On Sunday 15th
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 50th 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 50th 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 25th
2014.
For more
information contact: Melmia Innis , Juniour Innis, or Specialist Entertainment
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