Forbes / Lifestyle
Trinidad Carnival is serious business.
No, really. The star-studded annual bacchanal kicking off next week, attracting upwards of 40,000 revelers, including the likes of Jay-Z and Richard Branson, is an intricately staged set of sumptuous events beginning just after Christmas and lasting through the grand parade on Carnival Tuesday. It’s said to generate over $30 million in revenue, and for creative entrepreneurs in fields ranging from music to fashion and art, this means opportunity: to build brands and launch empires. Enter ten Trinidadian masterminds who not only make Trinidad Carnival the magnificent celebration of life that it is, but have lately begun carrying their brands throughout the Caribbean and its diaspora, all in the aim of making the world a better place: Whatever time of year it is, it ought to be Carnival somewhere.
THE ENTERTAINER: Machel Montano Carnival without music is like a car without gas. The man who’s consistently supplied the best of this music for 33 years now—he’s the undisputed king of soca: the studio-produced, fast-paced descendent of calypso—is Machel Montano, a star since age ten. Notice I dubbed him an entertainer, not simply a musician; attend one of his dozens of live performances during the Carnival season and your jaw will drop at the stunningly high-voltage show he delivers, fete after fete. Dare I say that no one—in any genre—entertains more exhaustively? I dare.
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