Summer Carnival season 2010 is here!

Ye, ye, last year we announced this in May but we are just busting this year! We even more hype than usual!

And the bands aren't holding back either - two bands from traditional August carnivals - Antigua's Myst and Barbados' Berger Boyz, have already launched, all in April... so why should we hold back!

In the words of Queen Fay-Ann ... let's go!

The Vincies and Lucians already have things well underway for their July carnivals which are July 5th & 6th and July 19th & 20th this year.

In SVG, Ahdrenalin is going hard with their presentation 'Western Mayhem- the Decline of Western Civilisation'. Check some of our faves.

[caption id="attachment_2273" align="aligncenter" width="270" caption="Material Girl (Photo credit: Ahdrenalin.com)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2274" align="aligncenter" width="270" caption="Wings of Hope"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2275" align="aligncenter" width="270" caption="Exotic Delusion"][/caption]

Interestingly enough, even though the eagle-eyed Saucy over at Trinidad Carnival Diary has picked up at least one remix from Trini band D'Krewe, with Ahdrenalin's Nights of Debauchery being a dead ringer for D'Krewe's Sorceror, that costume was not even near our favourite so I guess it just goes to show...

Check out some more of our faves from St. Lucia Carnival's Just for Fun and their reimagining  of the Great Loves of the Past under the cut.

TC wins at last... and how!

[caption id="attachment_1305" align="alignleft" width="269" caption="photo source: Nationnews.com"][/caption]

For years now, Barbados' TC has been one of those 'always a bridesmaid, never a bride' kaisonians.

Second and third place knew her well and even though she was a perpetual finalist in Barbados' Calypso Monarch contest and a regular finalist in the Party Monarch contest, she never could seem to make the breakthrough.

Sometimes the judges seemed to mess her up, preferring 'shareholders' like Red Plastic Bag and Gabby to her and sometimes she was her own worst enemy like in 2005 when she had the Calypso Monarch title in her hand after a brilliant first half and then just dashed it away with a weirdly low-key performance of her bigger song in the second half.

But...she did it at last!

Today at Farley Hill, TC won not just the Party Monarch contest but the first ever Sweet Soca (aka groovy soca) contest with her big tune Hot Sun and Riddim.

No longer will she have to endure the 'she's a great calypsonian but..."  discussion.

She got crowns now.

Honestly, the Party Monarch result took folks by surprise, especially since TC was one of three contestants who just re-sang the song they performed like... an hour earlier in the Sweet Soca contest.

A bit of Crop-Over suss - no Lara fete, no eNVy

Just a quickie here about one of the most hotly-anticipated parties on the Crop-Over fete scene - Brian Lara's all-inclusive at his plantation home - Ebworth.

It's not on this year.

Sorry folks.

Islandista has it on very good authority that Lara's all-inclusive do which has been in Barbados the last 3,4 years or so will not be coming off this year.

The reasons are not exactly clear as yet but it seems to be a matter of planning and schedules not working out.

Lara's all-inclusive is not the only one that seems to be no more.

We have not heard a THING about LIME's big eNVy fete which they held last year. Moreover, it is not included in the lineup of events in LIME Contact's band brochure.

That one is perhaps not so surprising. People were NOT happy about how eNVy came off last year. For US$125 per ticket, folks do not expect to be waiting in a long-ass buffet table line for over an hour. Worse, when they get to the table, they discover that the food is quite ordinary.

Fishcakes and hamburgers for a US$125 ticket? Eh...no.

They really tek Bajans for poppets but I know lots of people said LIMe could not get their money again this year. Worse it is a recession

Barbados may not hold a lot of all-inclusive parties like Jamaica and Trinidad but for damn sure the people that shelled out their good money for eNVy last year are well-travelled islandistas and islandistos that have been to them in other isles and know how it is supposed to be done.

And eNVy was not how it is to be done.

So maybe they are wheeling and coming again?

We'll let you know.

Baje & Power X 4 unveil their costumes

They're baaaaack!

Barbados' two biggest bands, Baje International and Power X Four both unveiled their costumes on Friday in different ways.

Power X Four sent an e-newsletter to their mailing list with a 'sneak peek' of their costumes while Baje International had their official media launch at Red Rock at the end of the Gap.

Here is a look at some of our favourite sections from each band. Px4's presentation this year is entitled '15 years of Love & Revelery' while Baje is 'Fire & Ice'.

 



[caption id="attachment_1105" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Power X 4 - Blue Skies"][/caption]

 



Love, love the sky blue colour for this  and the bra piece is just gorgeous and lavishly decorated! Check out more costumes when you read on.

More costume bands from NYC to Bim

Week by week, Barbados' Crop-Over festival is heating up with more bands launching.

Small and mid-size bands such as Wednesday 2000, Jump and Ooutraje have all launched recently.

Our initial reaction to Wednesday 2000 was ... mehhhh. A lot of the costumes just were not cutting it, like these two selections below.

What's going on here? Did they spend all the money on the (admittedly nice) headpiece and just decide to forget about getting a waistpiece or decent leg bands or some appliques or someting to take de shame off the gold lame sports bra?

Getting Crop-Over-ish in this crank...

Slowly but surely, the Crop-Over season is starting to heat up.

Brewster's Road held its first pre-Crop-Over warm up lime on Friday night and it was goooo-ood! I had friends who show up at the lime from all half hour before the 6 p.m. start and all when Saturday morning come, they were still there. Obsessive limers, I tell you...

Another Kadooment band has launched bringing the tally to three. DJ Andre 'Rebel' Elias is riding the wave of his Taboo Saturdays popularity and launching a band for the first time under his RebelVibes Entertainment banner.

The name of the band is 'Psychomania' and I must say, for a first time band, most of the costumes are looking quite nice. You know so often first time bands can look amateurish and a bit...ehhh.

 

Plenty lavishly feathered headpieces up in there and you know how we feel about feathers!

I think Superbia and Ira are probably two of the best sections.

[caption id="attachment_977" align="aligncenter" width="284" caption="Superbia (pride)/ Photo Credit: RebelVibes Entertainment"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_978" align="aligncenter" width="284" caption="Ira (anger) Photo credit: RebelVibes Entertainment"][/caption]

 In other Crop-Over related news, Baje International has launched their 'Baje Girl 2009' search - deadline is May 29th. Below a quick screenshot of their ad.

 

Baje kills me. One of the blackest countries in the Caribbean and this is their representation of a 'Baje' girl? I guess a typical Baje girl isn't quite the same as a  typical Bajan girl. Anyhoo, it could be worse... they could be Lights.

In other Crop-Over warm up news - Renee Ratcliffe's 'Jump' band is launching this Friday, May 22nd so we will soon have another band in the tally.

Summer Carnival season is here!

Islandistas, can you feel it?

The summer carnival season is ready to get going!

In fact, in St. Vincent and St. Lucia, whose carnivals fall on July 6-7 and July 20-21 respectively, the Carnival season is already starting to buzz.









Just For Fun, Toxik, Red Unlimited and Royalites are among the bands that have launched.

In fact, even in Antigua, where Carnival is not until August 3rd - the same day as Kadooment Day in Barbados, the band Myst launched since the end of April. 

 

 I like it - early launch, dat we seh! The artistes have been bringing out their music earlier and earlier every year - it is about time for the band leaders to start doing the same!

At least one band in Barbados has taken the hint and has already launched - Ravurz launched their band, seen below, this week.

 Errmmm... not too sure about all of the fake flowers - flowers just never do it for me on a costume  but the costume at the far right looks nice.

Anyhow, bands up up north have also been launching -Bacchanal Mas for London's Notting Hill Carnival is one and several bands for Toronto's Caribana have also launched.

This costume, 'Birds of a Feather' is from Tribal Nights and I lurrrrrrrrvvvvvvvvv it! Look at all of those pretty feathers... I have a thing for lots of feathers in a costume... I may have mentioned this weakness before. So this costume was a winner from me from the time I laid eyes on it... who cares if the side feathers mean that you have no peripheral vision? That's so overrated anyhow.

In other summer Carnival news - a bit of news and a bit of suss.

Starting with the confirmed news, Triple Queen Fay-Ann Lyons is set to make her first appearance since giving birth just after Carnival. She will be performing this weekend self in Toronto along with husband Bunji Garlin at Kool Haus. The comeback fete is being put on by Toronto's top soca dj, Dr. Jay.

I guess this answers the question of how long was Fay-Ann's 'maternity leave' going to be. On the one hand, no-one wants to leave a child that is just two months old.

Artistry vs. sexy - the mas dilemma

Beautiful ... but artistic?

(photo credit: Baje International)

It is getting close to the summer Carnival season in the Caribbean and its diaspora. In the next few months, St. Vincent, St.Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, Grenada, Toronto, London and New York will all hold carnivals (whew!)

Which brings the modern reveller to the eternal dilemma - do they choose artistry - the band leaders that will actually try to depict a theme and take time over creating costumes that will represent that theme?

Or do they choose sexiness - the band leaders of the most popular, thousands-strong bands who will glam up their bikinis with the most gorgeous and expensive beads, appliques and feathers but whose dedication to a theme extends only as far as to come up with some kind of name to go with the different sections that are defined almost solely by their colour.

To be honest, I cannot remember the theme that was depicted in the last several carnivals I jumped in - not in Barbados, nor in Trinidad. I remember the colours of each costume but not the theme the colours were supposedly depicting.

Take for instance, Barbados' Cable & Wireless Contact - one of the first major bands to launch in that island for the Crop-Over festival. The costumes are gorgeous and the entertainment on the road is going to be fantastic - Machel and Krosfyah. But what do the costumes with vague names like Radiance and Sensuous and Sassy and Virtuous really mean? What is the connection to the particular colour choices and so on?

As someone who appreciates West Indian culture and the specific artistry of the Carnival tradition it's bothering to me that I'm part of the bikinis and beads brigade that may well be stifling the life out of the true mas.

For this reason, some designers like Trinidad's Brian McFarlane have turned away from the bikinis and beads trend in recent years and gone in for more dramatic depictions like his 2005 Carnival presentation 'The Washing' (pictured below).



But ... the thing about costumes that are artistic is that they are often... well, a lot of cloth. Who wants to be covered up on Carnival/Crop-Over/Caribana/Labour Day? It's about freeing up and 'playing yuhself' as  Trinis would like to say.

When I see McFarlane's costumes on the road when I was playing mas in Trinidad I am awestruck - this I thought, was true 'high mas'. But in the boiling humidity, I was glad to be just be observing such costumes, not wearing them. Besides, my bikinis and beads were sexy!

I keep thinking there must be some happy medium. There must be out there costumes that satisfy my artistic conscience and my desire to be sexy and have minimal cloth to carry around on the road.

There are some bands that I find have done so in recent years, though none yet in my homeland unfortunately - it seems to be a straight toss-up between true artistry and sexiness here. You get either or, but not both.

However, one band I find has been pretty good with this has been Trinidad's Carnival Tribe. Their 2007 presentation 'Ole Time Someting Come Back Again' was great in my estimation. The outfits were sexy yet they had a true voice and you could see what they were depicting. Yet it was not over the top or cheesy with the depictions of old time mas characters like the Red Indian, Pierrot Grenade, Fancy Sailor and the  Midnight Robber.

Take a look.

I thought it was a pretty heartening sign. I was kind of disappointed when the next year they went back to gorgeous costumes that didn't really mean anything or attempt to depict anything. Like this one from their 2008 presentation Myths and Magic, which was called Mystique.



Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking modern day bandleaders for what they do ... or at least, I'm trying not to knock them too hard. It would be hypocritical of me because I do jump in their bands every year and I know it's just business. I have spoken with them and they get it - many of them came up in the carnival tradition, used to be active members of bands where they would actually help make their own costumes, enjyoing the camraderie and the smell of hot glue in the mas camps. But they are also businessmen and women and Carnival is a huge business nowadays.

I just wish that more bandleaders would find that happy medium that Tribe found in 07. I think it can be done. What says you islandistas?