Mokos take over old-time mas

WHILE the moko jumbie never dominated yesteryear’s old-time mas, he certainly stole the show at Tuesday night’s parade of traditional Carnival characters held by the National Carnival Commission (NCC) at Adam Smith Square, Woodbrook.

Russell Grant, portraying the Ringed Parrot, and Tekel Sylvan, with Blazing Moko, quite literally brought a new dimension to the show as they soared high.

The duo, members of the group Moko Somokow, competed despite initially been told of the NCC’s purported unwritten rule that bans masqueraders from competing in both the traditional competition and the contemporary King and Queen competition. However at the 11th hour, bandleader Veynu Siewrattan and designer Alan Vaughn, found a sympathetic ear in NCC CEO Colin Lucas.

Sylvan will also compete in the King and Queen finals.

The two mokos’ performances began when Sylvan came on in a shimmering blue-green costume, quite simple in design, yet very effective as he danced it, catching glints and gleam of light, mid-air.

It got even better with Grant taking giant strides to run onto the performance area. His outfit even on its own was an amazing blend of the height of a moko jumbie, the dancing ribbons of a pierrot grenade and the flowing headdress of a fancy Indian. When he infused it all with the life of his dance, with ribbons thrashing and headdress plumes bobbing, even as he contorted his body at the craziest of angles all atop his stilts, he was in a league of his own.

Indeed, one couldn’t help but wonder if this latter-day addition to the old mas family could in fact be the one to carry the other characters into the future and so assuage fears that they are a dying breed. Imagine the power of a midnight robber on stilts, or even the traditionally-vulnerable baby doll.

On the latter note, Allison Noreiga-Clarke made a huge splash as an assertive baby doll with a message, not longer content to beg for baby milk, portraying Miss Toonky, the Make-over – Dem Days Done.

Activist Hazel Brown was also a baby doll, urging Police Commissioner Gary Griffith to ensure his officers maintain their children. To Farmer Nappy’s Hookin Meh, baby doll Natalie Duncan handed out garbage bags of clothes to deadbeat dads she plucked out from the crowd.

“Big officer of the law, don’t hide,” she said to one. Even a judge was cornered, as Duncan chided, “He play he sitting down judging. ‘Purple Jersey!’ Your bag’s here.”

The crowd really went wild when cross-dressing jammettes Tyler Polei and Keiden Joseph came onstage, wining bawdily, with one even doing a handstand, to the delight of onlookers.

Conversely, the show’s best pierrot grenades were women – Claudette Sinnette, the Word Weaver, and Keomi Serrette, D Supreme Orthographer – whose smooth elocution edged out their male colleagues. Female midnight robber Cam Renwick also made a big impact in retelling her terrifying deeds. “I hung the stars, like sequins on a Carnival costume.”

The audience also saw displays by minstrels, burrokeets, gorillas, clowns, dragons, fancy sailors, jab molassie characters, bookmen and a bookwoman, and black and authentic Indians. While the show started 45 minutes late and spent some time in hearing pierrot grenade speeches, it moved at a brisk pace and ended at 11 pm.

The Paramin Blue Devils then gave a guest performance, creating such a stir that the police had somewhat of a challenge in subduing the revelry to reopen the street to traffic.