'Palance' creates history

Still Palancing: Jason Williams (JW), right, and Ancil Isaac Jr (Blaze) celebrate yesterday on Jerningham Avenue, Belmont, following the Road March results which declared that their hit song "Palance" was played a total of 417 times on Carnival Monday and Tuesday at the Queen's Park Savannah's main Carnival judging point. The radio personalities have created double history by being the first disc jockeys to win both the International Soca Monarch and Road March titles. See Page 5. -Photo: Jermaine cruickshank

 

Dynamic radio personalities Jason ’JW’ Williams and Ancil ’Blaze’ Isaac have created double history by being the first disc jockeys to win both the International Soca Monarch and Road March titles.

JW and Blaze’s 2010 hit ’Palance’ was played a total of 417 times on Carnival Monday and Tuesday at the Queen’s Park Savannah’s main judging point, according to a tally conducted by the National Carnival Commission yesterday.

It was the song of choice for many other roadside disc jockeys sending masqueraders and non-masqueraders into a frenzy all over the country.
The DJs dethroned 2009 Road March winner Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez, whose song ’True Lies’ was played 40 times. Machel Montano’s ’No Behaviour’ came in third being played only 11 times.
’Hard work really pays off,’ said an excited Williams yesterday.
’That has been my motto in life and our win goes to show what you can achieve.’
His colleague and singing partner Blaze was also excited by the win.
’It’s definitely a surreal moment. When we started off with the song we knew it would be a hit but we never thought it would have escalated into something like this. I don’t think there are words to describe how we are feeling right now, it is just been unbelievable.’


Blaze condemned reports that being radio personalities gave them an unfair advantage over others.
’At the end of the day being DJs does not matter,’ said Blaze.
Last year, we recorded ’Work’, in 2008 ’Bam-C-Ology’ and in 2007 ’Eat Ah Food’. We never got any work off those songs and they were never rotated on the airwaves. ’Eat Ah Food’ made it to the Soca Monarch finals but we did not place high.


’A good song is a good song. How come the advantage was not there last year when we recorded ’Work’ but it is here this year? The song was not played by our station alone, every single radio station played Palance’.
The duo, who has already been booked for internationals shows throughout 2010, will have to juggle hosting the Red Hot Morning Show Red at 96.7 FM from 6-9 a.m. and their performing careers.
Blaze said they had no intentions of leaving their jobs. He added: ’It’s fulfilling and it gives us joy when we go out in the morning. That’s our heart. Why should we leave our foundation?’
Last Friday, JW and Blaze dethroned Lyons-Alvarez to take the International Soca Monarch title. The men scored 81 points with their jubilant performance of Palance, which had a large portion of the 20,000 plus audience jumping, moving left to right and singing along as they frolicked on stage.
Throughout the Carnival season the duo took the spotlight at all-inclusives and fetes with their highly-energetic and entertaining performance.
sourceTrinidad Express

Limbo bows out Carnival

THE ARTFORM of limbo in Trinidad and Tobago suffered a severe set-back on Monday night as the National Limbo Finals failed to kick-off due to a lack of funds for the event.

“We did not get funding for the competition and as a result we decided not to go through,” said the president of the National Dance Association of Trinidad and Tobago (NDATT) Emelda Lynch-Griffith yesterday. She said the competition is instead now tentatively scheduled for April 29. 

NDATT is the body in charge of the Carnival limbo competition. Throughout the years it has worked in conjunction with the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation (TUCO) and has held its competition on the same night as the extempo competition. 

But this year, NDATT attempted to organise the competition, which had been carded for the Northern Greens, Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain on its own. 

“What happened was TUCO’s competition started to get bigger. We were slotted into a little slot and we wanted to expand and to run a junior competition also,” she said. 

Lynch-Griffith said the NDATT had applied for $1 million in funding from the Ministry of Culture and had met with Culture Minister Marlene Mac Donald on October 21, 2008. At that meeting, the body was instructed to submit its budget for the upcoming year. “We haven’t received any word from the ministry as yet,” Lynch-Griffith said. “We had to use some money paid to us this year to pay off prizes from last year.” 

She noted that sponsors from last year, including Republic Bank and the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) had pulled out from the competition. NDATT was unable to attract new sponsors and has currently scaled back its own operations. 

“Because of a lack of funding we are not even at our office (in St James) every day because we can only pay for somebody (security) to stay there to man the office for two days a week,” she said. 

Reigning limbo queen Kimmy Stoute-Robinson yesterday said she was disappointed over the postponement of the competition. 

“I am disappointed because this is something you should have during the Carnival season,” she said. “It is usually a part of this season there are still people who look forward to it.” 

The limbo queen for 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2004 said all of her preparations for the competition, which was formally postponed since last Wednesday, have gone to waste.

T&T NEWSDAY

New regulations leave blue devils in quandary

COREY CONNELLY | 7:03 PM

Published: February 15th, 2009

Blue devil exponents fear the tradition could be outlawed, because of stipulations contained in the Carnival Regulations Act. The recently-published document is said to restrict certain practices associated with old-time Carnival characters. Veteran blue devil player, Ashton Fournillier, leader of a Paramin band, questioned, on Saturday, the restrictions.

“It seems as though we cannot smear or dab any person with a substance and intimidate to obtain money or anything like that. And that is exactly what the blue devil does,” he said in an interview. “We come out; we try to corner you...You must pay the devil. “And the law of T&T is the law of T&T wherever you are, which says that you cannot do that.”

Fournillier said he received subventions from several Government ministers for his portrayals of blue devils over the years. “So, we need to know that the blue devils could still get money, block a vehicle on the road Carnival Monday and Tuesday or obtain money from the people. “That is exactly what we do. So, if you pay the devil, you don’t go to hell,” he added. “The law just pass on the 16th of last month by the President....No naked flames and we cannot blow fire in public places, on the streets. So, now they saying that we won’t be able to do that. Those are our major concerns.”

Trinidad and Tobago Guardian

Mas bands forced to downsize sections

SHALIZA HASSANALI 

Models showcase different costumes at National Carnival Commission’s launch of Carnival 2009, at the Brian Lara Promenade on Friday. PHOTO: DILIP SINGH

The global financial meltdown and falling oil prices are taking its toll on Carnival 2009, as some bandleaders have seen a sharp decrease in registration, forcing some to downsize their sections. Peter Samuel, PRO of Masquerade, admitted that the global recession was beginning to throw a damper on some bands, as foreigners who religiously supported them for Carnival were now pulling back.

“A lot of these people lost their jobs abroad when the stock market crashed last year, and are unable to play mas until they get back on their feet, while others are watching how they spend their money.” Prime Minister Patrick Manning told the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the Government would issue bonds and implement further budgetary cuts as a direct result of the global financial crisis. Last year, Masquerade catered for 1,000 revellers, each of whom paid $2,000 to play in the all-inclusive section. This year, it has reduced its registration capacity to 600, but promised to maintain its 12 sections at the same price for its 2009 portrayal, Let The Music Play.

Virtual standstill

Samuel said Masquerade wanted to revamp its medium-sized band, but had a change of heart, because of the global recession. “If we had only done that, our costumes would have been a little more expensive, and people would have turned elsewhere. This, however, is contrary to what Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs Minister Marlene Mc Donald stated during Thursday’s post-Cabinet meeting, that there was an increase—and not a decline—in registration at mas camps.

“There has been a 35 per cent increase in 2009,” Mc Donald insisted at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair. Vanessa Forde, president and bandleader of Classix Productions, a popular children’s band, complained that registration was at a virtual standstill, even though costumes were priced between $650 and $1,295. “Half of January has passed and only 30 parents have registered. By now, we should have had doubled that figure. Last year things were much better,” said Forde, who will showcase seven sections under the theme Hidden.

Approximately 140 children registered with Classix Productions last year. Next week, Forde said they would advertise at all primary schools to boost registration. South’s veteran bandleader Ivan Kalicharan said registration for this year was not as good, compared to years gone by. “People are not coming in the way they normally do. By the end of this month we would see how things unfold,” said Kalicharan, who will display seven sections, two of which are all-inclusive.

The price of Kalicharan’s costumes range from $950 to $1,800. Portraying A Spectrum in the Sea, Kalicharan said he wondered where Mc Donald got her registration figures from. Bandleader and managing director of Gerard Kelly Children’s Band said by mid-January he would already have closed off registration.

Scouting around

“But this is not the case. I have only registered under 75 per cent of my clients,” said Kelly, whose costumes are priced between $895 and $1,595. Kelly had plans of switching his band this year from medium to large, to accommodate 200 children, but changed his mind. Kelly said Minister Mc Donald had her facts all mixed up. Leader of Genesis, Ian McKenzie, said it was too early to tell if his band would be affected.

“By the end of January I would know how things would unfold. That’s when people would collect their salaries and pay for their costumes,” McKenzie explained. Involved in mas-making for more than 25 years, McKenzie’s medium-sized band will grace the streets of Port-of-Spain with its portrayal Glitz and Glamour Vegas, comprising ten sections, two more than last year. McKenzie said they had catered for 800 revellers, who would have to fork out between $2,500 and $2,995 per costume.

“Right now, people are scouting around for deals to suit their pockets. They have been taking Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s call to tighten their belts.”

TRINIDAD GUARDIAN

MacFarlane launches ‘Africa’ 2009

Well Saucy and Afrochic beat the rest of the world to the punch with their preliminary coverage on Mac Farlane's AFRICA launch the Trinidad Newsday gives us some more insight to the theme.

Band Leader and designer Brian Mac Farlane launched the costume collection for his Carnival 2009 presentation “Africa, Her People, Her Glory, Her Tears”, at the stroke of dawn yesterday morning against the forested backdrop of Edith Falls Trail in Chaguaramas.

It’s the story of one African woman named Manzandaba who set off on the back of a great bird and travelled across to the spirit world in search of stories to bring back to her children. The stories are about the ceremonies, traditions and family life from the age when First Man and First Woman walked the Earth. In return for those stories from the King and Queen of the Spirit People, they asked her for a picture of the future. 

What she saw was a morbid glimpse of the disease and destruction yet to come and umillo (a fire) that devoured the people and the villages. 

Her husband Zenzele creates a painting of an Africa rich with traditions and bleak future with a generation of lost children. The terrifying picture causes the King and Queen of the Spirit People to fall silent and become sombre. But they reward Manzandaba with a shell that whispers stories and a necklace of lion’s teeth to thank Zenzele. 

The sections of “Africa, Her People, Her Glory, Her Tears” were revealed at a location that was kept secret until yesterday morning, where persons adorned in body paint, patterned clothing and headpieces made from dried palm leaves paraded with paintings of the costumes. 

There are 19 sections to the band. 

The costumes are created from natural materials that echo the African theme with masks, feather headdresses, leather, talismans, cotton tunics, woven and wrapped skirts and pants. The costumes move and flow with the masqueraders’ motions and balloon and come alive in the wind.

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:

MAS JUMBIES 2009: DIABOLUS IMPERIUM

Mas Jumbies are bringing FOR 2009 Diabolus Imperium or The Devils Realm, this mas inspired by the Dragon mas of Trinidad’s early nineteen hundreds, Mas Jumbies made a massive impact on the road last Carnival placing 3rd on the road wit JAB, next Carnival you know the Mas Jumbies will be hotter than ever in the Devils Realm.