Mac Farlane back in town

Fast track to 2017, however, and Mac Farlane has returned and while his Trinidadian return is short-lived, he intends put a new spin on Carnival...in Tobago. His return to the streets of Port-of-Spain will be in the interest of competition but he will be re-introducing himself and this new concept to Trinidadians looking for something different come Carnival 2018.

His reasons for returning are two-fold. He wants the country to sit up and take notice of TT’s heritage spaces and sites. He said in an interview at his design studio, Alfredo Street, Woodbrook: “There are two things really. One is as you know all of my bands told a story. Whether politically, environmentally, historically and there was always an underlying message in all of the concepts and presentations. One that was always a sort of a pet-peeve of mine was the lack of concern or respect by many for our heritage sites.

“Not just the glorious buildings like the magnificent seven but simple little architectural buildings that might be behind the bridge or in Laventille, Belmont, Woodbrook, Tobago.

Beautiful buildings. I came back, one, for next year to bring recognition to that and two, for 2018, I want to start a whole fresh new concept in the sphere of mas and Carnival but based in Tobago.” The band with its shades of “whites, and off whites, brown cottons and ivories” will pay tribute to one of TT’s best known 19th century artist, Michel- Jean Cazabon.

For him, the band pays tribute to an era which he often described as beautiful.

“This year’s band is going to be based around the period of Cazabon a very great TT artist who is world renowned for his pieces of art. That is so beautifully done of sites and architectural buildings here in TT. And the reason I chose that Cazabon era is because it was a perfect time for our country; where fashion was beautiful. The beautiful petticoats and lace dresses and high necks... and the guys with top hats and suspenders. It was just a glorious kind of fashion but it was also a beautiful time for architecture...” This will then be used, he said, as a catalyst for what he wants to accomplish in Tobago.

Mac Farlane said that this oneoff Trinidadian band was not about him but rather, “I wanted to make it inclusive of other creative people. So I brought on board all of TT’s top fashion designers, people like Claudia Pegus, Heather Jones, Sonia Mac, Peter Elias, Dianne Hunt, Fazad Mohammed, Dale Angus, Charu Lochan Dass and Adrian Foster.

What I did was brought on two of young scholars from University Trinidad and Tobago (UTT)...a young lady and young man, who will be my mentees.” Mac Farlane has always had a love for Tobago which is why he is taking his art there. “I think there is such awesome talent in Tobago.

I think, personally, Trinidad has become a wonderful, fabulous, huge, street party for Carnival. It really has lost the artform and I still think Tobago is kind of a diamond in the rough and I would like to go there and just cultivate. I am not the Pope of Carnival, by any means, but just what I can do in my own little way. I would like to do something in Tobago.

“It is nothing more than simple mas we would like to do for the first year. Maybe nothing more than white sailors with powder but decorating the whole of Scarborough with big white flags. It is not going to be a two-day thing but a seven-day package with events that are going to touch on all-aspects. There is going to be a fusion of Caribbean food, of fashion, a fabulous catwalk on the beach. There is going to be an art exhibition...

so it will take you to different sites and places in Tobago and bring all of these wonderful elements together,” he explained.

Many Trinidadians were looking for an alternative to the Carnival in TT that had become little more than a “huge street party.” While away for the past three years, Mac Farlane occupied his time with work in his design studio. Doing some exhibitions among them one in Canada as well. But he admitted to “crying like a baby” the first year away from Carnival.

While the country seeks to broaden its economic base, Mac Farlane believes that it needs to look no further than its own creative sector.

However, it was not about, “take something that is solely ours and birth out of our society and people and package it to be a commodity to sell. I really don’t think we could do that. This is something of us.” But rather, he said, TT ’s brand of Carnival became popular and wellknown because of its people and authenticity.” For him, TT ’s Carnival is no longer the greatest show on earth. Instead, the viability of the industry rested, he said, in focusing on its authenticity and craftsmanship.

Mac Farlane’s media launch will be held on October 19 to introduce the band to wider TT .

He does not also intend to follow a parade route but instead do a presentation at a yet to be announced venue as an offering to TT –free of charge. On October 21, Mac Farlane will open his Rosalino Street, mas camp. Port-of-Spain Mayor Keron Valentine will walk with the band and with keys in hand head to the mas camp where it would be open after three years for the public to enter and view the costumes.