The Lost Tribe launches Talent Bank

There was plumage. There was Machel Montano and there was The Lost Tribe as The Tribe Family of Bands (Pure, The Lost Tribe, Bliss, Harts, Rogue and Tribe) launched their 2019 presentations at the Jean Pierre Complex on Saturday.

The Festival of Bands, as it is called, scheduled to begin at 6 pm, saw people entering the venue at 6.45 pm. The launch ended at 2.03 am on Sunday. The launch also saw Machel Montano announcing to its audience that he will be playing with Tribe come Carnival 2019.

At 6.49 pm, the show began with the DJ playing many recent popular soca hits for its growing audience.

Newsday was told by the Tribe conglomerate that the Saturday into Sunday morning launch had “approximately 7000-plus patrons.”

The event was supposed to take place over two days, but, in an earlier release, its organisers shifted the venue from the Hasely Crawford Stadium to the Jean Pierre Complex, and announced that the event would be one day instead. The release said this was as a result of bad weather.

The launch also saw a new initiative being launched by The Lost Tribe: a Talent Bank, described as a “one-stop talent agency and creative consultancy designed to cater to the needs of both clients and entertainers alike.”

“Talent Bank re-invents traditional talent and entertainment services and allows clients to build their own show- from concept to creation in fresh and exciting ways.”

The initiative was described as “ a natural progression” for the band.

The Talent Bank had several of its creatives perform including rhythm section, The Boom Boom Room.

One of the Talent Bank’s committee members said the bank had also taken a fresh perspective and design to traditional Carnival characters like the dame Lorraine and pierrot grenade, putting the Lost Tribe touch on it.

Valmiki Maharaj, The Lost Tribe’s designer and director of the Talent Bank, said, “The idea behind Talent Bank is one I’ve been playing with for a while. Since the inception of The Lost Tribe, we have been working on and perfecting our craft and services and growing the concept to this point now. It was a natural progression for the Lost Tribe and I look forward to these new opportunities to work with all the talented performers we have on our team.” There are already 100 performers registered with the Talent Bank.

The event began at 9.20 pm with Harts’ 2019 presentation of Legendary. Eight sections were presented. This was followed by the Pure’s 2019 presentation Strut, with the band presenting seven sections. Bliss then presented its 2019 design Muse.

The crowd partied as there was a break before the other three bands were presented. At 10.48 pm host, Aaron Fingal called on the crowd to “put their hand in the air” as they paid tribute to late soca artiste Devon Matthews.

The bands’ presentation resumed at 11.23 pm with the Lost Tribe. The Lost Tribe’s presentation, Taj, with the section Dastkaar being jointly designed by designer Peter Elias and Jeniele McCarthy Sinanan for Oye, brought loud applause from the primarily youthful audience.

The Lost Tribe’s presentation was followed by Rouge with Red...The Rise of Mars.

Tribe, celebrating 15 years on the road, closed off the band launches with its XV The Empire. This was followed by Machel Montano’s performances.

He performed many of his hits like 2017’s Fast Wine. As he sang Happiest Man Alive, Montano referred to Tribe as the happiest band alive.

He teasingly told the crowd he had an announcement to make, some speculating about what it could be. Then he told them it would him playing with Tribe in 2019. Montano performed for about 45 minutes.