L'Echo du Village - MAS Jumbies reveals the Mas

Here I am, shaking out my Christmas decorations, only to keep receiving sprinkles of tantalizing Carnival flavour in my inbox... Phsaw!

Presenting the first section from their 2010 Trinidad & Tobago Carnival J'Ouvert presentation, L'Echo, the folks at MAS Jumbies is giving us a taste of what to expect with the reveal of Echo du Village. Priced at TT$350.00 all inclusive, registration begins in 2 weeks for Loyalty Masqueraders who would have played Mas with the group in the past.

Echo du Village draws its inspiration from the Juve Masque that once populated the rural areas and suburbs of POS, so it's a modern take on an early form of J'Ouvert. Masqueraders will have the option of white body paint; might I add that this will look rather spectacular under the moonlight as you chip through the streets of Port of Spain?

The all inclusive package includes an alcoholic & non-alcoholic bar, breakfast (ham & hops; salt fish & bake) and Irish Coffee as a starter. Especially nice, since the last time I played J'Ouvert, I paid $295 or thereabouts for a very tiny enamel cup, a humongous tee shirt and an 'all inclusive service' - read: stale bread and ham slices - that I am still waiting to receive. Talk about starving at 5:00 am...

And there was no damn drinks truck! Or security!

What's nice about MAS Jumbies is that it's an intimate but extremely lively J'Ouvert band with great music and full security. And they're one of the few bands that actually give you a real costume for J'Ouvert! Definitely worth a look-see. Check them out here.

LMN Harris

NB Images courtesy MAS Jumbies

L'Echo - J'ouvert '10 by Artist Brian Wong Won

Think very early Carnival, in the 1800's. Negues Jardin, et al. Lots of white. A Bois, or two. Throw some J'ouvert paint in the mix for good measure, and you'd have a rough idea as to what artist Brian Wong Won has up his painterly sleeves for Carnival 2010!

The Miami-based gouache painter is heading into his 4th year as a Mas' Man, since the formation of his J'Ouvert band, Mas Jumbies for the Carnival of 2007.

Alas, I can't tell more than I already have (fingers on lips, here!) and I can't post images of the sections (It's a J'Ouvert band with sections, and costumes, and ting!) but I can point you in the direction of the promo teaser for the band. Click here to find out more!

LMN Harris

NB Image courtesy Mas Jumbies/Brian Wong Won

Brian Wong Won + Au Courant: A Conversation about Trini Carnival Costumes

This is what happens when passionate, culture-loving folks meet up, whether in person, or as in this case, online. Logged via our Facebook Page, the following bit of communicae started out as just a comment on the TRIBE Carnival 2010 review I posted yesterday.

Brian Wong Won, a noted Trinidad-born artist and Mas' man in his own right, responded to the post, and the commenting quickly morphed into an all out, impromptu discussion about the degradation of what we all love - Trinidad Carnival and Masquerade:

Brian Wong Won:- "I think they (TRIBE Carnival) have more feathers this year than last, when the theme was Birds. This year, only the Peter Elias section carries out the theme well, in my opinion. But overall, most of the Carnival bands seem stuck in the "Vegas Showgirl" formula, and it's getting quite long in the tooth.

Au Courant:- Brian, you are so right! It's like TRIBE had a surplus of feathers from this year's presentation (2009's Birds of a Feather,) and they said 'What the heck - let's use it! No one will notice it's not silk, man!" Why don't they work with artists like you on their portrayals!!??!!"

BWW:- "I really don't know. It's not to say "The Secret of Silk" is a hard theme to portray; its not like a Peter Minshall mas, but oh gosh, do some proper research, nah? The theme had abundant potential with all those cultures and variances on them to draw from, but they give this Vegas nonsense again.

I am not looking for a Brian Macfarlane nor a Minshall style Mas' here, but at least do some work and don't use the Vegas motif every year like that! This lackluster, lazy attitude does nothing for the advancement of Mas'. And I extend this to almost all the bands. Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) has an abundance of artistically gifted people, so why not use their talents?

I really fear our youth will never see nor experience the power of the Mas' at this rate, and the world shall soon class T&T Carnival as, or like that, of Brazil. Had the theme been "Vegas in T&T," TRIBE's 2010 the costumes would have fitted beautifully; I really expected more.

It's as you said in your post: "A case of death by feathers!" Good thing there's no bird flu scare right now..."

AuC:- "You know, it's really saddening; everyone has internet access these days, so even if - as a designer - you don't know much, it can't be that hard to do a little design research. But you know what?

Until the costume-buying public calls a spade a spade, and vociferously complains about the regurgitated Vegas Mas', those costume makers will keep churning out the same nonsense, year after year. It is really spoiling the culture..."

BWW:- "So true! Gone are the days when you're like a possessed pack rat, making copious notes and Xerox copies of the library books for costume research! Today it's so easy to do design research with computers. But the public will continue to buy, as that is all they know Mas' to be, especially the foreigners.

I have never seen any band to step out of the norm, with the exception of Brian MacFarlane most recently, to do otherwise. We see some sections doing wonderful things from time to time, but it does not last. If I recall it was Lil' Hart who introduced the bikini mas, but even that band used to follow a theme well; a trait that Harts still continues with today - especially the men's costumes.

Harts is one of the few bands to really do excellent men's costumes, as well as women's. So it's not to say these Bikini Mas' designers don't have the ability to create variety. But this lackluster trend nowadays is making the culture of Carnival stagnant; how many variations of the same Vegas showgirls costume must we endure, year after year, from different bands?

And it's not to say we must banish the bikini mas from Carnival, but rather the actual costumes and designs could benefit from further development and variation."

Well said, Brian!

LMN Harris.

NB Image courtesy Trinidad Carnival Diary