I was easily persuaded to sign up for ‘Etienne & Friends’ mas band for several reasons. Firstly, they were only playing on Monday afternoon and evening (not Carnival Tuesday); I can handle that especially in the coolness of the night. Secondly, they offered live performances by a steel band and three top brass bands; who could resist that! Thirdly, they offered comforting amenities like a ‘wee wee’ truck, medical personnel, and air-conditioned vans to rest your weary selves. I played mas for twenty years straight and I no longer want to display my aging body to the world. Plus the fun of carnival will no longer compensate for the blisters and body soreness suffered after (and during) two full days of ‘playing mas’.
So my sister, a friend and I turned up at the mas camp two weeks before Carnival to pay for our costumes. This comprised of a T-shirt, a white hat, a cup and a wrist-band. You had to provide your own white pants. We were excited now as we learned of other people we knew who would be in the band. It was too late to get fit for Carnival, but heck, we were only jumping up for six hours. This is my kind of mas. No fussy, uncomfortable, unstable costume that made wee-weeing a practiced art. No glitter or scratchy bits to irritate my skin. Hopefully, less crowds to fight up with as Monday mas is usually less well attended that Tuesday’s, when all the bands come out in full costume. No worries about secure parking or getting our car out of the Carnival jam-up afterwards, as we parked at the Police Mounted Branch paddock well away from other bands’ meeting places.
On Carnival Sunday, the day before the big event, the three of us got together to doctor our costumes. This is a ritual that all mas players know about. We snipped and adorned our black t-shirts, attached straps to our cups and hats, and checked that our footwear would stand up to the wear and tear of chipping along the rough streets of Port of Spain.
Carnival Monday – the streets and nearby walls were sprayed red, blue and yellow from J’Ouvert just a few hours earlier. The throb of DJs in the distance had been audible since 4am. We arrived at the meeting point more than one hour before our scheduled departure of 3pm, only to find most people were already there and the car park was nearly full. Of course, these revelers are mostly older, seasoned Carnival players who know the wisdom of getting there early. After some final touch-ups and photos, we followed the crowd onto the Long Circular Road. We waited in the hot sun, looking out for the bar truck to get ice for our drinks. At precisely 3pm, it turned up – I just wanted water at that stage as I needed to hydrate. I had brought my own rum in two small plastic bottles. So later on, I just needed a bottle of soda water and ice to mix my own drinks. The two bar trucks were not dispensing alcohol at this stage.
I used to play in big carnival bands like Poison and Harts, but after experiencing the freedom and space offered by small bands such as Skandalus and Die Hards, I swore I’d never go back to a big band again. But this was a big band – 1,800 people! This was only the third year that this band was appearing so clearly they had hit on a winning formula. Soon we were chipping down the road to joyful soca music performed by top music band, Dil-E-Nadan. For me, this is the best part of Carnival: when you are starting off, fresh and clean, with a drink in your hand, friends around you, and you are brimming with the energy and excitement and happiness of the carnival. There were security personnel discreetly keeping us safe and directing traffic, etc., but no ropes around the mas players – like old times.
Etienne & Friends is a brass band and their carnival presentation ‘D Long Time Band’ brings back the concept of live brass bands and steel bands to parade on the streets for Carnival. Our performers were all transported on trucks and we could choose which music we wanted to dance along to. At one point, beloved King Calypsonian David Rudder, joined his longtime soca band, Roots, on their truck to give us a wonderful selection of his hit songs. This was when we recognised our Prime Minister, Keith Rowley, enjoying himself in the party though surrounded by very serious looking security guards.
Our band crossed the Adam Smith Square and Victoria Square street stages on Ariapita Avenue before turning round at Green Corner to head home on Tragarete Road. Of course, our Road March tune of choice was the Kes favourite, ‘Savannah Grass’, though they also played several ole-time calypsoes.
By 7pm we were tired and ready to leave but it was a long walk back, especially if there was no music. So we bought some street food to sustain us and continued chipping with the band. However, when our trucks got stuck behind other bands’ big trucks at Roxy Roundabout, we went our own way and got back to our car at about 8pm, an hour earlier than scheduled. It was an easy drive home to Maraval. My feet preparations before we set off, such as Vaseline between the toes and plasters behind the heels, worked as I didn’t develop any blisters. I stretched my legs, soaked my feet and went to bed early, very happy for one more experience of ‘playing mas’.
