Mas Passion, The Lost Tribe impress

CARNIVAL Tuesday afternoon at the Queen's Park Savannah saw the big stage transformed into a theatre stage with grand choreographed performances by medium band, Mas Passion and large band, The Lost Tribe.

Mas Passion's presentation of Hidden Kingdom-Tribal Xpressions featured a full African dance with female masqueraders accompanied by drummers. The performance included impressive choreography and ethereal African music. This performance transitioned into a dance by a second, smaller group to Kes the Band's Savannah Grass. The band also featured a towering gold and black king spider costume and moko jumbies.

The Lost Tribe, which placed second for large band of the year in 2018, began this year's presentation Taj with female moko jumbies in white, an India-inspired queen in resplendent red and gold, and a traditional East Indian dance with strong choreography and well-coordinated dance moves. The music switched from traditional Indian to a Lost Tribe "dub plate" version of Savannah Grass.

The masqueraders included those with large face standards, vibrant colours and voluminous, flowing fabrics. The DJ alternated between Savannah Grass and Skinny Fabulous, Bunji Garlin and Machel Montano's Famalay, a practice that would also be seen with Fantasy's League of Angels and Revel Carnival Ltd Zodiac. Famalay, however, was the dominant song in the afternoon.

Medium band Wee International Mas' presentation Hybrid also had a choreographed dance to Nadia Batson's So Long and Revel Carnival Ltd had a dance presentation to Savannah Grass, Famalay and Mr Killa's Run Wid It which had male dancers running with female dancers.

The afternoon session included mini band Steam Punk Robbers – A Nancy Story but their performances by a female and a male robber suffered from the perennial problem of the loud music from the next band making it difficult to hear their robber speeches. The robbers were followed by a baby doll individual and a small band portraying Planet of the Apes which had "apes" young and old jumping up to Famalay.

One odd moment of the afternoon occurred at the start of medium band Have a Time's presentation Tierra Del Paraiso (Land of Paradise) as television personality Sunny Bling ( Kerron Sealy) declared that it was the cheapest band in Carnival, alcohol was given away and the price to play for two days was the same as that of a J'Ouvert band. The band members wore T-shirts in lieu of costumes and looked like more like Monday mas.