‘Ye Robbers of Marli Street’

Brian Honore has changed the Midnight Robber from boastful badjohn to social commentator. But although this mas is evolving he still thinks Carnival should retain its traditions, in at least two senses. He thinks the few, small ole time mas bands should not feel intimidated by large modern bands, and he also thinks modern mas has excluded the grassroots who had originally fought for its establishment.

This year Honore’s Mystery Raiders will present Ye Robbers of Marli Street, a lampoon of United States foreign policy including their impending war against Iraq and their embassy’s “occupation” of Marli Street, Port of Spain now blocked off to public traffic because of security concerns. Honore said: “There are robbers locking your neck and thieving your gold and silver. There are robbers locking your neck and raising bank rates. There are robbers locking your neck and raising the price of bread. But have you ever heard of a band of robbers stealing a whole street. “Somebody put up a police sign saying ‘No Entry’, which we expect means ‘No entry to Trinidadians’. Some of the main characters in the mas are Emperor George Bushmaster and General Colin Pierrot. We have put out a long line of mas with meaning including Vote for your Robber, Robbers for Democracy and Robbers of the Apocalypse, the latter protesting the paving of the Savannah in the dead of night.” Quipping that the band would seem to be 15,000 strong although its membership would be closer to 15, Honore invited: “Uncostumed revellers are welcome to join us. There’ll be no rope around our band.”

He jested: “We’ll have an all-inclusive section from the United States, or rather an all-exclusive section, depending on which side of the police barrier you are on. We will be having fun, making our voices heard. We are helping anyone who feels up to the task to help us steal the street.” Honore denied actually changing robber mas from a verbal badjohn into a social commentator, saying: “We are identifying the real badjohns. At my school I had students do robber productions where the villains were the voice of HIV and Aids, nuclear proliferation and the threat of war, and crime and corruption. We are just identifying the real badjohns on the face of the earth.” He explained: “The late Andrew ‘Puggy’ Joseph, known as ‘The Agent of Death Valley’ had told me: ‘You keep your speech contemporary, near to the concerns of the people’.” Recalling the massive funeral of his mentor in 1997 attended by all the ole time mas characters, Honore noted: “With our band we have a small art exhibition on the road which pays tribute to our fallen heroes of mas. This year we will remember Lady B, Theresa Montano, flagman Gerard Lewis and Preddie (Lord Pretender). And Rubadiri Victor is hard at work on a depiction of Marli Street.”

Honore recalled his own introduction to robber mas some 18 years ago when he met Puggy at a robber-talk competition at Burrokeets in Belmont. “He asked me ‘Why don’t you play in my robber band? I turned up on Carnival day and Puggy gave me one long robber speech. Then I asked him ‘Where is the band?’ He replied ‘This is the band, you and I’.” Honore laughed that robber bands tended to be small.  He was heartened that this year Rosary Boys RC School was bringing out a robber band “Robbers then and now” incorporating traditional robbers with modern rude-boys. So over his 18 years playing robber mas, how had the public’s reaction to the robber changed? Honore replied: “We have had experiences where the big bands are waiting to come on stage and the NCBA is hustling us off but people say ‘Let them talk. We want to hear them’. Although Poison is behind us, people demand that we continue. With all the bikini-and-beads bands, there are some beautiful little bands like the Paramin Blue Devils, Minstrels and Red Indians, which come across as a breath of fresh air. The Mystery Raiders has added to that. We never feel intimidated. In fact some people leave the bikini-and-beads bands and take a jump with the robbers.  “I’ve had some infuriating incidents but we stand our ground and demand our respect.

A lot of people who are lamenting the death of Carnival do not consider the contribution made by traditional masqueraders who are the people with access to the schoolchildren to talk to them about Carnival. Schools do traditional mas.” He said that despite poor people having historically fought to establish Carnival, today these people were marginalised from mas, instead celebrating through the steelband. He said: “The people who fought to preserve Carnival and the drum were from East Dry River and Laventille. The question of the marginalisation of young people from poorer areas could be to do with the ‘woodbrookisation’ of the Carnival. “Carnival has always been a battle between Candomble and Mardi Gras, a battle which will continue, not die. “All the sailor bands, jab jabs and midnight robber bands, which used to come from poor areas like East Dry River and Laventille, must now demand their space in the Carnival.” Noting that unlike Rio de Janeiro, our carnival was not to spectate but to participate, he said:  “Mas is so democratic, essentially someone getting up on Jouvert morning and getting out whatever little they have and putting on a mask and playing this and that. Do we want to lose that?”

Honore praised the authorities for helping ole time mas, saying: “Part of the renaissance in traditional mas has to be credited to the authorities, including regional bodies like Port-of-Spain City Council which has kept it going from even before I was born. Can you recall the days when you couldn’t see a single Moko Jumbie on the road? Today, Cocorite alone has three Moko Jumbie schools, and they also exist in places like San Fernando and Point Fortin. Much credit has to go to the authorities.”  Honore concluded: “We are inviting everybody who feels they could out-robber-talk us and steal a street, to join us for Carnival.”