Rubadiri Victor
PART THREE
The modern Trinidad Carnival is a battle between two forces – the Mardi Gras and the Canboulay.
The Canboulay is working class and inclusive.
It draws its spiritual power from African ancestral masquerade and cultural traditions but has also been fed by masking traditions from East Indian and Native American sources.
It is fuelled by African music traditions, vibes and is led by sacred, secular, satirical and dreamtime masquerades.
The Mardi Gras is elite and exclusive.
It draws its spirit from European grand balls, alcohol and excess, and it has embraced fully the female fertility side of the festival – but without any of dreamtime fantasy associated with it.
It is increasingly self-absorbed and fuelled by titanic sources of state and private capital. It has been in the ascendancy for the last 30 years.
There has been resistance to the elite-led Mardi Gras takeover of the Carnival that has been quickened by the all-inclusive model.
Traditional Masquerades have experienced a rear-guard resurgence in the last ten years with some traditions like the blue devils, dragons, jab jabs, fancy Indians, sailors and fancy sailors mobilising to save themselves and their traditions, and also producing extraordinary portrayals that still are the centre of the Carnival’s remaining spectacle.
Because these are elder artisan and elder masquerader-led, these revolts have a due date – and already some of the storied masqueraders who carried some of the most impressive costumes for decades have retired or passed on in the last three years. Then there are the small artist-led traditional mas avant garde bands like clothing designer Robert Young’s Vulgar Fractions, fine artist Ashraph’s Cat in Bag , dancer Makeda Thomas’s Belmont Baby Doll, model Amanda Mc Intyre’s Dolly Ma Baby Dolls, and musician Nicolai Salcedo’s Citizen Bat.
Apart from those are a series of small to medium size bands that have popped up, fuelled by a need to create an affordable alternative to the monopolistic and massive Mardi Gras all-inclusive bands. Bands offering $1,000 costumes, a slew of artisan and old-school bandleader-led bands, many formed by friends and business partners pooling monies together to create an alternative.
The rise of cooler-fetes are a protest against the all-inclusive model culminating with Bunji Garlin’s Hard Fete which is an open revolt against the cellphone-poser, all-inclusive type parties.
Trinidad’s creative industries have flat-lined in the last 30 years precisely at a time when the creative industries have become the second largest industries on planet Earth, earning over $2.2 trillion annually and being the growth industry on the planet.
[caption id="attachment_1146331" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Rubadiri Victor. -[/caption]
TT has not been able to participate in this renaissance because our government has refused to put in place the enabling environment of policy, legislation, institutions and fiscal enablers that are required to transform talent into indust
