By Leiselle Maraj Tuesday, November 9 2010
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Arts and Multiculturalism Minister Winston “Gypsy” Peters is encouraging citizens to wear a costume and play mas with the People’s Band which will be free to the public on Carnival Monday and Tuesday in 2011.
Masqueraders will also get to jump across a big stage once more at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain and there will be the return of the North and Grand Stands.
Peters made these announcements to reporters yesterday after touring the area in the Savannah where the Grand and North Stands were once located but removed by the previous government to make way for the National Carnival Centre. The parade of the bands has taken the form of a street parade since 2007.
He said the People’s Band was one of the measures to be used to deal with congestion caused by bands seeking to cross the big stage in the Savannah during the Parade of the Bands on Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
He urged persons to either don their old costumes or create new ones to take part in the People’s Band. “I not only hope to see a return of dragon mas but a return of the antique costumes people have all over, under their bed or in their attics. I hope they take them and dust them off so their children can put them on and jump in the band and for once I want to see people be creative. Let them take the opportunity to create costumes because they have no restrictions, all you have to do is to make a costume and you are in the band,” Peters said.
He said he was unconcerned with the impact of this band on the sales of other mas makers. “The mas makers in this country are bringing mas from India and China. So what if the people in Trinidad and Tobago make mas and jump in a band? Those mas makers have to think about if they are not taking away jobs from locals and suppressing the creativity of the people of Trinidad and Tobago when they bring mas from these places ,” he said.
This initiative, he said, will give the ordinary man a chance to participate in Carnival either by creating costumes for himself or his family and close friends or by parading in the free band if he cannot afford the high price of a costume from an established band.
“The big bands are there for the people who want to do it but the Government, through this ministry, is putting something in place so people can just come and play mas and enjoy themselves. Make a costume and come or put on an old one but not one of those made in India and China, a costume from Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.
He said while there may be teething problems experienced because of the return of Carnival to the Savannah, Government will learn from the venture and improve on the Carnival product in years to come. Peters could not give a figure which will be spent to remove the existing stand and reconstruct the Grand and North stands in time for the Parade of Bands on March 7 and 8 next year.
“With a little bit of creativity, we hope we do not have to go too far with expenses. Whatever it takes for us to be here (in the Savannah), we will be here,” he said.
He said while he would not be able to compete as calypsonian Gypsy in the upcoming Carnival season because of his post as minister, he will perform during the season. Peters won the 2010 Extempo Monarch crown during the last Carnival in February. www.panapparels.com
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Monday, November 15 2010
click on pic to zoom inFood ahoy: George Smith, left, explains the menu which his team, Trinre, prepared and named 'When Seafood Comes Sailing In' to President George Maxwel...THE EDITOR: Please allow me the space in your widely read medium to comment on matters that are of serious cultural concern to a very large constituency in Trinidad and Tobago.
I have heard the Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism, Mr Winston “Gypsy” Peters talking about the introduction of the People’s Band on the streets of Trinbago for Carnival 2011 and one of the reasons behind this idea is the fact that the high price of Mas costumes seems to be out of reach for the average citizen, still willing to participate in the national festival.
He spoke about the promotion of Trinbago, and the fact that the creativity of the people is being stifled through the importation of costumes from abroad.
I would like to endorse this initiative by the goodly Minister and the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism for seeking to bring back the Carnival to the people where it rightly belongs. However, I am very much disturbed with his choice of music to accompany the People’s Band. Where is the People’s Music in all of this? The Minister, himself being a Calypsonian, one would think that he would have a better history of the Carnival, and the basic elements that propelled it. When one mentions Carnival and creativity, it was always Calypso, Steelband and Mas. How could you have totally left out the National Instrument in your vision of the People’s Band? I think it is an oversight that should be corrected.
I believe that there is nothing more creative and inseparable in Carnival than Calypso, steelpan and Mas. When one takes into consideration that thousands of young people gravitate towards the steelbands especially around Panorama/Carnival time and the kind of contribution the steelband movement is making towards the preservation of the social fabric of our fragile society is reason enough for greater incentives to be pumped into the steelband organisation in order to harness and encourage this influx of youths into the Carnival.
Compare the DJ trucks to the steelbands and see which is contributing more to youth development, and enhancing social integration in the communities across this nation.
After nearly three months of nightly preparation for Panorama, with only a small percentage of the steelbands going on to the finals of the competition, there is a void to be filled, and there is no better way to full this void, than to give attractive incentives to steelbands to get them out on the road for Carnival. This would definitely attract more tourists to our country, which would naturally bring more revenue to the Treasury. More people would like to come and take part in our national festival, and jump up on our streets to the music of our national instrument.
I would also like to recommend, that serious consideration be given to the employment of steelbands to accompany the Junior Parade of Bands, thereby giving the younger ones a greater sense of value and appreciation for our own creation. We can start by using the traditional steelbands that are there and readily available. The noise from the Big Trucks does have a negative effect on the ears and minds of the young children on the parade.
Let us get the steelband back in the Carnival. All pre Carnival shows should employ the National Instrument, by proclamation.
This Mr Minister, would go a long way in harnessing and preserving our creativity for posterity.
Michael L Joseph
Marabella