Antonio continues family mas legacy

BAVINA SOOKDEO

Thirteen-year-old Antonio Rampersad of Cleghorn Village, Princes Town is this year’s Junior King of Carnival.

Rampersad entered the competition in the non-school category, showcasing his costume Bazodee – The Spirit of Sando Carnival. Antonio has been playing mas since he was five, following in the footsteps of his grandmother, father, and mother – all of whom are veterans in mas competitions.

His father, Marlon, told Newsday Kids Antonio's masquerading passion was ignited at just 11 months old when he debuted as a feather dancer with Lionel Jagessar.

Today, he is advising young competitors to “Go out there, dance your mas, do what you love and make sure and portray the best.”

Reflecting on his son's latest achievement, Antonio's father said “Antonio is a child that always fights, and he is a winner and doesn’t want anything besides first place. He wanted a big, pretty costume and he was intent on winning from the start. As his parent, I am very happy, his mom and grandmother are too – it is a family tradition and I feel so happy that it is being carried on and he is pushing to have all this…I feel elated.”

The costume was constructed by his father, who had to redo it at Antonio's request.

“I liked the idea of Bazodee reflecting Carnival in San Fernando (which is real madness)…the costume embodies that. I constructed it and his mom and grandmother helped. We made it out of steel aluminum, fibre glass, iridescent foils, sequins, braids and more.

“Antonio’s costume started on the second week of January as he didn’t like the first design (which was the spirit of Skinner Park and consisted of chutney soca, calypso fiesta and football). I then came up with Bazodee and Antonio decided to go with it. He did two rehearsals before the competition but up to the night before the competition, we were still working on his costume.”

He said it was a challenge for his son to balance his school work and preparing for Carnival, but he handled it well.

Antonio's friends were overjoyed at his win and congratulated him. And even his school, ASJA Boys' College, San Fernando shared on its Facebook page: “Although as a Muslim school we do not participate in Carnival-related activities, we do commend our students who excel in all spheres of life, both academic and non-academic. As such we wish to congratulate Antonio Rampersad, a form 2 student, on winning the title of Junior King of Carnival (2024). We are very proud of his continuous efforts to balance his school life and personal interests.”

The aspiring aviation engineer thanked his parents and his grandmother for his success and assured that Trinidad and Tobago can definitely look out for more mas from him.

He plans to place his winnings in a credit union to put towards his future.