Lynx takes Senior and Junior Band of the Year titles

“Sometimes it’s not the size of the band,” the Lynx mas band leader noted this week, after Lynx took both the Senior and Junior Band of the Year titles for the first time.

The band, officially titled Xtreme FM 104.3 G & T Enterprise Lynx Mas Band, who presented “Come Fly with…” to the judges at the Victoria Park on Tuesday at Mardi Gras, has dominated the 2019 Carnival Mas results. Lynx also took the King of the Bands title with their costume “Airlines serving Argyle International Airport,” the number one spot for ‘best use of colour’, and came in second for the individual of the bands, sections of the bands and the uptown competitions.

“Vincentian Chocolate” was one of the sections produced by Mirage Mas Band, as part of the production “Sweet fuh so” which got them third place for band of the year

An 11 point gap separated them and their nearest competitor for the Band of the Year; as their result was 515 points, and BMC Amerijet Magic 103.7 FM Blondie Bird & Friends gained 504.

However, for second, third, and fourth there was a tight competition. Blondie Bird & Friends’ “Climate Change ‘The Evolution’” overtook Mirage Mas Band’s “Sweet Fuh So” by three points, and Mirage surpassed Oxygen Mas Band’s “Treasures of the Sea” by two points.

SVG Players International, winner of the band of the year in 2017 and 2018, had to settle for fourth place for their production, “Wonders of Nature.” However, they did capture the Queen of the Bands title, with “Spirobranchus Giganticus.”

“We feel great, excited,” Cornelius “Pete” Thomas, band leader for Lynx, told SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday after the Carnival Development Cooperation(CDC) announced the results.

“We won King of the Bands last year, but this year is the first year we ever win junior band and senior Band of the Year competition,” he commented.

He answered that what was different this year was that they had a theme which “spoke for itself,” and was really different. Five sections crossed the stage on Tuesday, including “Air Canada”, “JetBlue”, “Fly Emirates”, “Sunwing”, and “American Airlines”.

It was an uphill battle for the band, the leader admitting, “A couple other Mas Bands was telling me, ‘You know boy you ain’t goin get no sponsor from anybody with that theme there,’ which is so true, basically I didn’t really get from the airlines,” he stated.

“But still I know it would have been different, and I know I could have pull it off right? So I stick to it, and do it,” he recalled.

On Tuesday, Thomas said he had a boost of confidence as he looked at Blondie Bird and Friends heading down to the Victoria Park.

“I look at my band, I say ‘Boy we pulling it off this year’ with the little presentation and gimmicks that we have.”

Every detail was taken into consideration for the band, which played clips similar to what one hears on an aircraft; pilots “directing” the band sections on stage like air traffic patrol; and even a drone with a Sunwing label following the “Sunwing” section at it crossed the stage. For their King of the Band costume, a large replica of the Argyle International Airport with plane structures attached was one of the biggest costumes, and was complete with sounds of plane propellers.

A section of the revellers from the “Heatwave” section of Blondie Bird and Friends who presented “Climate Change ‘The Evolution’”dancing their way to second in the band of the year competition

The King of the Band costume was made by Oxley “D-Giddy” Lockhart, the band leader informed, whose sons helped him with engineering the costume. “After I came to see him (Giddy) he just come up with the idea, and he do the thing and he call me and tell me well, this is what I hah line out, and I say, “Yo, that’s a winning costume there,” he disclosed.

When addressing the question of his favourite section, Thomas carefully answered “I was looking at American Airlines everything, colours, I add some stars, I use the concept as the American flag to do that section there. It was looking really good, especially when the sunlight hit it,” but added that he loved all sections.

He admitted that with around 175 masqueraders, their band wasn’t as big as other bands, but stated that they surpassed the others with the judging criteria.

He noted that one of the sections in the Oxygen or Mirage mas bands was possibly as large as his entire band, but “you working with a criteria from the judges with craftsmanship, authenticity, creativity, and all them stuff,” Thomas stated.

“So sometimes it’s not the size of the band…small axe does cut down big trees,” he summarized.