Hart to Hart: Two bands clash

AFTER Facebook posts by Harts Carnival (Ultimate Hart Ltd), a subsidiary of Tribe Inc, and the Harts Carnival Family last Monday, both purporting to launch the same band, one on July 21 and the other in August, it was evident that there is a significant rift between the two mas entities.

The Harts Carnival Family post by Aixa Hart said the family will be bringing back Harts Carnival Band “the way it is meant to be,” in memory of their parents Edmond and Lil Hart, and told their loyal masqueraders to look out for the band launch in August.

The release said any other entity using the name Harts or any version of it is not associated with them, but the Harts family wishes them well.

In an almost immediate reaction, Harts Carnival (Ultimate Hart Ltd) also spoke to its masqueraders via social media.

Their release expressed the group’s disturbance at the development, and concern about the legality of what it termed an unprecedented move by the Hart family and/or people acting on their behalf.

“After being approached in 2014, and then again in 2015, by a Hart family member wanting to sell the Harts Carnival brand, a buyout was agreed.

“This was a positive move to ensure the continuity of a Carnival band that had a great legacy and tradition in TT Carnival. Over the last three years we have always had an open and cordial relationship and therefore we are now shocked and baffled at this recent turn of events.”

Nevertheless, it added, Harts Carnival will launch its 2019 presentation on July 21 at the Festival of Bands.

Contacted on Tuesday night, Tribe leader Dean Ackin, who is in Russia, told Newsday via WhatsApp that his organisation is seeking legal advice.

Asked if Tribe Inc was contemplating letting the Hart family use the brand name for a fee or whether it might sue the family over the use of the name, Ackin said: “We are getting legal advice now.” He added: “We are very surprised by their drastic actions. A conversation could easily have been had but it seems as though they waited until I left the country to make their move. There is a way to do business and this is not the way.”

Asked whether there were issues between the two entities, Ackin said: “Nothing major, to my knowledge, and nothing that could not have been worked out with discussions.

“We also had full control of the business and the band based on the fact they approached us to sell the brand and an agreement was reached in 2015.”

Told of the notice to vacate the Alcazar Street premises, included in one of the Harts Facebook posts, Ackin said he was aware of it and that everything was in the hands of his attorneys.

Alcazar Street, St Clair was the home of the original Harts mas camp before it was acquired by Tribe in 2015.

Harts bands began in 1961 when Edmond and Lil Hart presented Was this Greece, and the couple continued to produce successful Carnival bands for the next 30 years.

As the years went by the Harts children became involved, and from October 1990, when Lil died, three of her six children continued producing it: Thais, Luis and Gerald brought out Total Recall in memory of their mother the following year.

In the 1960s the band was labelled “The Fun Band” by the media, as it often gave up the chance of winning a Carnival title or prize in preference to their masqueraders enjoying the road.

There were a number of firsts associated with the band, such as introducing amplified steelband music on trucks, having a female designer, drinks on the move, DJs on the road instead of live music bands, bikinis and beads as the base for a woman’s costume, organised security and putting a synchronised music system on their trucks so that all the masquerader heard the same song at the same time.

Tribe has had 14 years in the business as opposed to Harts’ 57. But they too have a had a series of firsts.

They were the first all-inclusive band, complete with premium food and drink, as well as mobile restrooms, and to have a shuttle service to safe and secure rest stops. Tribe also introduced a centre for costume adjustments, modern registration and distribution systems, a mobile cool zone, Las Lap lagniappe, Monday-only mas and of course the Socadrome.

Having taken mas to another level, the band found favour with the Harts, hence the latter reaching out to Tribe for the sale of their brand.

However, that agreement now appears to have been broken, and while Ackin has left everything in the hands of his lawyers, neither he nor Aixa or her brother Luis Hart, with whom Ackin initially spoke about the sale of the Harts Carnival brand and their subsequent agreement, offered any reason as to what caused the rift.

Telephone calls to both Harts went unanswered.