Now I am quick to point out the costumes from Trinidad Carnival that have been "rewind and remixed", being used in other Carnivals both internationally and regionally. For those with a sense of humor you will realise it is all done in good fun of course, but I got to thinking about the whole idea of reusing Trinidad Carnival costumes in other Carnivals and what it means to Carnival both locally and abroad. Does it mean that Trinidad is the penultimate source of talent therefore other bands from other countries seek to emulate our creativity and costumes by imitating the styles and therefore we should be flattered? Or, does it indicate that Carnival has evolved into a business that goes beyond the shores of this little island of Trinidad and Tobago and bands have now realised the potential of exporting ready made costumes from Trinidad to other Carnivals regionally and internationally?And as a masquerader paying higher prices in Trinidad should we too benefit and be able to recycle our costumes as well?Finally, with imported costumes from Trinidad making their way into other Carnivals globally does that stunt the growth of regional and international Carnivals?
Taking the first point to task one can look at Passion Mas Troupe of Antigua and Fantasy of Culture from Virgina Caribfest who took two costumes that were popular in Trinidad's Carnival this year and restructured them to make a new, albeit strikingly similar costume. The former band reworked TRIBE's "Cow Mas" and the latter Island People's "Raiders of the Desert". One can only deduce that obviously these costumes made such an impression on the "designers" of these bands that they were copied. As a band leader in Trinidad, knowing that costumes do not have a patent or copyright, there is little one can do to stop someone from aping your costume and though it might be seen as "stealing" an idea there is little recourse to be had, unless bandleaders start exporting their costumes to stop the "theft" of designs. Which leads to the next point.
There are the bands such as Poison UK, Borokeetes and Campusboyz who are presenting costumes "as is" from Trinidad's Carnival. Poison UK is offering costumes from Pulse 8, Borokettes has one section that is Nubians from Island People with a revamped headpiece and Campusboyz has several sections on offer that are from the band Genesis. Very little is done to "disguise" the origin of the costume and Carnival savvy masqueraders can easily identify which Trinidad bands they originated from. Hence the reason I was able to identify this costume from "Unleashed" carnival band which participated in St Lucia Carnival as being none other than Pulse 8's "Wicked Waitress" with added fabric and feathers to the headpiece:
Wicked Waitress
Unleashed
Taking an educated guess I can only assume that when some bands end up with a surplus of materials and/or costumes from Carnival that has passed the only option to recoup what would be a loss is to market the costume for another Carnival outside of Trinidad. Also, some local bands might have a partnership or affiliation with another international band, like in the case of Poison UK and Sesame Flyers with Legacy, thereby allowing the recycling of costumes. In this case to be fair to the masquerader who would have purchased their Trinidad costume at a comparatively inflated price the fair thing to do, to me, would be to allow masqueraders with costumes from Trinidad's carnival to participate in other Carnivals where the costume is being reused.
The last point struck me when a blogger left a comment on Labour Day mas and the prospect of playing in "remixed" costumes asking the question if "is this is what our mas has come to?". How do other bands feel when they have poured their heart and soul into creating costumes only to be upstaged by products from Trinidad that have allegedly come by the way of China? I guess they feel how some Trinidadian bands feel when their "locally made" costumes are shirked in favour of the heavily embellished Asian imports, but that is a whole other topic which I have discussed before. Though I am proud of Trinidad's ingenuity and creativity when it comes to mas as well as our contribution to Carnivals all over the world it would be refreshing to allow other islands to emerge with their own style of costumes and showcase their local talents as well. Buying costumes wholesale from a Trinidad band does not support this thinking however.
So, I have not really gotten any answers to my questions, in fact the more I think of the whole issue the more points I can think of to both support and negate the practice of recycled costumes, however one fact that is clear is that Carnival IS a huge money making business and what this issue illustrates more than any other is who is really into it for only the money, consequently pushing culture, creativity, talent and innovation to the side; maybe the more apt saying would be "money talks, and bull shit walks"!
11 comments:
You're right, its the globalization of carnival, whether is a good thing who knows, but you either change and adapt or cling to the past and become history. I was talking to a section leader in one of the Toronto bands and he was saying how difficult it was to compete (on price and consistancy of workmanship) with other bands in Toronto who were bringing in costumes mass produced in India or China. Basically the only thing that was made locally by hand were the head pieces and maybe the arm bands. So its not only that foregin carnivals are "borrowing" design ideas, they are also using the same Asian manufacturers. And I'm only guessing that since we are ordering in smaller quantaties than the bands in Trinidad, the suppliers aren't going to totally redesign a costume for a few hundred units.
I am going to play Devil's Advocate here and challenge your statement:
"but you either change and adapt or cling to the past and become history."
What about the Minshalls and Mc Farlane's who forge their own path, still make hand made costumes and rewrite history?
You have a point, There is a niche that still wants traditional costumes and shuns the bikini mas, but its not a very large niche.
In North America, You can't sell booze on the road, so to make money you have to attract sponsership. To attract private$ you need to demonstrate that you have the NUMBERS and profile to actually help you sponser make money. I've never bought an American car, but Foster Pontiac is on the tip of my tongue.
Our more traditional bands are getting some serious pressure from the new commers. Jammal has 1,500 masqueraders... Thats a huge band up here. Much of that number is eroded from existing bands.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, your blog being the best example: look at how many Carnival blogs started after/bc of yours.
I'd be pissed if I designed an imitated costume... but what are they to do, short of copyrighting their creations?
PS: I really like wicked waitress.
Saucy ya got me reeeeeeeel tinkin now u kno!
Saucy - I have another example for u regarding NY bands using costumes from this year's TNT carnival for Labor Day. I attended a cooler fete yesterday @ Rango's mascamp when lo & behold I spot Tribe's IMP costume on display (no changes made to it whatsoever) with a sold out sign plastered across it. I also noticed another costume on display that was either straight outta Pulse8 or Dream Team (can't remember the name). I'm gonna search those bands websites to see if I can determine which 1 it is. Maybe I was so surprised to see IMP being offered in NY because I assumed the section was sold out in TNT.
and trinidad mas designers have copied the carnival costumes of brazil.
saucy girl...
u made a faux pas 1nce more. the name of the band is "Just 4 Fun" the theme was unleashed and i new it was looking too trini. that costume u pointed out was the vip section.
nicky I saw that pic in the papers so did not get the band only the name of the presentation.Thanks for the correction
amprincess you should have gotten pics...but did Imp ever sell out in Trini? hmmmmm
Well, I look at this post and responses several times today, and wanted to say something about this, but my thoughts are kind of conflicted.
Amprincess, on the Friday lime at Rango, tacariguagyul and I noticed the Tribe's Imp costume and we both didn't have any issue with it. I think a second life for your Trinidad costume is fine if ok'd by both Tribe and Rango. I would feel much better if the "remixed" designs were actually made in Trinidad (a revenue flow back to the island). But also some kind of flat rate license fee could be agreed to produce the same design at a different Trini Style Carnival. That's ok with me.
What I am conflicted about is I don't get a sense that any of the regional Trini Style mas designs are bringing anything new to the table to give Trinidad and Tobago some licks so the "mother" can up the game of bikini mas (anon's 8:06pm point is duly noted).
I think by now London and New York should have been producing locally inspired innovative ideas. The reason is simply just because the Caribbean disapora is so diverse in both locale. Maybe, Hawks of Brooklyn difficulties in getting consistent support and funding could be an indication of the extra difficulties of producing mas in "foreign." One of the best "spontaneous" masquerade parades in New York City is the Greenwich Village Halloween parade. It is at that parade where I see some wild and crazy inventions, but it does look more like ole mas in Trinidad. So, I continue to lament about the "lack of" imagination for the pretty mas outside of Trinidad (especially bikini mas).
As tacariguagyul told me, how much could you do with bikini mas? I dunno nah, but ah dying to see ;)
Saucy great topic!
You know i always argue about the constant re-mixing, and abuse of the "formula" designers seem to use in Carnival.
While the argument THAT ITS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT! is always on the top of the debate i will always mantain if IP or Tribe for example put out a real contemperary MAS they will not go bust, their popularity and quality will prevent this,as for the global copycat syndrome designers suffer from , one word LAZYNESS, nothing more nothing less.
peace.
Post a Comment