Independent Mas Speaks

Hosted by Vulgar Fraction and Dance and Performance Institute, Trinidad & Tobago

Post-Carnival Panel Talks Independent Mas.

Independent Mas Speaks, the annual post-Carnival panel discussion, returns March 19th 2019. The discussion is a project of Caribbean design house The Cloth, which brings out the mini-band Vulgar Fraction.

The panel has been a fixture of the post-Carnival calendar since its inception in 2011. Members of the 2019 panel represent a variety of types of mas, including jouvay, moko jumbies, and bands rooted in conceptual art:

Wendell Manwarren of 3Canal, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of its jouvay band this year;

Shynel Brizan, Queen of Carnival, who portrayed Mariella Shadow of Consciousness in the Moko Somokow presentation Palace of the Peacock, the Mini-Band of the Year;

Makeda Thomas of New Waves!, a mini-band which made its first incursion into Trinidad with the presentation Belmont Babydolls this year, after two years in Brooklyn’s Labor Day Carnival;

Donna Dove of Pagwa Mas, which has produced a band in Brooklyn Carnival since 2008 and which last year took its Jouvay Fest street procession to Cote d’Ivoire;

And Andrew Patrick, leader of the Black Indian band Warriors of Huracan.

Radio journalist and culture blogger Ardene Sirjoo of TriniGoodMedia will guide the discussion.

Photographer Abigail Hadeed will show some of her photos of independent bands on the road for 2019.

Robert Young of The Cloth, who designs and leads Vulgar Fraction, said the discussion has proved a useful way for independent mas practitioners to come together and share their experiences of the festival. “When people work on an independent band for Carnival, they sometimes feel like they are the only ones to experience the challenges they face. We can learn from one another and make our practice better.”

One key part of the discussion will be dreaming.
“Dreaming helps us to say what we want without limitations. We make a utopia with the ability to say what is possible; and if it was done once, it can be done again.”

The discussion takes place March 19th 2019, 7 pm, at Propaganda Space, 24 Erthig Road, Belmont. Entry is free to the public.