As I am sitting down here live streaming some 967FM from T&T, I'm bouncing and imagining myself on the road for caribana, and I am really wondering, how come I didn't hear a lot of these tunes on the road for carnival. It seems they only play a few songs over and over on the road.
This is not a Hater Post. Is a request.... Actually ah begging!!!!!!!!!!!
To all the Djs on the road for Caribana. We all Love Jumbie and we want to hear Open the gate and higher than high, but please SIR, don't spin the same 5 songs OVER and over and OVER for 6 hours straight.
It have sooo many hot tunes this year, and I know is not only me feel like this.
So, please Mr Dj, give the people what they want, but mix it up a little bit nah man
Thanks
Trini-in-Toronto
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
OPEN DE GATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 days till CARIBANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are YOU ready??? OPEN IT!!!!!! OPEN IT!!!!! OPEN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Scarborough Caribbean Sports Club
Scarborough Caribbean Sports Club Caribana 2K7 presentation is REFLECTIONS.
African
Sailor
Their site www.scsc.ca is interactive, and I like their island news links. 40 Barbados Boulevard houses two B category bands, but unfortunately Nip Davis & Associates, located in Unit 1, was not open when I visited.
T&T
African
Bucco Reef
Sailor
Their site www.scsc.ca is interactive, and I like their island news links. 40 Barbados Boulevard houses two B category bands, but unfortunately Nip Davis & Associates, located in Unit 1, was not open when I visited.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Calypso Dreams Tour: Last of the Best
The good news is everyone in Toronto gets an opportunity to see, and pay tribute to some of the Living legends of calypso greats ...
The better news is at the beautiful pseudo-tropical (sometimes) Toronto Harborfront Centre
And the BEEEEESSSST News is. it is absolutely FREE!!!!!!!!!
I am talking about BLACK STALIN
Now Stalin is performing Friday Aug 3rd, so I must be up in DAT. But, we have tickets for KOS Jouvert same night. So that means at least one of us needs to be intoxicant free during Stalins performance so we can reach the jouvert fete safe and sound.
ALLYUH PLEASE DONT DRIVE DRUNK OR HIGH
We want to see everyone next year
The Mighty Sparrow
Lord Superior
UNCLE CRAZY
Mr Levy (reggae)
Macomere Fifi
Get Full details at http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/wr/islandsoul/music/#000382
Also Check Calypsodreams.com
The better news is at the beautiful pseudo-tropical (sometimes) Toronto Harborfront Centre
And the BEEEEESSSST News is. it is absolutely FREE!!!!!!!!!
I am talking about BLACK STALIN
Now Stalin is performing Friday Aug 3rd, so I must be up in DAT. But, we have tickets for KOS Jouvert same night. So that means at least one of us needs to be intoxicant free during Stalins performance so we can reach the jouvert fete safe and sound.
ALLYUH PLEASE DONT DRIVE DRUNK OR HIGH
We want to see everyone next year
The Mighty Sparrow
Lord Superior
UNCLE CRAZY
Mr Levy (reggae)
Macomere Fifi
Get Full details at http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/wr/islandsoul/music/#000382
Also Check Calypsodreams.com
Borokeet - Atlantis
from Indo Caribbean World
By William Doyle-Marshall
“Atlantis” is Borokeet Canada’s portrayal for the 40th anniversary of Caribana. Downstairs in Frankie Ramsaroop’s Mississauga basement is a virtual museum of production preparation where the group’s chief architect, proudly displays material and extensive drawings of characters.
“I am very optimistic of what we are going to present in order to make our presentation satisfactory. We make costumes to suit the people, to satisfy these people who are portraying characters,” Ramsaroop was firmly adamant about the band’s standard.
“If the judges say it is not to their likeness, too bad!”
For a moment Frankie compares his production with his counterparts in the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Being careful not to be too critical, the former athlete observed there is tremendous similarity between masquerade bands.
“You could take all the banners down, it (would) look like one band. Everything is the same thing. This (his band) is different. Every year we do something different,” he explained calmly during our conversation one Sunday evening.
As he moves through characters of his 2007 production, Ramsaroop says “It’s really something to do with the sea, the lost city and we have a big programme.” He had a group of people working on the characterization and as we conversed, the veteran bandleader said they were just actually feeling out what they wanted to do. Money is always at the top of bandleaders’ shopping lists and Frankie is no exception. “We are looking for money - $73,000 - and these are the things we are doing,” he said while perusing images on a computer screen.
He felt as though he was “behind the eight-ball”. At that time production was not in full swing but the optimist that Ramsaroop is, he hoped everything would go good. It felt very much like Frankie and his team were stepping out of the box. With “Atlantis” as the theme Borokeet’s creative vision for the road on Caribana Day would be something that synchronizes with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade by Britain.
“We are trying to project these things,” he contended.
The motivation for this, Ramsaroop insists, is to let people know Borokeet’s interest is not only mas. “It is more than mas. We still study the community and our forefathers. His grand plan to emphasize that fact would result in masquerade costumes that should put life to individuals who have played a part in the history of the world. For instance he talks about Marie Josef Angelique, Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, Pierre Trudeau, Haile Selassie, Bob Marley, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and many more.
During our conversation Frankie could not say whether these personalities will be seen walking along the parade route but he had some ideas of portraying them within the context of his production.
What’s the motivation for producing a band every year and not realizing any profits? “It’s the culture. We look at the people who come here from abroad like New York, England and elsewhere. They come for a holiday and it is our day. Caribana becomes a West Indian day in my opinion, where we meet friends and family to enjoy this weekend that is called Caribana”.
For the Borokeet dream to become real on Caribana parade day, it means attracting 250 masqueraders to put their show on the road. While they could work with more, Ramsaroop noted the help to create costumes is missing. “If we get the 250 people and they come late, our problem is getting costumes to fit masqueraders properly,” Ramsaroop thought out loud.
“If they don’t fit you properly, it makes no sense selling you a costume. We want to make sure what we give you will make that presentation to suit so that it would project the image of Borokeet. It’s not a case of taking a costume and wearing it casually,” he continued.
Borokeet’s best year was 1994 with the band “Oceans of Fire” and 1995 “On Broadway”. Many years later he revels in the thought of having produced costumes second to none. As a result his band placed third in 1994 and second in 1995.
“We continue producing costumes that are second to none but for whatever reason we don’t have the numbers because we can’t afford to expand more than 250 masqueraders”.
When Borokeet first emerged on the masquerade scene it portrayed ‘Indian – An Indian is an Indian’. This emphasized the various categories of Indians such as Native Indian, even West Indian Indians. Another of their early creations was ‘Seasons’. Employing creative licenses Ramsaroop and his colleagues presented masqueraders in four seasons - two wet and two dry, familiar to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. They were able to sell out six sections depicting six seasons. “We are always in the first five, six, anyway,” he notes proudly.
But as the curtains fall on Caribana 40, Frankie Ramsaroop is taking off his bandleader’s hat and walking away from this initiative that has provided him many challenges over the past 10 years.
I have not been to Borokeet’s camp, but looked at their costumes on their interactive site http://www.borokeetecanada.net/ Check out their pink seashell bra (OCEANA section)!
Their Kiddies King & Jr. Female (which won 1st place, along with their Queen) were among of my favourites, especially the seahorse (hey Sis, this is for you! :-))
By William Doyle-Marshall
“Atlantis” is Borokeet Canada’s portrayal for the 40th anniversary of Caribana. Downstairs in Frankie Ramsaroop’s Mississauga basement is a virtual museum of production preparation where the group’s chief architect, proudly displays material and extensive drawings of characters.
“I am very optimistic of what we are going to present in order to make our presentation satisfactory. We make costumes to suit the people, to satisfy these people who are portraying characters,” Ramsaroop was firmly adamant about the band’s standard.
“If the judges say it is not to their likeness, too bad!”
For a moment Frankie compares his production with his counterparts in the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Being careful not to be too critical, the former athlete observed there is tremendous similarity between masquerade bands.
“You could take all the banners down, it (would) look like one band. Everything is the same thing. This (his band) is different. Every year we do something different,” he explained calmly during our conversation one Sunday evening.
As he moves through characters of his 2007 production, Ramsaroop says “It’s really something to do with the sea, the lost city and we have a big programme.” He had a group of people working on the characterization and as we conversed, the veteran bandleader said they were just actually feeling out what they wanted to do. Money is always at the top of bandleaders’ shopping lists and Frankie is no exception. “We are looking for money - $73,000 - and these are the things we are doing,” he said while perusing images on a computer screen.
He felt as though he was “behind the eight-ball”. At that time production was not in full swing but the optimist that Ramsaroop is, he hoped everything would go good. It felt very much like Frankie and his team were stepping out of the box. With “Atlantis” as the theme Borokeet’s creative vision for the road on Caribana Day would be something that synchronizes with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade by Britain.
“We are trying to project these things,” he contended.
The motivation for this, Ramsaroop insists, is to let people know Borokeet’s interest is not only mas. “It is more than mas. We still study the community and our forefathers. His grand plan to emphasize that fact would result in masquerade costumes that should put life to individuals who have played a part in the history of the world. For instance he talks about Marie Josef Angelique, Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, Pierre Trudeau, Haile Selassie, Bob Marley, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and many more.
During our conversation Frankie could not say whether these personalities will be seen walking along the parade route but he had some ideas of portraying them within the context of his production.
What’s the motivation for producing a band every year and not realizing any profits? “It’s the culture. We look at the people who come here from abroad like New York, England and elsewhere. They come for a holiday and it is our day. Caribana becomes a West Indian day in my opinion, where we meet friends and family to enjoy this weekend that is called Caribana”.
For the Borokeet dream to become real on Caribana parade day, it means attracting 250 masqueraders to put their show on the road. While they could work with more, Ramsaroop noted the help to create costumes is missing. “If we get the 250 people and they come late, our problem is getting costumes to fit masqueraders properly,” Ramsaroop thought out loud.
“If they don’t fit you properly, it makes no sense selling you a costume. We want to make sure what we give you will make that presentation to suit so that it would project the image of Borokeet. It’s not a case of taking a costume and wearing it casually,” he continued.
Borokeet’s best year was 1994 with the band “Oceans of Fire” and 1995 “On Broadway”. Many years later he revels in the thought of having produced costumes second to none. As a result his band placed third in 1994 and second in 1995.
“We continue producing costumes that are second to none but for whatever reason we don’t have the numbers because we can’t afford to expand more than 250 masqueraders”.
When Borokeet first emerged on the masquerade scene it portrayed ‘Indian – An Indian is an Indian’. This emphasized the various categories of Indians such as Native Indian, even West Indian Indians. Another of their early creations was ‘Seasons’. Employing creative licenses Ramsaroop and his colleagues presented masqueraders in four seasons - two wet and two dry, familiar to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. They were able to sell out six sections depicting six seasons. “We are always in the first five, six, anyway,” he notes proudly.
But as the curtains fall on Caribana 40, Frankie Ramsaroop is taking off his bandleader’s hat and walking away from this initiative that has provided him many challenges over the past 10 years.
I have not been to Borokeet’s camp, but looked at their costumes on their interactive site http://www.borokeetecanada.net/ Check out their pink seashell bra (OCEANA section)!
Their Kiddies King & Jr. Female (which won 1st place, along with their Queen) were among of my favourites, especially the seahorse (hey Sis, this is for you! :-))
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Local artists feel left out of official Caribana events
http://www.commessuniversity.com/main/2007%20stories/see_bout_we_own.htm
Above is a link to Queen Machoomehs' latest story. Please check it out.
I was planning to blog on almost the same exact topic as she touches on. I was reading the Caribbean camera last night http://www.thecaribbeancamera.com/ and they were talking about the same topic.
You see, we have quite a few local calypso artistes here who are putting out a quality product, but they don’t really get the support from the local community.
I WILL PLAY DEVILS ADVOCATE and hit the topic from the alternate view
My feelings are very much conflicted on this topic
The official Caribana governing body is putting on two major concerts this year for the first time. (I say for the first time, because they are finally putting on an event that has the star power to compete with the private promoters.)
The concerts are:
The Machel HD concert and the Imagine music festival (featuring Machel, Destra, Sean Paul and others)
Now, the Toronto based calypsonians are complaining that the festival receives taxpayers’ money, as such, the local guys should be included in the show. They also complain, those Toronto calypsonians who were invited were only offered a couple hundred dollars as an honorarium while the international superstars are making big money.
Caribana, has a long history of running at a loss, and has accumulated a substantial debt over the years. The new administration has been given the mandate of making the festival profitable and to adequately account for public funds.
The critics are well aware that the government grants that Caribana receives is, a drop in the bucket compared to the costs associated with running the event. I know this because some of the same critics were former spokespeople for Caribana in previous years and they told us this.
It is clear that Caribana needed to look for alternative revenue streams.
So you ask yourself, who in the past has made serious money off the festival?
The hospitality industry, concert promotersand private clubs, innovative band leaders, and the government via tax dollars.
Now they can go cap in hand and whine about how much tax dollars the government takes and they need to support the arts. But, they have been doing that for years and it only gets you so far.
The organizers have rightly decided to put on a couple concerts that they hope people are willing to shell out top dollars to see. Hoping to generate profits which in the past has gone into the pockets of private promoters versus being re-invested to grow the festival.
Now, the youth (you know, they guys without a mortgage and children to mine) who think nothing of spending $50 to get into a concert or $130 for a pair of sneakers.
These are they folks who were often overlooked by the Old guard at Caribana. And with the exception of New Generation (sp) and De Farmers (and a couple others), are not really the audience targeted by many of the local performers.
There are calypso Tents, the calypso Monarch competition, Pan Alive, the King and Queen show and “Big People” parties that cater to lovers of traditional Calypso music. This is a smaller market, who tend not to party as often.
I think the HD show, and Imagine weren’t designed to target that market.
This is not an issue isolated to Toronto. You change the names of the players and you can apply it to any foreign carnival or even Trinidad.
What do you all think?
Above is a link to Queen Machoomehs' latest story. Please check it out.
I was planning to blog on almost the same exact topic as she touches on. I was reading the Caribbean camera last night http://www.thecaribbeancamera.com/ and they were talking about the same topic.
You see, we have quite a few local calypso artistes here who are putting out a quality product, but they don’t really get the support from the local community.
I WILL PLAY DEVILS ADVOCATE and hit the topic from the alternate view
My feelings are very much conflicted on this topic
The official Caribana governing body is putting on two major concerts this year for the first time. (I say for the first time, because they are finally putting on an event that has the star power to compete with the private promoters.)
The concerts are:
The Machel HD concert and the Imagine music festival (featuring Machel, Destra, Sean Paul and others)
Now, the Toronto based calypsonians are complaining that the festival receives taxpayers’ money, as such, the local guys should be included in the show. They also complain, those Toronto calypsonians who were invited were only offered a couple hundred dollars as an honorarium while the international superstars are making big money.
Caribana, has a long history of running at a loss, and has accumulated a substantial debt over the years. The new administration has been given the mandate of making the festival profitable and to adequately account for public funds.
The critics are well aware that the government grants that Caribana receives is, a drop in the bucket compared to the costs associated with running the event. I know this because some of the same critics were former spokespeople for Caribana in previous years and they told us this.
It is clear that Caribana needed to look for alternative revenue streams.
So you ask yourself, who in the past has made serious money off the festival?
The hospitality industry, concert promotersand private clubs, innovative band leaders, and the government via tax dollars.
Now they can go cap in hand and whine about how much tax dollars the government takes and they need to support the arts. But, they have been doing that for years and it only gets you so far.
The organizers have rightly decided to put on a couple concerts that they hope people are willing to shell out top dollars to see. Hoping to generate profits which in the past has gone into the pockets of private promoters versus being re-invested to grow the festival.
Now, the youth (you know, they guys without a mortgage and children to mine) who think nothing of spending $50 to get into a concert or $130 for a pair of sneakers.
These are they folks who were often overlooked by the Old guard at Caribana. And with the exception of New Generation (sp) and De Farmers (and a couple others), are not really the audience targeted by many of the local performers.
There are calypso Tents, the calypso Monarch competition, Pan Alive, the King and Queen show and “Big People” parties that cater to lovers of traditional Calypso music. This is a smaller market, who tend not to party as often.
I think the HD show, and Imagine weren’t designed to target that market.
This is not an issue isolated to Toronto. You change the names of the players and you can apply it to any foreign carnival or even Trinidad.
What do you all think?
Saturday, July 21, 2007
and the Band of the Year is...
I wasn't too sure I'd be able to make it to Kiddies Carnival after getting home at 5:00 a.m. from the Scrunter boat cruise. But we dragged our tired selves up the road at 10:30, and it was worth it. The kids had great weather, & it was a fun colourful afternoon of Caribana cuteness.Starting the parade on Shoreham Drive then moving down Jane Street and winding up at Yorkgate Mall made for a great parade, but it was too long of a route for the younger kids, as was evident from the wee ones who were asleep & the one tantrum I witnessed (lol!)
In keeping with Trinidad Carnival, every band crossed the stage to Jumbie, a sign of what's sure to come for Caribana, lol!
Jamaal Maglorie's Toronto Revellers took Band of the Year over Jessie Matthew's Calabash Company, who came in 2nd. Newbie Tribal Knights won 3rd place. Where Carnival Nationz was the band that brought on the competition, watch out, it's now Toronto Revellers & Tribal Knights!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Kiddies carnival
Don't miss Junior Carnival (Kiddies) this SaturdayJuly 21st at Yorgate Mall.
It actually starts out on Shoreham Drive (Off Jane a couple blocks south of Steeles) and they parade down Jane street and end up in the mall.
So even if you are feteing tonight, make sure and wake yourself up and go and support the little chirren and dem....... They tooooo sweeeetttt :)
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