This is an aerial picture of Port of Spain at 4pm ON CARNIVAL TUESDAY!!!! LOOK AT THE STREETS!!! Where are the People? Where is the Mas? We are supposed to be the capital of Carnival, home of 'the Greatest Show on Earth!!!' Watch it and weep!!! Who can remember 25 years ago when there used to be thousands of people in those streets- thousands of masqueraders from dozens of bands, thousands of spectators thronging to get a look at the brilliance of our costuming and dancing to the melodies of brilliantly crafted songs? Who remembers this?!!! How far have we fallen! By Rubadiri Victor -- MEDITATION ON THE TRADITIONS- CARNIVAL 2015 I'm rather sick of the version of the Festival that is continually put out there- all Mardi Gras bikini and beads, young girls, all-inclusive fetes & foreign celebrities... There are dozens of other Carnivals happening- and in Port of Spain the Canboulay tradition has not yet given up the ghost. The traditional masquerade although dwindling in numbers are as vital and phenomenal in their creativity, surreallity, and transformative Power and Magic as ever. I walk the entire Carnival route on both days- lapping the city and its suburbs- documenting the Carnival, all its pulses, the visible and the invisible- and bear witness to the battle between the Mardi Gras and the Canboulay. I will be writing a report from the battlefield soon. In the meantime here are some images from the frontlines from the Army of the Canboulay Warriors...
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  • p.s. I've been back every year since. But only for Panorama

  • Nothing ever gets better if the driving force is money.

    The first 15 yrs of my life I watched mas on Oxford street / Charlotte street. In 1965 & 66 I played with Starlift. It was a wrench and a sad day when I emigrated to England. On my return in 2005 I could not believe the rubbish being served up by these talent less people. The commercialism killed the mas.

  • I know what you mean, i live abroad, and will try to make it home every other year, after this year, no more, i remember 40 years ago, when people were waiting to see,Sally,McWilliams,LEhung, Bailey, Lovlace,and so on,and lately, MC.Farlane and Minshall,were  have all the real mass gone?

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