Carnival vibes in day two of mas camps
Day two of this year’s mas camps took place on Wednesday night in various neighbourhoods around the City and the Carnival vibe was contagious. The bands were in full gear and totally preparing to play mas at the grand finale on Saturday. With music blaring in the background, the creativity of costumes was in full display for visiting judges. Guest reporter Brent Lopez hit the streets with Darell Moguel, here’s what they found out.
Brent Lopez, Reporting
Three Junior and one Senior Mas band took over their neighbourhood on Wednesday night. Our first stop was on Iguana Street, with Collet Royal Revellers; the group captured first place for last year’s Carnival Road March. An unannounced last minute change in the schedule, gave us the edge for a special performance. The young revelers were filled of energy and spirit as they performed a choreographed dance routine. Band Leader, Samantha Soberanis, explains the concept behind the theme and colour scheme for this year.
Samantha Soberanis, Band Leader, Collet Royal Revellers
Samantha Soberanis
“The theme for this year’s carnival is “DREAM LAND”. It is just a theme that popped out of my head, right. The reason for the theme is because today, day, we know that Belize is experiencing a lot of turmoil, right, a lot of crime, a lot of violence happening. There are for colours in the first section. We have green, pink, yellow and orange. In the second section, like I mentioned, it is read and white with a little bit of silver. In the last section we have different colours because we are all different people, right. We come from different ethnicity, race, gender; different socio-economic background. But, in the end, we can still come together and bloom. We will bloom, but we will all bloom differently.”
Brent Lopez
“As it relates to last preparations and so on, are you ready for Saturday, September 7th?”
Samantha Soberanis
“More than ready, more than ready!! We are ready. We are ready, We are ready. We are number two in Carnival road march, actually we fall behind Trench Town Masqueraders. We’re prepared for judging. We are prepared for judging.”
Next stop: Vernon Street home of this year’s Carnival Junior King and Queen, Soca Massive Junior Band. While they placed third in last year’s road march, they are more than ready to keep the triumph and have their eye on a win on Saturday. Band Leader, Pauline Bradley says it is all positive this time around.,
Pauline Bradley, Band Leader, Soca Massive
“I “digged” into kid’s imagination. So, when you dig into kid’s imagination, the first thing you think of are impossible stuff. Cause kid’s think impossible stuff. so, that’s when I came up with “LALA LAND”. You know, Lala Land is an imaginary land. I did the magical forest and in the magical forest you have the unicorn and after the unicorn you find friendly butterflies, dragon flies. After the Lala Land, you go further in the forest where you find Candy Land, where you have the candy cane, lollipop, chocolate section and the chocolate river. So that is my whole idea for Lala Land.”
Brent Lopez
“Tell us what to expect on Saturday?”
Pauline Bradley
Pauline Bradley
“I have no doubt in my design. I have no doubt in my girls. I know what my designs are worth. If the girls bring it, I know I could bring in a first on road march.”
As the night progressed, we caught up with band leader, Patricia Flowers, of Trench Town Carnival Band. While spirits were down not placing in this year’s King and Queen Competition, Flowers is optimistic and is focusing on the big dance on Saturday. She has certainly upped the ante with her design, colours and creativity. …
Patricia Flowers, Band Leader, Trench Town Carnival Band
“This year were doing “GODS OF EGYPT”. It’s just like a myth story, where it’s about Horus and Hathor. Basically deities of Egypt, like a bible story but just in a movie form. As I’ve said, the green, the blue, the gold, they are basically peaceful, loving, you know, humble colours. I mean something that makes you shine bright and that’s who Hathor was. She use to be the shining mother of Egypt. And then Hathor, Horus sorry, is the gold and black. He was the warrior and the fighter, so you know, when it comes to black tends to thing the worst. Well, Horus in this case, black wasn’t any kind of evil or anything. It was just of might and power.”
Brent Lopez
“As it relates to final preparations, are you ready for Saturday September 7th, one o’clock?”
Patricia Flowers
“Well definitely this year I’m ready for Saturday and whatever the outcome may be, I’m always a happy band leader cause we’re here to party.”
The night’s tour of camps ended on Regent Street where we visited with Senior Band, SunShine Masqueraders. Despite, the controversy of the wrong music being played for their Queen’s performance during Saturday night’s King and Queen competition, they still managed to capture third place with Queen Nefertiti. Vice President, Ian Young, said they are only staging two sections this year but are more than ready to take the big win.
Ian Young
Ian Young, V.P. Sunshine Masqueraders
“This year, Sunshine Masqueraders will be portraying, “EGYPTIAN LEGACY”. We have two sections in our band this year and we are sixty members strong, the first section is lead by Queen Nefertiti and the second section is lead by Pharaoh Ramses the Second, which is the King, and he’s followed by his warriors. Queen Nefertiti is also followed by her servants. The colour scheme were basically gold and black. These are the things that really speak or highlight what the Egyptians were all about. Gold was very famous among these people and how they used it in terms of its value. They used it with their outfit. They wear these jewelry, so basically when it comes to the gold that is where we keyed in more. For both sections, the main thing or colour that were used is gold. We are ready to go; sixty members strong and we pretty much are here to have fun and take the big win.”
