Description
In early 2016 I was preparing to take part in my first Carnival Expo at The Oval in London. I had recently started playing with line drawing techniques in paint so I was keen to continue in that vein. I know when most people think about Carnival they think skimpy costumes, loud music, wild dancing… well Carnival in tropical countries anyway… but there is so much more to Trinidad & Tobago Carnival to explore. The history of my homeland’s Carnival is deep and varied and inspiring. Born out of necessity, mockery, pride, revolution, creative expression when otherwise you might be silenced, social commentary when news wasn’t as readily available as it is today. So when I started casting around for ideas for Carnival paintings, it was the Old Mas’ that called to me most. They became more than paintings, they became a way to honour my Mother, my family, my birth country, my Trinbago culture, and they’ve taken me on a beautiful nostalgic journey.
To understand my fascination with these Old Mas’ characters, the more traditional characters of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, I need to explain a few things about my childhood.
I grew up with a secondary school music teacher for a mum, a master carpenter and an ace musician for uncles, a fashion designer for an aunt, a light operatic singer for a grandfather, and a money-savvy fashionista for a granny.
I remember hearing stories of Grandad playing different roles in the local Light Operatic Society with my mum and uncles hanging out back stage as kids.
I remember my uncles planning stage costumes and sets for new soca bands, and stage entrances and exits for concerts that would test an engineer’s grasp of physics!
I remember Aunty Gail’s boutique and trailing behind Granny from one fabric store to the next and waiting amidst bolts upon bolts of fabric as she deliberated with my mum on just the right fabric, and just the right pattern/plan, for just the right outfit/curtain/upholstery/bedspread/etc. Alas, I knew Yufe’s, Queensway, Jimmy Aboud‘s and the rest of Fredrick St’s fabric stores like the back of my hand at a very early age!
I remember Carnival time when the adults went to play mas’, at least one of the mums or dads would have to stay back and help Granny look after all seven grandchildren. If it was my Mummy’s turn, we made our own kiddie’s carnival band that danced up and down my grandparents’ very long driveway. We’d spend hours with Mummy making costumes out of old stockings (for long hair), ends of fabric wrapped every which way (for capes, skirts, wings, wraps, etc), old wired bras (excellent shoulder pads for kids), paper, feathers, beads, ribbon, braid, old lace, you name it! Sometimes, we’d all be in the dog-house (even mum!) because we ‘accidentally’ glued Granny’s ‘good’ lace to our costume and coloured it with paint or markers!
Then as I got older, Mum got me into music. I had to know the classics (like proper classical, play “Fur Elise” and “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano classics, for kids anyway!) but I also had to know the local classics. Dad made sure I was up on my old school calypsonians – Sparrow, Kitchener, Nello (Nelson), Melody, Preddy (Pretender), et al very often woke me up at maximum volume on a Saturday morning and accompanied me as I did my Saturday morning chores. Meanwhile, Mum was teaching me to play piano, recorder and steelpan in a full on steel orchestra and teaching me all about how the pan was invented, the culture of that era, how the music links to Carnival and Trinidad & Tobago history. Whatever her secondary school kids had to learn, my brother and I had to learn too… even if we were still in primary school!
With this steady diet of creativity and culture, it’s no surprise that every art-form excites and interests me.
Old Mas’ is a special type of performance art. Some Old Mas’ costumes are people just using whatever they can find, buy and make into a statement about some current issue that means a lot to them. See Ole Mas’ for some of this imagery – the man wearing cardboard boxes he’s labelled “Pirate Taxi” (i.e. private cars running taxi routes), or the man dressed as a very pregnant version of the Prime Minister of the day with a sign that cites all the ways she has failed to deliver on political promises! In this way, the people’s ingenuity is uncensored and priceless! Anyone can speak out creatively on any topic.
However, Old Mas’ can also refer to the traditional costumes based on history. For example, Dame Lorraine is a mockery of the French and British aristocratic women with their fans, parasols and bustle skirts; Fancy Sailor is a take on the US Sailors that swamped the islands during the World Wars; and Jab Molassie is another slavery-influenced portrayal that purposely plays on white/black interactions, stereotypes and fears by covering themselves in mud and oil and threatening to wipe their dirt/blackness on to spectators. Each costume has such a deep and varied story behind it. This is the (abridged) story of the Pierrot Grenade –
Pierrot Grenade is the poor cousin to the equally prideful and opinionated but much wealthier and truly well-educated “Pierrot”– extinct by the mid-twentieth century. According to Wikipedia, This one was “richly garbed, very proud of his mastery of English history and literature (Shakespeare especially), and fiercely pugnacious when encountering his likes”… and dislikes. His ego knew no bounds and he delighted in making barbed comments to express his disdainful opinions about “respectable” members of the community. The Pierrot was eventually driven from the streets after numerous arrests and goal sentences for fighting. Pierrot Grenade (supposedly from neighbouring Grenada) inherited his predecessor’s love of oratory (speaking). His fighting prowess with a whip was fierce and he was often followed by a band of female supporters willing to face off with other Pierrot groups for him.
Pierrot Grenade is a satirical character. His whip skills are almost non-existent. It is his tongue that does the lashing! He is an educated jester wearing a ‘grand’ gown of burlap, layered with strips of coloured cloth, small tins containing pebbles, and small boxes that rattle. He often wears a snug colourful head wrap or cap like the Parisian pantomime pierrot’s black cap. In his early days (post Pierrot), Pierrot Grenade would travel in pairs or larger groups verbally sparring and vying for knowledge supremacy with his fellow Pierrot Grenades as they sang, danced, spelled long words in rather ingenious ways, quoted Spakespeare and other notable masters, but mostly he made striking social commentary via elaborate speeches about current issues and events. Think ‘a letter to the editor’ but performed live and way more colourful and interactive! Sadly, the modern day Pierrot Grenade is often alone and without ready sparring partners to engage in verbal battle, he has become a more subdued version of his former self.
There are even more characters that I haven’t yet added to this collection but I do hope you enjoy the first six.
Other paintings in the Old Mas’ series are: Midnight Robber, Fancy Indian, Jab Molassie, Dame Lorraine and Moko Jumbie.
