Mas & Pan --- Laventille Rhythm Section plays a lively sailor mas

[Pan Times]

Shereen Ali -- Trinidad Guardian

While the dust from Carnival has settled, many will recall with a broad smile the infectious, dedicated mas played by a small group of revellers from the Laventille Rhythm Section: a knot of “sailors” with their own home-made float: a gunmetal grey warboat called Bismarck, which sailed with the Massy Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra this year to help them win the Large Band of the Year prize in the portrayal Ships Ahoy at a French Festival.

Led by Trevor McDonald, this small section in All Stars truly “played a mas,” for they stayed in character all day long, to the delight of all around. 

As photographer Maria Nunes, who chronicled the band on Tuesday, observed in her photo blog the next day: “All you could do was smile and marvel at the cannon that blew powder...the radio phone made of a juice carton that blew powder out of its antennae...the two telephones attached on either side to the deck of their battleship Bismarck that they spoke on all day...the radio tower for the ship complete with plastic bottles for either end...the mechanisms they made to make the cannon blow powder...the name of the cannon ‘Look Trouble Now’...the time they must have taken to make this mas and make sure all their elaborate powder puffing mechanisms worked...oh my goodness...all they did was fill my heart with joy. They were the spirit of Carnival for me yesterday.”

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[Jennifer Ire]

Thanks for this article. Reminded me of the sailor mas I used to watch, run from the powder, jump up in and absolutely love. It was great to see them two years in a row. It was great to watch them go across the stage at the savannah.