Masman returns to TT with craft ambitions

The parade, which coincides with and incorporates the West Indian American Day Carnival and Parade, provides an opportunity for West Indian immigrants in New York to celebrate their diverse culture. However, changes in the style of the parade have brought Swami back home to TT.

“I do costume workshops and anything that is related to costuming in Brooklyn,” explained Swami.

“The pitfalls or downfalls of the state of the parade is one of the reasons why I decided to come back and see what’s happening here. The trend of the parade is shifting from costuming to t-shirts. And we allowed that to happen.”

Swami explained that a decision had been taken to stop referring to the parade as a “Trini-styled” one and to use the phrase, West Indian, instead. He said that people from the other Caribbean islands began to object to the parade being so centred around the culture and Carnival of Trinidad and Tobago and that this objection had led to the introduction of “T-shirt bands” from different islands into the parade.

“In the early days, when it was only costume bands, I had Yankees, Bajans, and others playing with me but they were in costumes. Some of the people who work in my mas camp, are either born there or born to Guyanese or Panamanian parents but they love our culture in so much that they are wining and coming and jumping up on the Parkway.

Swami revealed that his plan had been to teach the skills of costume making and design to the American youths of West Indian heritage but that it no longer seemed to be a possibility.

“(When I moved to the States), my plan was to pass my skills on to the young ones so that costuming would be something that we could develop there. However, the trend is now that there aren’t many people playing in costumes anymore. The bands that bring out the costumes, they import (them) from Trinidad. So, even there you can’t work because you are a costume maker.”

Swami has therefore returned to the shores of TT in the hopes of raising awareness of the importance of wire bending and costume craft in preserving our country’s culture.

“We are neglecting this craft. There are guys who died with certain techniques. We should have had that recorded by text or video so that we could say, ‘This is how Cito (Velasquez) did this. This is his technique. This is how George Bailey did it.’ And if we could combine all these things, it would be great.

Swami explained that his idea was to find a suitable location in which he could set up a programme for teaching the arts of costume design. He went so far as to suggest that wire bending could become an art unto itself, separated from the festival season. “I don’t attribute this (wire bending) to just Carnival. That is just one period of time that we are dealing with. Then you push the pans under the table. I’m trying to create a working skill that if someone wants an art director in any printing establishment, if someone wants someone who shoots screens or who does colour separation, you could get a job there. We’re creating a working skill for the youths that they say are supposed to be the criminals which I call our future.”

Swami said that the fulfillment of his dreams also required assistance from the Government.

“I am also looking for the Ministry and the laws to grant certification for when they complete my course. I have written her a letter but I don’t think she (Culture Minister Joan Yuille-Williams) has gotten it as yet.

I would like to get the cover funding to see these dreams become a reality.”