Children's mas band pays tribute to mas legends

Bandleader of children's mas band Classix Productions, Vanessa Forde, said this year's portrayal will honour the legendary mas designers of TT.

Located in Belmont, the band will pay tribute to stalwarts like Peter Minshall, George Bailey, Edmond Hart, Irvin McWilliams, Harold Saldenah, Jason Griffith, Wayne Berkeley and Richard Bartholomew.

Forde and her team will bring out eight sections this year. The sections are Celebrating Our Great Mas Men; El Dorado, City of Gold; And the Rains Came; Kaleidoscope; Back to Africa; Proudly Ours; Papillon; and Old Fashion Sailors.

Each section pays homage to a Carnival pioneer who won a band of the year title.

Speaking to Newsday at the band's mas camp recently, Forde said, "I came up with this theme because I found that people tend to forget the artisans who really started the mas. The mas has evolved a lot and some of the people we are paying tribute to this year are people who contributed to the new mas."

Forde has been in the mas business for decades. The love for Carnival keeps her going.

"Passion (keeps me in it). It is not a money-making thing."

She describes the band's work as intricate, saying the children are getting quality costumes. "This is for the love of it. All the workers you see here are volunteers. They will get a stipend, but they all do it for the love of it."

Students from the School for the Deaf will receive free costumes.