Last Sunday evening, Rugeri Promotions, a section of Trini Revellers mas band, held its annual section launch for Carnival 2016 at the Anderson Terrace residence of George Wilcox in Maraval. Next year the section’s presentation is titled Mama Dis is Mas, and is one of the colourful sections of Trini Revellers’ A Touch of Woodbrook Then and Now.
Commenting on the costumes, Rugeri’s Richard Commissiong explained: “When Trini Revellers’ PRO Enrico Rajah came up with the theme, he challenged Rugeri’s designer Jennifer Mackintosh to come up with a colourful design which encapsulates a touch of both ‘then’ and ‘now’. This is Mackintosh’s 11th design for Rugeri, and as is now customary, she didn’t disappoint. The design pays tribute to the late Stephen Lee Heung’s winning band of 1976, Paradise Lost.”
Guests at Sunday’s launch expressed pleasant surprise that there were no feathers, plumes or beads on the costumes, and chickenwire was used in the construction of the frontline headpiece.
Among those present at the launch were Trini Revellers owner Jeff Gillette, popular TV sports personality Joel Villafana, Woodbrook businessman Brian de Montrichard and former Queen of Carnival Inez Gould.
Further information on the costume can be found on Rugeri’s Web site: http://www.rugeripromotions.com/ and also their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RugeriPromotions
Powder for J’Ouvert...
...Glow for Monday Night Mas
With the advent of Carnival bands like Tribe, Island People, Dream Team, Yuma, Paparazzi, K2K and Fantasy, more and more enterprising and talented young people are venturing into the realm of Carnival, changing and reshaping the face of the nation’s national festival. The newest young Carnival visionaries to join the confederation of young mas-makers are Liseli Fitzpatrick, Terneille Samuel Herbert and Simone Edwards.
Fitzpatrick and Herbert are putting a new spin to J’Ouvert masquerading come next year, while Edwards is intent on presenting a band on the Queen’s Park Savannah stage on Carnival Monday night.
Fitzpatrick and Herbert are producing Powderaders: The J’Ouvert Experience, an initiative which combines powder with costuming. Past students of St Francois Girls’ College, now young professionals, said via a release, “our underpinning philosophy for the band lies in its sustainability by providing a unique experience for the masqueraders through bridging the generations while keeping the tradition of J’Ouvert alive.”
The women continue, in T&T parlance, “You kyah play mas and fraid powder.” They contend that they found that no powder-themed J’Ouvert bands exist, and there is primary oil, paint, mud and cocoa in J’Ouvert.
They hope to provide an option for masqueraders who may be playing mas on Carnival Monday afternoon and prefer not going through the hassle of removing mud, paint and cocoa from their bodies.
Fitzpatrick and Herbert plan to hold a street launch of Powderaders: The J’Ouvert Experience. Their band will be a mini, all-inclusive one in which masqueraders will be served breakfast. Edwards considers the demise of Carnival Monday Night mas a loss to the total Carnival experience and she intends to fix that.
An entrepreneur and event planner, Edwards and her committee are presenting Angels of Light for Carnival 2016. She explained that her presentation will be an illuminated costume band with masqueraders outfitted in glowing, lit costumes, glow sticks and hats, and other iridescent accessories, creating quite a spectacle at night. Her band is all-inclusive and will parade through Woodbrook to the Savannah and back to base.
Edwards revealed that she already has three security companies to overseer the band and has applied to the police service for uniformed and plainclothes officers.
TAGS steelband turns 21
Traditionally, age 21 has been called “the age of maturity,” an age when young people were given their first key to their home, marking a transition into adulthood. As Trinity All Generations Steelband (TAGS) turns 21 in 2015, it continues its ministry to promote the national instrument and develop literate musicians, providing for those who may not be able to afford music lessons under any other circumstances.
Many of TAGS’s students achieve distinctions and perfect scores in both theory and practical examinations. Several have chosen to pursue music or the performing arts for their careers. In fact, the orchestra can boast of not only students entering tertiary education, but also those entering advanced tertiary education, as its second student began a Master’s programme in Music Performance at Northern Illinois University on a Fulbright Scholarship last September.
The band’s ensembles have also come out on top in their classes in the last three Biennial Music Festivals, being adjudged 100 per cent in the Junior Pan Ensemble class in 2010, the first and only time that has happened in the festival.
As usual, this time of year heralds preparations for TAGS’s annual Sunday Morning Brunch, which this year will take place on November 15 from 11 am to 3 pm at the car park of Holy Trinity Cathedral at Queen Street, Port-of-Spain. Tickets are reasonably priced at $40 each. The public is invited to purchase blocks of tickets for children from homes, organisations and "at risk" communities. Almost 600 children from these institutions are invited and any sponsorship for them will be greatly appreciated by TAGS.
For more information, call 620-4717.
Pan Trinbago holds Election of Officers
The long overdue Pan Trinbago elections of officers is scheduled for Sunday, October 25 and 31 members have offered themselves to fill nine posts. The elections will be held when the organisation holds its Annual General Meeting/Triennial Convention at the Radisson Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, from 10 am.
The lofty position of president will see three contenders in Keith Diaz, Vernon P Morancie and Beverly Ramsey-Moore. Of the nine offices, secretary is the only position that is unopposed. Richard Forteau, the incumbent, is the sole nominee.
In keeping with Pan Trinbago’s constitution, “only such members of the general body as are in good financial standing may be eligible to any office of the association” and “any delegated member of a financial steelband or any outgoing Central Executive Committee member shall be eligible for election to any office of the association.”
Registration commences from 8:00 am.
Traffikliters unite
What was just a thought about a reunion of ex-workers of BWIA Traffic department has blossomed into the making of a full-fledged social organisation known as Traffikliters.
This year the group will stage its annual dinner and dance on Saturday, October 31 at Airport Suites on Factory Road, Piarco, starting at 7 pm. The event is an all-inclusive affair with music to be supplied by DJ Pointy. Contribution is $300 per person and part proceeds will be donated to charity.
The organisation was formed eight years ago when a group of employees, who all worked in the Traffic Department of the defunct state carrier BWIA, decided to maintain their friendships and continue to bond and solidify relationships in the context of a social group.
Traffikliters has an annual calendar of events that over the years has included a Mother’s Day fashion show and party, a Carnival get-together and a Family Day. The group has awarded scholarships to Servol students, made donations to St Dominic’s Childrens Home, Amica Home for Girls, as well as assisted with medical expenses for members.
Membership is open to all people who worked in the department of the airline between 1970 and 1995.