The crowds of the mas bands. First from Tuesday night when Phase II was pushed off the road while 5000 revelers and their trucks passed. Second Tuesday afternoon, one of the mas bands take a short cut through Woodbrook, Port of Spain.
Wednesday, March 4
Newsletter from Trinidad 5
This could be the last newsletter I send this year. I come home on Sunday the 1st. It’s been a long trip and I think I missed my family more this time then the previous trips.
The last letter talked briefly about Panorama and Carnival. I want to try and give a bigger picture of what these things are really like. First, is the sheer numbers of people. I don’t have any official numbers but there are thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of people. Realize, that except for maybe Brazil, this is the largest Carnival celebration in the world. And the lines between participant and spectator are often nonexistent. Though you can pay your money, get a costume and “play mas” with a band (of MASqueraders), many people just go “jump up with a band.” Also the parade route is constantly shifting. There is kind of a counter clockwise loop around the city, with certain places designated as judging points. But bands will often just go a different route, or cut a corner. It’s not unusual for a mas-band of 5000 people with 17 support trucks (including 7 or 8 ear-splitting DJ trucks) to go down a side street to cut a corner. Tuesday night, Phase II was going out on the road to play on their semi trailer sized float. We wanted to head up to another part of town in order to avoid some of the craziness of the big mas-bands. Trouble was, one of the largest mas-bands was coming the other direction and we ended up shoved off the road for an hour while, yes, 17 support trucks and 5000 people passed by.
There is some animosity between the steelbands and the “mas bands.” Many of the big DJ trucks will turn down the volume when a steelband passes but not all of them do. The steelbands just can’t compete with those things. 2 years ago a DJ truck tried to pass us on the narrow road (around a corner too) and then everyone got stuck. There were almost fights breaking out between the 2 factions. Remember, the whole steelband movement grew out of the roughest streets of the area. The panmen were used to fighting. I’ve heard many stories of steelbands fighting against each other.
Panorama can be just as crazy. The steelbands assemble outside the Queens Park Savanna; that’s the central park of Port of Spain. When they start running the tune, crowds start to gather. I expect there are more people outside the grandstands then inside. As the bands push themselves into the Savanna and onto the track that eventually leads to the stage, more crowds gather and pack tight around the band. There is a lot of pushing as people try and get in and be part of the band; not really to play, but to be THERE. As you’re walking with your instruments, in your rack, it’s dark out and there is lots of litter on the ground; lots of beverage bottles and things, things to trip on. On either side of the track are booths selling food, beverages and crafts. People are pushing through the crowd selling nuts, cigarettes and things. It’s all a big carnival.
The show starts about 8 or 8:30 but it can take a half hour for each band or more. The second band in the lineup to play tried to take 140 players onto the stage. The rules this year only allowed 100. The officials had to throw players off the stage or maybe just took the sticks away, and the band was penalized. That’s when we cut all the players from our band.
We get up to the stage and have to push the racks up the ramp. The calypso song your band is to play is pumping out of the PA system over and over as you try and set up the 20 or 30 sets of instrument racks in formation. People in the band are jumping to the music; band leaders and supporters are all shouting out setup directions at once; the crowd that followed the band all along the track is trying to push onto the stage with you; event security is trying to get non-players off the stage; a crew is trying to setup a network of hoses for a fog machine; people all over, band members, supporters and the media are all trying to get pictures. Then when all is about setup, the music stops, the announcers start the introduction and then the lights go up. It’s Showtime! 8 minutes of glory! If you’re near the edge, there’s media people right there flashing pictures and taking video. A lot of players, especially in the front, jump up and put on a show, others like me just play as best we can. When it’s over the cheers and screams start, the band is jumping, hugging and congratulating each other.
We all push the racks off the other side of the stage and take our instruments to the truck. If we don’t do that instruments tend to disappear.
Then we wait around for the results. Of course when they came, there was no great celebration on out part.
As for me, I’m really happy to play and have that experience. There’s nothing else like it anywhere in the world. You can’t get playing like that outside of Trinidad. There are some who say the steel pan artform is dying in Trindad. I don’t know about that. What happens there is truly unique and is growing, living, breathing, and struggling in its own way. What happens anywhere else in the world will, naturally, evolve differently; and I’m sure a lot of people in Trinidad are thinking “the grass is greener on the other side of that fence.” But in Trinidad, it ain’t dead yet!
Since all that, I’ve been over to Tobago, spent some time on one of the nicest beaches there, had a wonderful meal (the nicest I’ve had in T and T) with some good friends from England, said goodbye to my friends in Trinidad and come home. And though it’s sad to say goodbye to people and place, (you never know if and when you’ll be back) I’m so happy to be home with my family!
Thanks to all of you for your support and interest. I would talk about this stuff for as long as people would listen, and then probably a little more too.
Ted
This could be the last newsletter I send this year. I come home on Sunday the 1st. It’s been a long trip and I think I missed my family more this time then the previous trips.
The last letter talked briefly about Panorama and Carnival. I want to try and give a bigger picture of what these things are really like. First, is the sheer numbers of people. I don’t have any official numbers but there are thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of people. Realize, that except for maybe Brazil, this is the largest Carnival celebration in the world. And the lines between participant and spectator are often nonexistent. Though you can pay your money, get a costume and “play mas” with a band (of MASqueraders), many people just go “jump up with a band.” Also the parade route is constantly shifting. There is kind of a counter clockwise loop around the city, with certain places designated as judging points. But bands will often just go a different route, or cut a corner. It’s not unusual for a mas-band of 5000 people with 17 support trucks (including 7 or 8 ear-splitting DJ trucks) to go down a side street to cut a corner. Tuesday night, Phase II was going out on the road to play on their semi trailer sized float. We wanted to head up to another part of town in order to avoid some of the craziness of the big mas-bands. Trouble was, one of the largest mas-bands was coming the other direction and we ended up shoved off the road for an hour while, yes, 17 support trucks and 5000 people passed by.
There is some animosity between the steelbands and the “mas bands.” Many of the big DJ trucks will turn down the volume when a steelband passes but not all of them do. The steelbands just can’t compete with those things. 2 years ago a DJ truck tried to pass us on the narrow road (around a corner too) and then everyone got stuck. There were almost fights breaking out between the 2 factions. Remember, the whole steelband movement grew out of the roughest streets of the area. The panmen were used to fighting. I’ve heard many stories of steelbands fighting against each other.
Panorama can be just as crazy. The steelbands assemble outside the Queens Park Savanna; that’s the central park of Port of Spain. When they start running the tune, crowds start to gather. I expect there are more people outside the grandstands then inside. As the bands push themselves into the Savanna and onto the track that eventually leads to the stage, more crowds gather and pack tight around the band. There is a lot of pushing as people try and get in and be part of the band; not really to play, but to be THERE. As you’re walking with your instruments, in your rack, it’s dark out and there is lots of litter on the ground; lots of beverage bottles and things, things to trip on. On either side of the track are booths selling food, beverages and crafts. People are pushing through the crowd selling nuts, cigarettes and things. It’s all a big carnival.
The show starts about 8 or 8:30 but it can take a half hour for each band or more. The second band in the lineup to play tried to take 140 players onto the stage. The rules this year only allowed 100. The officials had to throw players off the stage or maybe just took the sticks away, and the band was penalized. That’s when we cut all the players from our band.
We get up to the stage and have to push the racks up the ramp. The calypso song your band is to play is pumping out of the PA system over and over as you try and set up the 20 or 30 sets of instrument racks in formation. People in the band are jumping to the music; band leaders and supporters are all shouting out setup directions at once; the crowd that followed the band all along the track is trying to push onto the stage with you; event security is trying to get non-players off the stage; a crew is trying to setup a network of hoses for a fog machine; people all over, band members, supporters and the media are all trying to get pictures. Then when all is about setup, the music stops, the announcers start the introduction and then the lights go up. It’s Showtime! 8 minutes of glory! If you’re near the edge, there’s media people right there flashing pictures and taking video. A lot of players, especially in the front, jump up and put on a show, others like me just play as best we can. When it’s over the cheers and screams start, the band is jumping, hugging and congratulating each other.
We all push the racks off the other side of the stage and take our instruments to the truck. If we don’t do that instruments tend to disappear.
Then we wait around for the results. Of course when they came, there was no great celebration on out part.
As for me, I’m really happy to play and have that experience. There’s nothing else like it anywhere in the world. You can’t get playing like that outside of Trinidad. There are some who say the steel pan artform is dying in Trindad. I don’t know about that. What happens there is truly unique and is growing, living, breathing, and struggling in its own way. What happens anywhere else in the world will, naturally, evolve differently; and I’m sure a lot of people in Trinidad are thinking “the grass is greener on the other side of that fence.” But in Trinidad, it ain’t dead yet!
Since all that, I’ve been over to Tobago, spent some time on one of the nicest beaches there, had a wonderful meal (the nicest I’ve had in T and T) with some good friends from England, said goodbye to my friends in Trinidad and come home. And though it’s sad to say goodbye to people and place, (you never know if and when you’ll be back) I’m so happy to be home with my family!
Thanks to all of you for your support and interest. I would talk about this stuff for as long as people would listen, and then probably a little more too.
Ted
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