULLDUGGERY opens the door to other designers and band leaders to be brave and dare to be different dare to be Trini!
what a breath of fresh air....i really enjoyed this post
Thanks Kirk...I knew that but for some reason I word it wrong..sorry. Hats off to Sonya Sanchez-Arias!! I cant wait to get my costume. I am excited to see the individuals/Section Leaders.
I love your blog. You know your history. Unfortunately when people don't know their history they lack direction and it is easy for someone else to come along and lead them this way or that way, or for commercialism to take over. When you know your history and are rooted in it, and proud of it, you want to promote it and prolong it and “Sing your own Song”, which is what Skullduggery are doing. I am an outsider and I can see this! Trini carnival has a specific historical root and foundation which in turn gives it a specific purpose; that can not and should never be forgotten. Don’t’ get me wrong over centuries of change, it has developed and evolved and there is nothing wrong with that and we all embrace options and differences, nothing wrong in that.
We all embrace options and differences, and developments, but you should also be celebrating and promoting the traditions or your culture and people will become a zombie-‘fication’ not matter how bright your beads and feathers, which also has its place (but must not now or ever be the only option)? In the last few years there has been a lot of that possible too much? Why fight against culture, heritage and tradition? Answer because you don’t know it or understand and therefore lack respect – that is the only interpretation I can read from that. If the players at Mas don’t’ know culture, heritage and tradition they are doing nothing more than that playing at something, not inhabiting it or being real about it, but that is an option and okay for some people, so why moan about it, if that is the part you decide to play, the song your want to sing, if someone points that out why the need to defend your position? - possibly because you see the aimlessness vanity of it! - you know the answer to that not me.
Interesting post. Thanks brother for clarifying the "Mamaguy" costume. That one went over my head big time.
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