SAILOR MAS’, PLUMED MAS’ AND simply cute revellers were the order of day this morning as Trinidad and Tobago’s children ushered in a weekend of music and dancing on the streets of downtown Port-of-Spain.
As if guided by the Biblical precept that “a little child shall lead them”, hundreds of children in 120-odd large and small bands showed their masquerade style and beauty before the Republic Bank Junior Parade of Bands’ judges, as they chipped along Frederick Street in a display that will be matched and in some ways outdone by adult revellers on Monday and Tuesday.
The children of several races – mainly Indian, African and Chinese – brought a rainbow of colour to the capital, and enhanced the melange with the kaleidoscopic splashes of designers in bands like Rainbow Invasion, the traditional Happy Marauders, the historic Come Dance Yuh Dance, Musical Sailors, the environmentally conscious Serengeti, Soca In Space, Tribute To David Rudder, From Then Til Now and the energetic Just Clowning Around.
Dancing to hits like Kerwin Dubois’ Bacchanalist, Machel’s Mr Fete and Iwer’s Jab No Pain, they maintained rhythmic form and high energy levels to cross the Savannah by mid-afternoon. Most revellers, some as young as a year old, were accompanied by doting parents, relatives and teachers trying frantically to capture the children’s mas’ on tiny digital cameras, camcorders and cellphones.
Bands hailed from nearby Tunapuna and as far afield as Toco in the northeast and San Fernando in the south, with bandleader Patricia Jones saying her San Fernando-based Okla Homma “red indian” band had been on the road since 7 a.m.
