Mokos survive Savannah wind

VULNERABLE atop their stilts, a small band of Moko Jumbies averted calamity posed by high winds at the Queens Park Savannah yesterday to give a thrilling presentation in the Parade of Bands. Tarodale Totems was presented by the mini band Future Jumbies under African History.

At 3.45 pm, the dozen or so mokos perched high, on the ramp to the Big Stage awaiting their turn, their challenge doubled by the very stiff winds sweeping the savannah from the east. The largest member, an eagle, turned into the wind and raised his wings, spread bravely to “take” the wind. He also surely had to take a few more of the “chip chip” steps that all mokos must dance in order to stay balanced. Likewise his fellow mokos, trying to outlast the winds, awaited their turn to be on-stage.

Eventually the eagle led the band on stage. The band included several smaller masqueraders dressed as the cutest ever dragons, each in all-silver or all-gold. Two butterflies as mokos danced around. A girl on stilts in a long white dress looked like an alluring but tragic bride drawn from a macabre Gothic novel.

The afternoon session at the savannah saw presentations by a small but lively gorilla band whose leader somersaulted on-stage, beads and bikini bands such as the beautifully-sectioned Exousia by Dominion, and steel bands chief of which was Trinidad All-Stars whose huge body of revellers in sailor outfits seemed to be on-stage forever, caught up in Kees Dieffenthaller’s Savannah Grass.