Traditional mas needs more respect

Traditional mas does not get the respect it deserves, says Carnival icon Eintou Pearl Springer.

Springer, the writer and director of the annual Canboulay re-enactment at Piccadilly Greens for the last ten years, told Newsday after yesterday’s show that even though it was the foundation of Carnival, the traditional stories do not take centre stage during the festivities. One problem is the lack of meaningful research.

“The research has not been done. People do portrayals but a lot of the times it’s just people doing it over time,” Springer said, although she acknowledged the contribution of Carnival historian Dr Hollis Liverpool, also known as the calypsonian Chalkdust. Despite his research, the presentation of traditional mas, even Canboulay, is still in the background. And while the National Carnival Commission (NCC) is making an effort to promote traditional mas, Springer said a lot more needed to be done. The NCC is executive producer of the show, although Springer declined to say more about their monetary contribution.

She said Canboulay, for her, was the only place in Carnival where the story of “the people in the barrack yards who started the Carnival” was told.

“Everything else (in Carnival) is pretty mas. Not only that, it’s the only place we tell the story and show that Carnival is more than wine and jam, it is resistance, it is cultural and a fight for people’s culture. It is cultural resistance and cultural relevance. People fought for what they believe in and we try to keep that spirituality alive.”

The show keeps to a standard structure, where two Pierrot Grenades, master storytellers in the traditional mas canon, weave the tale of formerly enslaved people and their descendants as they battle colonial elements who want to prevent them from expressing themselves, by banning drums, stick fighting, flambeau and even dancing. The climax of the narrative is a showdown between the poor Africans and troops led by the brutal Captain Arthur Baker, the head of the colonial police. The barrack yard won, and the island’s Governor, Sir Sanford Freeling, declared that the people would be allowed two days to celebrate as they wished.

Springer said she kept the production fresh by adding little things that reflected modern concerns. This year she added “mind yuh business” as a theme, in reference to the Prime Minister’s New Year address to the nation, and for the last two years she’s had “Hush yuh stink mout” in reference to Oropouche East MP Roodal Moonilal’s outburst in Parliament against the Attorney General. The plaintive “Moomah moomah yuh son in the grave already” is meant to signify the impact of crime on the country, she added.

She also appreciated the thousands of people who come to Piccadilly Greens at 4 am every Carnival Friday to support the show.

Culture Minister Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said she saw “a lot of improvements in the production elements” of the show this year and that the traditional mas parade, which follows the re-enactment, was much better organised this year.

She said, “Traditional mas is the Carnival product. That is what exists and the niche of it. Everything else came after. What distinguishes TT from any other mas is our traditional mas. So it is extremely important this Canboulay production as well as the traditional mas parade as one of the incentives to promote regional mas.”

She added that as part of the promotion of traditional mas, on Carnival Monday, the Queen’s Park Savannah main stage would be open from 9 am to 1 pm to showcase traditional mas. “We have been trying to nurture it, encourage it, incentivise it so traditional mas is kept alive and we see a lot of young people taking part in it as jab jabs, moko jumbies, devils and gorillas, so we are glad to see it alive.”