Well, are you? Judging from last Sunday's sophomore band launch of The Spice Route by the Spice Carnival Band, I'm not sure if their 'route' is the right one to take.
The majority of the costumes presented had absolutely nothing to do with the olden merchant trail that weaved its way through Asia, the Mediterranean and other surrounding territories.
And to make matters worse, the costumes seemed to be poorly - or hurriedly - constructed, and boasted one too many bad notion ideas. Yes, there were one or two other 'nice' designs, but nothing in keeping with the theme, and nothing that was more fantastic than their debut presentations.
But all of that is with the exception of this golden stunner, shown above! I love the usage of the pagoda-esque/Burmese-like sholders, with the feathers and the caged bra. So stunning - even though the shoulder piece looks like an eye collision just waiting to happen on the streets of Port of Spain.
If the rest of the band looked like this, Spice would have to beat of the hordes of would-be 2010 masqueraders with a big-stick. But, alas, the other section designs are nowhere as precious as the one above.
Which is such a shame, because I absolutely love the focus and organization of the Spice members, and I sincerely think their group is poised to be the next 'big band' on the Trinidad Carnival scene.
That is unless Peter Minshall comes back out of the woodworks and hits us with a W.O.W. presentation for Carnival next year. Minsh, are you reading? Maybe it's time to reclaim your throne?
LMN Harris
NB Image courtesy TrinidadCarnivalDiary
very well said