The
carnival season in Trinidad and Tobago is well underway the fetes are rolling out, the new soca tunes are heating up the air waves, and the levels of raw
energy can almost be seen to rise of the streets in the carnival capital that
is Trinidad.
As
for mas, the big name fun bands are either sold out or selling out while others
are just about ready to distribute. But carnival 2012 still has mas bands
launching if you thought it was all over think again.
On the high mas end of the spectrum (high mas being costumes designed to a theme
and or storyline with a message behind it) there is new band about to enter
the carnival arena with a theme and message that can only lift the scope of mas
in the 21st century.
The
name of the band is 'Eye Mas' and their début presentation is called ‘CHAKRA MAS’
In
order to gain more insight about concept and the inspiration behind the mas I posted
11 questions to the band's leader Thorma “Aungkh Nefer Amen” Crawford.
The
following was taken from this interview.
11 Questions for EYE MAS
- What is ‘Chakra Mas’? Chakras are spinning wheels of energy; the entire universe is made up of them. This flow of energy is in every living Being. This energy is our natural Being. The celebration of our Natural Being, the free flow of this energy, spinning, pulsating, spiralling, soaring full spectrum, and in Solfeggio frequencies, is ChakraMas.
- Who are the people behind the band?Bevil Byam and Thorma “Aungkh Nefer Amen” Crawford.
- Who came up with the concept? Thorma brings in concepts like Solfeggio frequencies, Mass & Mas dynamics, Full Spectrum Color, Yoga & Mas ...We discuss possibilities, then Bevil leads the creative expression into wearable Costumes.
- What inspired the concept? Well 1st we were dealing with the “Conscious” Eye/I theme, as in Eye Am..., hence Eye Mas, that was talk for over a year. We began to see expressions of this theme in other Bands, pointing toward the general idea. Ideas that as they were expressed visually, we felt we didn't need to “go there” again. So we reassessed. I had been working on developing another theatrical project, Dream Mas, with elements of Carnival, sacred geometry, giant dream machines and solfeggio frequencies so I combined the two, Dream Mas with Eye Mas that became Chakra Mas our presentation, and Eye Mas became our production company. I also wanted to explore ROYGBIV in full colour spectrum, I said let’s do it! This meant re-design after re-design, three drafts altogether, to where we are today. Efficient, beautiful, visually delightful and affordable costumes. Combine this with our approach to working with Soca & solfeggio frequencies. A very unique experience.
- Who is the designer? Bevil Byan
- Do you have your eyes on the band of the year title? Not at all
- What size band are you looking at? 700, I believe that falls into the large category this year
- What about this band do you think is different from the rest? Our Band is in full spectrum color and our music incorporates house & tribal beats in healing Solfeggio frequencies, if only for mood, we feel our players are in for a unique treat.
- What is your mas experience, and that of your team? I have worked on the development of two Carnival themed musicals, most notably, Carnival Messiah. ChakraMas, is my first pure venture as a Band Leader in Port of Spain Carnival. Bevil Byam is a graphic designer by profession and has designed 4 children carnival bands and produced 3 adult bands on St. Maarten, designed and crafted numerous pageant costumes and creative wear in a variety of materials over a 20 year period.
- Bands today often already know what theme they are going to come with
next carnival; do you have any ideas for 2013? I
do have an idea. I like how theories of
space & time are being reassessed, the shape of things on a cellularlevel. There is all this talk about Strings...so that's my theme and Band name for next year, Creator Willing... “String Theory.
- What direction do you think contemporary carnival should be going in? All Carnivals/Festivals should incorporate healing,HARMONIC, vibrational frequencies in the music they share, this will positively impact/Harmonize the 10’s of 1000’s that play Mas, globally each year, contributing in my opinion, to World Peace.
If
you wish to know more about chakra mas you can get in contact with them via
their eye mas face book page. You can also take a look at their pdf presentation here.
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