ADDICTED MAS 2018: ZENITH : Synopsis and costumes.

Zenith: The time in which something is at its most powerful or successful. It is also a point of time when the sun is at its highest point in the sky.  A culmination; a climax; a peak.

Mountains too have their summits the highest of them have snow covered crowns identifying them as lords of both landscape and skylines. To surmount these mountains and reach their peaks is a perilous journey, reserved only for the brave and the bold, who are prepared to look death in the face in the pursuit of reaching that Zenith. Many have died trying to achieve while others turn away from the challenge and perils of such a journey.  But warriors full of daring and desire face the greatest risk for the highest thrills.

Like the sun above and the mountains below it, we spend our lives climbing from the valleys of our existence aspiring to reach our Highest Self.

History is flooded with the names of individuals who reached their Zenith illuminating our hearts and minds with their abilities; from Usain Bolt to Floyd Mayweather, Michael Jackson to Beyonce, The Mighty Sparrow to Bob Marley; Marcus Garvey to Martin Luther King.  Those super-humans who rise to plateaus above us all, with seemingly effortless ease as if they were gifted with talents from the Gods, beyond mere mortals.

Ancient history also echoes with the names of those whom while in their Zenith transformed the world, Alexander the Great the Macedonian KING, considered one of the greatest military leaders of all time  conquered the known world by the age of 32 .Sundiata Keita founder of the Mali Empire overcame adversity and physical disability as a child to become a great leader before he died at 37.

Civilisations and societies too can rise to a cultural and economic Zenith, they supersede their predecessors or contemporaries be it Egypt, Persia, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, Mongolia, England the United States or China, Civilizations and Empires have risen levels of accomplishment that are without equal and almost unimaginable if not for the evidence of their presence.

Zenith is the realisation of ones highest self, the understanding that you have the power to change your environment, the awareness that you can influence positive growth in others, and doing so. Zenith is you determining your own future; creating your own destiny; implementing and achieving your own goals.  Zenith is knowing your limits and surpassing them, facing down your fears and conquering them, examining your strengths and improving them.

Either you are looking back at it, rapidly approaching it, or currently existing in it.  The Zenith is that point in our lives when we are at our most energised, the strongest we have ever been, the fastest, the most radiant, the healthiest and ultimately the most successful versions of ourselves.

Being in your Zenith is being at your highest.

Like the ice capped mountains of the world or a mid-day sun in the sky we are at the height of our existence right now.

This year Addicted looks at the Zenith as an analogy for our lives.  A celebration of the life force within us all, as we ascend to the peak of life's experience.

This is ZENITH, this is where your powerful now is!

The costumes

This year Addicted has chosen white to depict the theme of Zenith.

White does not just symbolise the ice and snow found on the tallest mountains around the world, but combined with the iridescence of AR stones and holographic foils, it reflects the radiance found in the spectrum of light that emanates from these snow capped mountains and the sun when bright and high in the sky.

White is also the colour of the Crown Chakra SAHASRARA) which is said to be our connection to the divine.

Among the Orishas White is the traditional colour of Obatala, this father of all Orishas,  Obatala holds influence over leadership, fatherhood, justice and geology, and is often symbolised by mountains.

RADIANT PRIME: This year addicted has produced a limited production individual costume radiant prime, this costume depicts light bursting from its source, an entity in her zenith

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Join ADDICTED MAS on the streets of Notting Hill 2018 and celebrate the Zenith of your life,

S.A. Armstrong

Addicted Designer

For more details go to: http://specialist-events.com/addicted-mas/

Addicted Mas: ZERO-FIVE- FIFTY ;Synopsis.

On Sunday 15^th of June the Mas division of Specialist Entertainment ADDICTED launched their section for NHC 2014 ‘ZERO- FIVE FIFTY’, and have now released pictures and synopsis for their 2014 presentation.

Check it out.

As we approach the 5oth year of this landmark on the British cultural landscape called the Notting hill carnival, and 5 years of the Addicted section partaking in this socio/ cultural titan of a celebration with Cocoyea, Addicted celebrates the past and present through the metallic lens of the future, in ZERO FIVE FIFTY.

 ‘Five years of Addicted, Fifty years of Notting hill Carnival’

Zero Five Fifty the theme and Storyline is inspired by the Afrofuturism movement.

 “literary and cultural aesthetic that combines elements of science fiction,historical fiction, fantasy, Afrocentricity, and magic realism with non-Westerncosmologies in order to critique not only the present-day dilemmas of people of color, but also to revise, interrogate, and re-examine the historical events of the past”

The year is 2114 AD and a group of time travellers in search of the perfect multicultural society travel back through time to experience first-hand what Notting Hill Carnival was like in its historic 50^th year of existence.

The Afrotek time machine transports the group to the heart of the festival in the legendary ADDICTED MAS section whose energy and symbolic golden lotus costume epitomised all achievement and enlightenment, the utopian existence the travellers were in search of... 

The future starts now.

ZERO FIVE FIFTY: The Golden Lotus.

 Design and inspiration

Because the lotus flower grows in murky muddy water, surfaces to bloom during the day, only to return to the murky depths of mud at night, cultures across the globe have identified the lotus with many aspects of life.

 In ancient Egypt it was associated with the sun, beauty, resurrection, and rebirth. In Buddhism it is a symbol of purity in mind speech and body, in Hinduism, beauty and spiritual awakening. It is on this premise that the designer S.A Armstrong saw inspiration in not only the petals of the lotus flower but also its life cycle.

It was 50 years ago out of the dark racially explosive period of the late 1950’s the Trinidad and Tobago's carnival culture made its first appearance in London.  By 1965 Mrs Rhaune Laslett O’Brian (1919 2002) a community activist and Trinidadian musician Mr Russ Henderson MBE started a street parade that became known as the Notting Hill Carnival.

Like the lotus the carnival grew out of the impoverished streets of post WW2 West London and the social murk of racism and social ostracising to blossom like the lotus flower into London’s most popular social symbol of creativity, beauty and multiculturalism. 

The costumes are made up of three colours.

Gold the 50^th anniversary is called the golden anniversary or golden jubilee and in recognition and of this milestone year the costumes main colour is gold.

Silver: the hints of silver in the costumes symbolise not only the 5 years of the Addicted presence in Notting hill but also the chrome of the steel pan the instrument that literally paved the way with music for Europe's biggest Caribbean carnival to take place.

Purple / violet is thought to be the highest chakra in the human body and symbolises creativity beauty and inspiration, the very building blocks of our carnival, it is also considered to be the colour of  royalty, nobility and power.

S.A. Armstrong

Addicted Designer.

Zero Five Fifty will be on the road with the band Cocoyea on bank holiday Monday August 25^th 2014.

For more information contact: Melmia Innis , Juniour Innis, or Specialist Entertainment