Merry Christmas !!!!!!!

Still here!!!!!!!! :)

I know , i know .....I have neglected my blog... :( :(... had so much too do honestly!.....but expect some changes to the blog soon *fingerscross* :D

Here is what to come:
1) blog changes
2) pics of a few 2013 carnival mas bands and updates
3) some more 2013 soca
4) and for all looking forward to Christmas.....some PARANG music
Ah gone :)

New Kerwin Du Bois : WETTIN 2013 Soca

im loving this song...ohhhhhhh!!!!!

Ever Wonder about the History Of Notting Hill???

A friend sent me this article as a 'Thing of interest' so thought why not share it with you all.

This article is a couple years old and was published by  MICHAEL LA ROSE  in JULY 2004 and originally
Submitted to Joseph Charles Media Publishers of Soca News - Notting Hill Carnival edition of Carnival Grooves.

But the history of NHC is so very interesting....enjoy the read :) 

40 YEARS OF THE NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL:

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE HISTORY AND THE FUTURE

The Notting Hill Carnival has survived 40 years. This fact alone is a testament to the men and women who have stood up for Caribbean culture and established the Notting Hill Carnival against fearsome odds. It was clear that the British establishment was aggressively against this two day “occupation” of part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and the Borough of Westminster in the heart of London. The Metropolitan Police, members of Parliament, Home Secretaries, Fleet Street newspapers, TV programmers, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and some local white residents all wanted Carnival stopped, off the streets, banned or imprisoned in a park. As late as the 1980s, a Carnival chairperson was invited to the House of Commons and offered limitless amounts of money if the Notting Hill Carnival could be re-located to Brixton and out of the Royal Boroughs. Despite all of this what has been achieved at Notting Hill Carnival is a festival of popular culture unsurpassed anywhere in Europe. It is an explosion of Black cultural creativity and organisation in Britain.

Boy, Ah don’t know how we reach, but we reach!

By the time I first attended Notting Hill Carnival in 1973, the festival was nearly 10 years old. But what did I care, I was just happy jumping up behind Ebony Steelband on the Harrow Road. We were all chipping, my brother, my mother and my cousins from Brooklyn. It was exciting, it was intoxicating, it was freedom, it filled us all with pride. Carnival was ‘we ting’. Caribbean culture at its most creative and expressive. As we wined, chipped and jumped - up, the inhospitable streets of London were ours. We looked in the faces of the English spectators and saw amazement, confusion, wonder and admiration. Our hearts filled with pride. This was ours. This was how we did things!

Yes, we are 40 years old and the history of Notting Hill Carnival and its future can be summed up in a joke my brother Keith and I make about a rough air flight from London to Port-of-Spain; “Boy. Ah doh know how we reach, but we reach!”

The 40-year history of the Notting Hill Carnival is complex and is an example of our cultural resistance. Where did the Caribbean Carnival in Notting Hill come from? The answer is in the mass migration of Caribbean people from all over the Caribbean to England in the 1950s. They came to make a better life and to answer the call of Britain’s economy that was desperate for workers after the ravages of the Second World War. We came on invitation, we were recruited. This fearless Caribbean generation brought with them in their heads the fantasy of the Caribbean mas (masquerade) tradition, in their hands the steelpan beating art, in their blood the pulsating Caribbean rhythms and dance, on their lips the calypso and in their hearts and souls the organisation, commitment and love for Caribbean Carnival culture.

Caribbean Roots

The author of the iconic history of Carnival “The Trinidad Carnival ; mandate for a national theatre “(New Beacon Books), the late Errol Hill , memorably described Carnival as ‘The theatre of the streets’ But the Caribbean Carnival had to be fought for in Britain. So it was with Carnival in the Caribbean. Let us look at the history of the most developed Carnival in the Caribbean, Trinidad Carnival.

After the ending of slavery in 1834, ex-slaves, descendants of Africans forcibly brought to Trinidad, acted out the Canboulay (French Cannes brulées - burning cane) a night procession with call and response singing, drumming, dancing, stick fighting, and the carrying of lighted torches. This procession drew on their African ritual and masquerade traditions and was their commentary on their survival and therefore victory over the slave system. The ex-slaves implanted the Camboulay in to the white planters’ Mardi Gras Carnival celebrations. The white planters had abandoned the Mardi Gras Carnival straight after emancipation. The ex-slaves immediately claimed this new creative space and transformed the European Mardi Gras Carnival forever into the Caribbean Carnival, which drew on their African artistic roots.

Ironically, the European Mardi Gras Carnival celebrations were adopted by the Roman Catholic church from pagan Spring festival traditions borrowed from the previous Roman and Greek

civilisations who got their cultural guide to the Carne vale (Latin - farewell to the flesh) pre lent festival from the Ancient Egyptians in Africa!

Continue reading .....

Headpiece Making Workshop. Interested?????

For all the budding costume designers, there is a Headpiece workshop on this weekend 17 November 2012 10:00 to 17 November 2012 18:00 at the UK Centre for Carnival Arts

Carnival Arts Org

its worth having a look : )

Konata Alleyne - Get loose 2013

Supporting we UK Soca Acts......2013 single....

New Band for 2013

The UK Carnival Mass band list is an ever increasing one, as we seem to have many new bands popping up every so often to join in the Nottinghill Hill Madness that is 'Carnival'.

So far for 2012 we had  Euphoria Mass band join the bandwagon, now we have for 2013 The 'FUNATIKS' lead by Martin J and crew.

What is known, is that Martin J is the Mastermind behind this new band, with a team of experienced musical and Carnival minds. Their aim is to bring a total Caribbean experience to all their Masqueraders.
Their 2013 costume although not yet revealed will be designed by the likes of Ronnie and Caro from Trinidad. So with that you can expect great things from this band.

The Funatiks will be launching there band, (no costumes, just introducing themselves to the UK world) as well as celebrate Martin J and Sharon's Birthday.

INFO : Saturday 3rd November 2012 @ Agenda 

updated with Photos

Photos from the launch of Funatik , pictures taken from Trinis in London

Question Time!!!!!

Question : Do you think it is necessary to have a Thank you party?

I am only asking as it was on my mind for a FEW weeks now since i have been waiting for all Thank You Parties, and it dawned on me, do we really need THEM?

Only in the UK I have known Mass Bands to have the titled 'Thank you party' events after NHC (nottinghill carnival) and most people just look forward to them. Why???..... When in truth Mass bands could just Say Thank you by email to all masqueraders and offer a nice 'thank you' discounts to any other upcoming fetes.
Its never been like that in Trinidad...after Carnival you had your las lap and then lent then looking forward to next years Carnival with all band launches, that was it...

So really is there a need????

Kes - Bring it to me

1 Thank you Party so Far????? Dat aint right!!!!!

So far 1 Thank you Party?????... I could be wrong, there could have been others that must of  to slip by me : /....Anyway, Pure Lime Chocolate Mass is having their Thank you Party This Sunday 14th at 2pm at the Southern Belle in Fulham. I am excited to have a lil curry que yayyy!!!! must think of my belly first :D

Now my question is : on their invite it says carnival wristbands entry free .....  without £5.00 ...the price aint bad...but seriously!!!!! who still have they wristbands from carnival? cause  I don't. When I saw that I really had to laugh. Come next year I keeping all my wristbands from every fete as well,cause you never now if i will get a discount with it....lmao...

Please tell me who still have their Carnival wristbands and for what band?

http://www.facebook.com/events/445066825535204/?ref=nf

Machel Montano - She ready 2k13

and so the 2k13 Soca has begun....... i ready!!!!!! 

Thank you !!! Thank you!!! Thank you !!!!

Well a month has past and my NHC Tabanca still here.....and i am really in the mood for a party....so my question is, when are all the THANK YOU PARTIES gona start????

I pray it is welllllll before it gets any colder out here.

Come on Bands speed up the Party Planning process......

Notting Hill Carnival Review!!!!! yes yes Finally

Finally (2 weeks 2 late lol lol ) I'm doing this review on my 2012 NHC experience...more so about the bands I played with.

Sunday Mas

Played with :  Pure Lime -Chocolate mas

Sunday mass has always been an enjoyable day for me and this year hasn't failed.

Meeting point: As always, meeting the band was easy to find. I believed we left the meeting point on time...(i guess) i was too busy drinking and enjoying myself  before we even left the meeting point to chip down the road ,to study what time it was, lol lol lol.

Costume / Goodie bag : not much can be said , just the usual t shirt and same standard Goodie bag items,condom,tea samples,cup etc. nothing spectacular.

Food and drink: we were served breakfast, lunch and snacks. The food tasted ok , but once again it was pelau (every year *sigh*), i know pelau is the easiest to make for the masses, but please please another dish next year.
Drinks was on flow from early and i had no problems getting any drinks. Thumbs up!

Music: On point ,besides for the constant chipping music (i.e very groovy, slow Soca) we needed a bit more fast tune/ wuk up tunes. Other than that was still good vibes.

Security: This is where I would say my only major grievance is. I didn't  think they had enough security or that they were doing their jobs well , so there were a lot of stormers in the band and because it was chocolate mass , the  stormers were already covered in chocolate so its was hard to tell who really supposed to be in the band or not so i was annoyed  that after i paid for my enjoyment , the stormers came in their numbers and enjoyed just as much as me or even more for free....which has me thinking should i even bother to pay next year??? Not play,PAY!!!! Lol lol 

Vibe / Atmosphere : despite the stormers...the vibe was great. 

Monday Mas

Played with :  Euphoria Carnival

As this was a new band expectations were high,not only from me but from many of my friends and other masqueraders.  Euphoria linked them selves with Tribe in Trinidad and that made everyone expect a Tribe standard of costume and customer service. Having said that ,these are the collective thoughts of myself and friends that played with Euphoria

Goodie bag : love the choice of the Box/Bag type that we got our costumes in,that was very original compared to the the other bands i have played with before. The Goodie bag which was a branded euphoria knapsack contained a bandanna,cup,pot of olives, trolley pound key-chain,spa voucher,condom, Euphoria tattoo and notepad. I must admit i thought we would have gotten more things in it,i was a little disappointed with that but at least they made up with the quality of the items we received. 

Costume : Pretty mas -The standard and quality of the costumes and head pieces far exceeded most of the other bands at Nottinghill Carnival.The Choice of colours for a first year beautiful and look magnificent on the road, although the bra and pantie came up a bit on the small side.

Party woman - Again, Euphoria topped it with the  “fun mas” design it was wayyyyyyyy better than other bands i have come across at NHC in years. Keeping away from the t-shirts sections and random mixes of any costume goes, was a brilliant decision. The idea of a hot shorts with a piece of cloth to design however you wanted was another great touch. My only Suggestion on this is that for some people who aren't that creative a few more videos can be posted on FB or a leaflet in the goodie bag on ideas to tie or cut the fabric would have been great. Also the addition of neck, arm and leg pieces for the fun mas 'party woman' really made you get your monies worth.

Meeting point : After receiving this information quite late finding the meeting point wasn't a problem. Suggestion! send that information out before or make sure all masqueraders have a printed copy in their Costume bag.

Food and drink: we got served breakfast, lunch and a couple snacks on the way although not everyone got snacks.I am not even sure if announcements were made or not but not everyone were aware they had more snacks options other than Corn Soup, which tasted great but wasn't even enough.                                    The Lunch although it tasted good I honestly wished I had the other option.(just being tired of eating pelau)  From what i understand there was another option i believe macaroni pie and something, but to be honest I wasn't even told or asked what option , i was just given a container of pelau. And as i mentioned above for Sunday Mas Pelau AGAIN .we need to get other lunch option for carnival..PLEASE!! 

Drinks However was on point, premium NON STOP drinks ,and bar staff walking around the band giving shots...that was fantastic....I enjoyed getting drunk with Euphoria :D

Music: All the Djs were brilliant (DJ Markee, Kern & Baddis sounds) I even shocked myself  as the dance music set they played at some point was fantastic. 

Having Machel on The Truck Made My day. That was an unexpected and pleasant surprise .. :D

Security:  Unlike Sunday Mas there was evidence there was a heavy security presence and boy were they tough clearly they were very committed to their job. Great job!!.

Vibe / Atmosphere : Excellent one of the best experiences i have had at Nottinghill Carnival. Well done on a 1st year in the game.

How was your carnival experience?

Nottinghill Carnival Links to Photo Albums (updated)

So unfortunately my Camera was either lost or stolen so i was unable to upload my numerous pics i took :( so i salvaged some from my friends. You can find those on Facebook...

However for some more pics of Nottinghill Carnival please see the links below.

(i am not affiliated with any of these groups. i have just sourced pics that showcase NHC 2012 that everyone can appreciate)

Facebook pics

Euphoria Carnival pics

TrinisinLondon  pics 1   pics 2   pics 3

Poison UK 

Bacchanalia Pics

A few pics from Facebook page

keep checking for updated links :)

Full NHC recap /Review SOON!!!

Full NHC recap / review coming soon.....look out for pictures on Facebook

Neval Chatelal and Machel Montano - Wonders of the World

Happy 50th Anniversary My Sweet Trinidad & Tobago

Just wishing all my fellow Trinidadians and Tobagonians a Heartfelt Happy Independence day...50years and WE as a country still going strong .


Websites to have a look at on Info About T&T Independence

Republic of Trinidad & Tobago Government 

Local news 10   (video link of some celebrations on this site)

Trinidad Express 

Costume Collection

So I have received my email for my Costume Distribution dates...WOOP WOOPP!!!!! EXCITEMENTS!!!!

will update this post with pics of my collection and my costumes and goodie bags ....watch dis space :D

Notting Hill Carnival 4 DAYS LEFT!!!!!!!!!!

 

4 days left till we on d road with we chosen bands.. I AM EXCITED!!!!!!!!

I have decided to play with the new band Euphoria, so this should be exciting.... I will be sure to give a FULL review of them come Tuesday...its only fair  :)

So I am sure by now, every band has stated their distribution dates....so all we need is to pay we balance, collect we costumes, organise we accessories( if haven't done before) ,organise what make up ideas we working with...make sure we carnival tights have no holes ...lol lol we have a matching pair of trainers....(well not necessarily matching but hey why not...lol)....and we set....now time to go enjoy all the pre carnival parties..

MY CARNIVAL SCHEDULE: (check calender at side for details)

Thursday:  Posion AWL and Abir AWL
Friday :  Buspepper Bacchanal Friday and Poion UK Carnival Friday Concert
Saturday - Shipwrecked and Tears
Sunday : Chocolate mas
Monday : Euphoria !!!!!

phew!!!!! i feeling tired already from listing the fetes i attending this weekend...its only PACE!!!!!!

SO LETS GO!!!!!! BRING ON NHC WEEKEND !!!!!!!

Review : Trinidad and Tobago Cultural Village in London

Its been 20 days since the Opening of  the Trinidad and Tobago Cultural Village. I am guessing by now most of you all would have visited. Probably to take your kids and enjoy the children's workshop, the dance workshop, music workshop, browse around 'the trade expo', enjoy the delicious dishes of Trinidad, liming round d 'rum shop' bar area or even just to sit , relax and enjoy performances from Orange Sky,3Canal and Machel and the HD family to name a few.

Well for those who have visited thus far, I would really love to hear what you all think of the Village, because i have a fair amount to write ,
My personal views :

• The Location - I thought it was a bit far but we all managed to get to and fro, but I will suggest in the future that a more central venue is sourced.
• The Venue - Loved the décor at the Tricycle it really did give you that feeling as tho you stepped out of a travel machine that took you straight to Trinidad with no stopovers lol lol .                          Despite the village scoring A+ on the decor I must say the size of the venue definitely could have been bigger especially with the amount of people that gathered for 2 of the mass bands AWL (after work lime) and for Machel concert. A bigger venue definitely would have been much better.
• Trade expo - this bit I was definitely disappointed with. Its my understanding that this area should have been dedicated to exhibiting goods and services from Trinidad/UK and Trinidad, and all this was lacking. The trade expo room only had tables set up with some Matouk's products, Sacha Cosmetics some exotic chocolate and the some UK carnival bands showcasing their 2012 presentation.                                                           In my opinion if we are showcasing Trinidad I am pretty sure we could have come way better than what's on display in that room. Is that all Trinidad trade has to offer?                                                                                                                    However the Gallery offered a much better feel and vibe for our Trinidadian Artists and Culture..Some of the art work were for display purposes and some were for sale
• Food - the food huts are set up at the entrance and are brilliantly decorated to look like beach huts which were appropriately named after  places and dishes in Trinidad...( Debe Roti shop,Woodbrook Cafe ) the food wasn't bad as well, each hut had a different menu , either Pelau,bbq chicken, roti,doubles,phlourie ,trini sweets, and ice cream to name a few. (all food and drink purchased must be paid for with chits...the venue does not take card )
• Entertainment - despite the theatre being small , I must say I loved the intimate (sold out) small audience feel when listening and watching 3 Canal and Machel perform...the vibes will always be there because trinis know how to enjoy themselves . Fantastic performances from all artist that came and perform

So my final verdict : if you have kids on their school holidays and you are looking for something for them to do, check out the Village schedule and entertain them with the various workshops, but don't expect much from the 'Trade expo though', there is not much in there that will attract you besides the carnival costumes. The best bit of the village (besides the liming by the rum shop  ;) ) is the evening entertainment. The village did put together a brilliant line from Soca music,comedy,story telling,steel pan ,jazz, film festival  and many others.

You still have almost 2 weeks left. So check out the schedule and see what interests you and head over. 

A quick look at some photos from the Village from over the 2 weeks I have been and a few photos from a couple of the days with Machel in concert the balance of the pictures can be found on the Facebook page  

 Entrance

Entrance and Food Area

Gallery

Trade expo 

Entertainment 

 More Photos HERE 

Nottinghill Carnival is Here!!!!! COSTUME COLLECTION

Nottinghill Carnival is here, who are you all playing with????

I hope you all on d road Sunday and Monday.... :)

This year for Sunday mas I have decided to play Chocolate Mas with Pure Lime....I played with Abir last year.

Monday Mas I am trying the new band Euphoria....as I have played with almost all UK Mas bands so it is only fair I play with the new band and give a post carni review

So here are some pics of my chocolate and euphoria Costumes and goodie bags....

Be sure to share your Mass bands costume collection shots and goodie bag.. ( you can post them to Facebook)