The obvious way to avoid Carnival in Trinidad is simply to not be there. I did that getaway a couple of years ago when I went to Cuba, and it was great. However, this is the first time since I started playing Mas in 1993, that I have stayed home and avoided all things to do with Carnival. I love the concept of our T&T Carnival, but this year was not good for me for a number of reasons, and travelling was out of the question. I was not going to miss the aching feet in the heat of the day, and the tiredness and sore calf muscles from long hours of jumping up and chipping down the road.
I did not take any photos so no pretty pictures here to dazzle you. If you would like to see Carnival 2020 images, I suggest you check the selection here.
I did not tune my radio to a Soca station in order to get familiar with this year’s hits. My ear usually has to get accustomed to the new songs as they tend to sound the same as last year’s offerings, at first hearing. I did not want to get sucked into swaying to that beat.
I did not get tempted by pan bus limes whereby someone organises a maxi taxi to go round the popular Port of Spain pan yards during the Panorama competition, for the same reason. I did note the results of the finals on Carnival Saturday as shown on Facebook; I was glad to see that my favourite steel bands did well.
I did not go to any fetes as I would definitely enjoy the craziness and begin to feel the urge to play Mas if I did. It would be lovely to see great performers on stage and meet old friends, but no. Those parties can be so expensive anyway.
I even did my best to stay within the confines of the Maraval valley in the two weeks leading up to the great event. The reason is that the traffic jams in the city due to the extra mass of people here for Carnival are horrendous. A few appointments had to be cancelled because of the commess out there. A ten minute journey would now literally take hours! Not me in dat!
I have never attended the soca monarch or calypso monarch competitions so I did not miss them. I didn’t know who sang what, so the results meant nothing to me.
Some people I know went to the Dimanche Gras show at the grandstand in the Queen’s Park Savannah on Carnival Sunday to see the spectacular Queens and Kings of the Bands competition. This year one of the huge, elaborate costumes went up in flames while on stage. Luckily, the firemen standing by outed it in seconds and no one was hurt. Shame about the pretty costume though. I saw the video on Facebook.
Playing J’Ouvert is always tempting. Many people I knew were signing up with this mud band or that cocoa band, but no. Not this year. I did feel a pang when the photos of dirty, happy people started coming through on Facebook and WhatsApp on Carnival Monday.
I did not go down into the streets to see the pretty costumes or be scared by Blue Devils and the like. I did not even watch the parade of the bands on TV. I am sure the costumes in the large “beads and bikini” bands looked much the same as any other year. I was happy to hear that traditional Carnival figures like the Moko Jumbies, the Midnight Robbers, the Bats, etc, are becoming more common every year. I heard about the barely-there wear on the well-toned (and not so toned) bodies but that is what we see every year, right? If the outfits got any skimpier those women would be naked! And the rude wining? That’s actually an art form, I think.
I spent Carnival Monday and Tuesday quietly sipping rum punch and lazing by a pool. I could hear the deep, pulsating beat coming from far=away music trucks in the Mas bands downtown, and sometimes could actually hear the tune being played and even the instructions of the DJ. This started pretty early in the morning on Monday with J’Ouvert bands passing nearby on their way down to Woodbrook and the Savannah. It was weird how at times this noise of Carnival got very much louder, presumably when a band was heading for a park closer to Maraval to rest or to stop for the night.
On Carnival Monday, I saw an enormous cruise ship in the harbour that appeared to have stayed overnight from Sunday. What kind of tours did those tourists go on? Would those innocent visitors know what they were letting themselves in for as they walked into our Carnival? They would have found everything shut down that wasn’t to do with the festivities. Many of the main thoroughfares of the city would be impassable because of huge bands with thousands of revelers coming down the streets. They would probably expect to see parades of prettily-dressed people on floats passing by in an orderly fashion. Our Carnival is nothing like that! It’s something that is better experienced by participating in it, rather than watching from the sidelines as everyone else is having the time of their lives. It’s also a very adult thing, and they may be shocked at the behaviour they’re witnessing.
It rained a bit both days and I knew the masqueraders would be happy to cool off in the showers. This would also wash away the smells of J’Ouvert (you have to have experienced that to know what I mean). Then at 7pm on Carnival Tuesday, it all stopped! Just so! I learnt that that’s when Carnival has to end now, not midnight as I had always known it.
So another season of bacchanal associated with Carnival in Trinidad has passed, notwithstanding the threat of Coronavirus. I feel somehow I’ll be playing J’Ouvert or Monday Mas next year. Maybe. I’ll have to start getting fit for all that fun from now!
