Guarding the mas

This desire gave birth to D Guardian’s Carnival Limited Band in August 2015. The band first partnered with La-ta-caille Kids for 2016’s Carnival at the Downtown and the Queen’s Park Savannah competitions in Portof- Spain. The band won small band of the year in the Downtown competition and second place at Queen’s Park Savannah. The band went on its own to St James and won the title of best creative.

This year, McKenzie will present the circus in all of its various forms, with its 2017 presentation, Ma Ma Lok D Circus Comin. But at the heart of what McKenzie does is always the development of the artform.

He said, “It was a dream of mine to do something for the kids.

I am used to dealing with children. I am a commission officer with the Trinidad and Tobago Cadet Force. I deal with children from ages 12 to 18 there, basically.

“They come. They learn how to draw the patterns. They learn how to construct backpacks.

They learn how to design as well. They have a hands-on experience,” he said. Children ages three to 18 are a part of the band.

McKenzie said the children were often excited about the experience of, “learning to create something from scratch and seeing the end results,” and he hopes to do many children’s events. In this year’s band, McKenzie, will also pay tribute to murdered Japanese pannist, Asami Nagayita, whose was found dead in the Queen’s Park Savannah last February. The section is called “D Sweet Sound of Music in Tribute”.

McKenzie intends to do a children’s pageant after Carnival, “where they will be learning and doing stuff under culture and arts.

“It is a different kind of pageant. It is not just about beauty but rather learning the culture of your country. So they will be visiting various pan groups, mas camps, they will be doing self awareness about different ails and ailments.” The pageant will also teach them about traditional mas, with the finals culminating in July. The children, he said, would also be creating their own designs for it.

This year, he anticipates 187 children would partake in the band. The band has 13 sections.