Maxime records carnival history

Cultural researcher, writer and public servant, Gideon Maxime was quite frank when he said the words: “The people here are not interested in their own thing.” He said that citizens of Trinidad and Tobago were ignorant of their local history in practically every sphere of our culture. So, by means of a series of publications including his most recent book Carnival Through The Years — Downtown Mas 1903 to 2003, Maxime provides a comprehensive record and detailed history of Carnival, steelband and calypso from its inception to today. “The history is there and the people don’t know it,” he said. Maxime put his hypothesis to the test when, while visiting a radio station some time ago, he met up with a handful of beauty queens of a local pageant who were up for interview. He decided to ask them a question in readiness for their upcoming competition.


“My question was: ‘If you had to recommend one place to a tourist visiting Trinidad for the first time, where would it be and why?’ The first queen said Las Cuevas. Well, I didn’t get into asking her why. The other one said Maracas Beach. She said she would take them there because she didn’t like the North Coast Road.” Maxime didn’t wait for any more answers. On another occasion, while picking up his daughter from school one evening, he decided to make conversation with her school friends by asking questions about Trinidad and Tobago. He asked: “Which route would you take to get to Manzanilla if you were coming from the east?”  “One said she honestly didn’t know and the other said she only knew how to get from home to school, and back.” Maxime tried to contain his surprise. He thought to himself that compiling facts of history and biographies of notable Trinidadians, would be beneficial to generations now and in the future.


After leaving work on evenings and before meeting his daughter after school, he made full use of the few hours researching old files and making jottings on his notepad at the National and Heritage Libraries. Why the library? Maxime explained: “I love researching culture. Anything culturally local interests me.” But that wasn’t all. His father, now deceased, was a taxi driver in the downtown area for 50 years and was the one who lay an early foundation for his cultural interests. “He was a tourist taxi driver. And he had a lot of literature in the car and would encourage me to read. He was practically a tourist guide and all that literature was passed on to me. “Later on I got great encouragement from two people to get involved in reading and writing about our local history. Those two people were the late Rocky Mc Collin and Bob Gittens. Rocky used to conduct a quiz on the radio at nights and I used to call in every time with the right answer, so that when I go to collect my prize, he would say ‘you again’! ”


Maxime, a past A’level history student and a resident of Barataria, said that except for the works of Michael Anthony, there was so much more history “waiting” to be documented. It was with this incentive that he penned the pan series Pan Through the Years — 1952-1996, Pt 1, Pan Through the Years — 1997-2002, Pt 2, Steelband Showcase which covered the history of 57 steelbands, Firsts in Panorama, Forty-one Years in Pan and Pan Through the Years, Vol 2. On Carnival Friday, he received in hand, the first copy of his newest publication — Carnival Through the Years — Downtown Mas 1903 to 2003. The 80-page book chronicles 100 years of the mas in the heart of Port-of-Spain, particularly in the main competition centre, Marine Square (now Independence Square), Piccadilly Greens, Besson Street area, Woodford Square and Columbus Square.


An excerpt from his book quotes a newspaper’s description of J’ouvert morning, Carnival 1906: “There were people pouring out of gateways, women dressed in old frocks with pillow cases as head gear and they used old bags as masks.” The Port-of-Spain Gazette and the Catholic News, the book related, called for the abolition of Carnival, but the festival grew in number of participants and was soon transformed from “the Jamette Carnival with all its obscenities” to one “economically beneficial” for businessmen. Bands of the early 1920s, which took part in Downtown Mas were American Hunters, Liberty Sailors, African Millionaires and the minstrel band Melodians Boys. In those days, bands won prizes equivalent to $10. The book also highlights contributors to Downtown Mas as well as past administrators of Downtown Carnival, some of whom include MP Millard, Edgar Gaston Johnson, Norman Tang, Hamilton Holder and Lakshimdatta Shivapersad.


His information was obtained from the National Library and National Archives, Heritage Library, University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus Library and the San Juan Library. “Some of the history is from my own understanding too,” and he solicited help in sourcing the pictures. He said it was extremely difficult obtaining photographs since much of them were copyrighted and very little existed on file. Additionally, gaining assistance from corporate bodies in the downtown Port-of-Spain area was equally difficult. “I sent out an average of 70 letters to businesses in the downtown area including DOMA, and all the banks, and not one of them assisted. I got absolutely no sponsorship from them. I am, however, grateful for the corporate bodies who assisted.” The production of this publication costs some $16,000. Carnival Through The Years — Downtown Mas 1903 to 2003 is sold at $25 per copy at bookstores throughout Trinidad and Tobago and can be found on the bookshelves of the Learning Resource Centre, UWI and the National Library.

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