FEAST OF COLOUR, DESIGN

Today, Carnival Tuesday, will be a feast of colour as the top bands in the main centres of Port-of-Spain and San Fernando vie to be named the 2005 Band of the Year. The race is also for the tune that will emerge as the 2005 Road March. In the days before soca became the tune of choice, the road march used to be the calypso of the year, composed by stars such as Sparrow and Kitchener. In fact, the year Sparrow made his debut as a Calypsonian, is one that will long be remembered. He appeared at the Dimanche Gras show on Carnival Sunday night, sang the tune “Jean and Dinah,” won the Calypso Monarch title and saw the Grand Stand patrons leave the Savannah singing the song which went on to achieve the double for him — Calypso Monarch and Road March King.

Judging in Port-of-Spain will be at several points and bands today will fan out across the city from  Adam Smith Square in Woodbrook to Victoria Square, South Quay and the principal judging centre the Queen’s Park Savannah stage. A feature of this year’s pre-Carnival shows has been the growing exposure of samples of old time mas’ but as popular as these have proven to be they will take second place today to the many bands whose members prefer freedom of movement in what they wear. Carnival Tuesday will be even more Rio like than before as bandleaders turn more and more to Brazilian designers and producers for many of their costumes.

It could well be the final acknowledgement that our indigenous Carnival is now more than ever a mimicry of Rio’s Carnival.  Many of the band and section leaders have within recent years incorporated most of the trends in Brazilian mas. Costumes from China have, increasingly, been used in Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival and while far less expensive to import than to have similar designs produced here have been known to stand up to the rigours of the two-day jump up. And while, for decades we have gone increasingly international in our designs, we are moving to the stage where, Heaven forbid, a not insubstantial portion of the costumes will be produced internationally.

What then is to become of the local industry, one wonders. The accent, however, will be on seeking to optimise the fun of the revellers, who will be dancing and parading on the streets today, many from shortly after sunup to after sundown, to a mixture of recorded music, live combos and steelbands mainly calypsoes. From the calypso tunes played today before the judges at points stretched across Port-of-Spain and other main centres, will be chosen the road march. As we write there is no clear winner  nationwide.