RC mas’ band draws ‘overwhelming’ interest

Wayne Berkeley
(photo from meppublishers)

Roman Catholic organisation, the Word and Associates has received “overwhelming” interest, both nationally and internationally, by people who wish to be part of its 2011 Carnival presentation, Genesis 1 — Creation, according to the band’s chairman, Derek Walcott.
The band, which is sanctioned by the head of the local Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop Edward Gilbert, was launched on January 4, and will participate in the Parade of the Bands, on both Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
Speaking with Newsday yesterday, Walcott said the band’s official website, which was launched last week, received over 1,200 hits so far, and the band’s “page” on the social networking site, facebook, has also received a lot of visitors.

“We have been receiving a lot of calls from people in St Lucia, Grenada and Canada wanting to register with the band,” said Walcott.
He said the band is open to a registration of 1,200 members, “for greater manageability, but people are begging us to open up the registration.”

However, Walcott said all sections in the band are still open for anyone interested in registering.
He said costumes were priced between $1,000 and $2,500, and the band will be all-inclusive.

Since the announcement that veteran mas’ man, Wayne Berkeley will be designing the Queen of the Band’s costume, Walcott said “requests have been pouring in to portray the queen.”
Walcott revealed that Canadian, Susan Low, will portray the Queen of the Band: Eve, the eternal light of the Universe. However, someone is yet to be listed to portray the King of the Band, Adam, “as two persons have expressed great interest in the portrayal.”



Walcott admitted that the Word and Associates has received some “negativity” from various members of the public, over producing a Carnival band.
“Many people felt Carnival is evil, and are not pleased that the Church was getting involved in something which is evil. I ask those people, are the panmen, calypsonians and mas designers evil?” asked Walcott. “How can the creative gift, which we received from God be evil,” Walcott added.
When asked what genre of music will accompany the masqueraders, Walcott explained that the band is currently assessing calypsoes and soca music which has “good values” and no “double meanings.”

Walcott said anyone wishing to register with the band will be briefed on the proper “behaviour” expected, as well as no alcoholic drinks will be served.
“As Catholics we have no beef with alcohol, but we are not promoting alcohol in our band. We are coming on a natural high,” he said.

By RESHMA BAAL

SHOWTIME TRINIDAD CARNIVAL 2010: THE MATRIX

I recently returned from a holiday in Trinidad ...more of a research run than anything else, while there I did manage to drop into a mas camp or two in the Port of Spain environs and took some Photos of what I saw.

I did drop into the Showtime mas camp to find out more about their 2010 presentation called the Matrix. Now almost everyone will know what the Sci-fi cult smash represents, the story line the Hero etc so I don’t think I have to break down the movie to anyone right now.

Movies and Mas in Trinidad have a long history, the influence of Hollywood on the Mas men and band leaders can be traced to the earliest Red Indian Mas bands and the biblical bands of the mid 20^TH century Carnival. Back then the costumes for some bands were made to be as close a replica to what was seen in the movies, even Pan sides where named after the Hollywood war epics of the time like Destination Tokyo.

 So the people at Showtime too have decided to use the theme of the Hollywood blockbuster The Matrix as their first venture as a band for Carnival 2010.  The band does not follow the movie’s story line to the letter at first glance, but with closer scrutiny one can identify the relationship between costumes and the characters in the movie fairly easily, like the Trinity, Niobe Logos, and Eye of the Oracle sections.

Sections like Agent Orange threw me completely, reference was made to it in the synopsis but that too made little sense to me when put next to the whole Matrix theme. Virtuality, (virtual reality?) Zion and Oblivion are designs that can go here or there it’s all about interpretation when added to the theme of the band, for me these sections work.

The Matrix is a text book fun band, the designs though not exceptional are tight, with sections like Merovingian, Trinity, Oblivion and Exiles standing out in style and interpretation in my opinion. As a first venture as a Band I think Showtime has done a safe job, I don’t know how many masqeraders they are aiming for but with a balanced band in numbers small, medium, or large I think the Matrix visually can do some damage on the road come 2010.