Eating Trinidad’s left overs

14.MAY.10

Editor: I read with great disappointment in one of our publications last week that one of our Mas bands has apparently copied costumes from Trinidad carnival and is using them in their band this year. On discussion of this issue with other parties, I was shocked to be told that this is nothing new, and in fact what happens is that unsold costumes from Trinidad carnival are imported here and incorporated into our local bands!{{more}}

Now it is bad enough that we are seeing a decline in our mas from skilful creativity to a banal stream of sequins and feathers, but apparently now our masmen are giving us Trinidad Carnival’s left overs!

I cant understand why this has to be done. Surely, we have enough designers here who should be able to come up with original designs every year. Even if material has to be imported from Trinidad, are we really saying we do not have the skill and craftsmanship here to produce locally made costumes? Or are the mas bands involved just selling out with little regard to our cultural integrity?

I used to take pride in saying that though our Carnival is small we still have a level of creativity in our costumes which far surpasses many in the other islands. It appears, however, that soon Vincy mas will consist of imported mass produced mediocrity.

Do the CDC and the Mas Bands association really condone this?

A. Masquerader