By Michael Mondezie
NINETIES-STYLE costuming, original live big brass and affordable prices.
That’s what veteran masman Peter Samuel is promising from his Kinetic Mas Carnival 2023 presentation Exhale and Cyber Nation.
Samuel launched the two-tier, one-band experience, on Tuesday, at Kinetic’s Alberto Street, Woodbrook, mas camp.The band allows masqueraders to choose to play mas on Monday only with Exhale ($850) or to pay for the full experience and join his Cyber Nation ($3,200 to $4,300).
‘Our true selling point is the affordability of our costumes. I’ve been watching other bands and what they have been producing; hats off to them; they have their group of people that play mas for them. But I know what a lot of people are going through and have been going through for the past two years. People have lost their jobs, things have been hard. So we have done our best to crunch numbers for our costumes to make affordable mas,’ Samuel said on Tuesday.
Samuel, winner of the Band of the Year title with legendary mas man Peter Minshall at Carnival 2020, has teamed with a young design team to bring his 2023 vision to life. Sudesh Ramsaran leads the Kinetic design team alongside newcomer Chelsea Niomi Fraser and the experienced Donna Dove.
Samuel said he gave Ramsaran full rein, from concept to execution, to put meaning to the band’s themes and was left fully impressed with his end result.
‘We came up with that name Exhale because we were saying after being under lockdown for two years and not being able to go anywhere, or get out, now we have a chance to ahhhhh… to be free,’ Samuel said. ‘The Tuesday band is called Cyber Nation- Sudesh said we have all been in hibernation for the past two years and not being able to go and do anything. A lot of people had no choice but to go online and they shopping and they banking and everything else. And we turned into the cyber people who now did everything online, I thought that was brilliant,’ Samuel added.
A touch of nostalgia
Ramsaran, who has previously built costumes for the now defunct Barbarossa,
Minshall’s Callaloo Company and MacFarlane Mas, said he went for a 90s look and feel with the hope of inspiring nostalgia.
‘I wanted Cyber Nation to look as if it were being presented in the early 90s. My hope is that seasoned masqueraders would find some sort of nostalgia, while new masqueraders would get a taste of how the mas felt and looked back then,’ Ramsaran said.
Veteran musicians, calypso icon David Rudder, producer
Carl ‘Beaver’ Henderson, and crooning couple Carl and Carol Jacobs have been brought on board to add to that very nostalgia.The trio will work together under Henderson’s leadership as part of the three live bands that will be on the road with Kinetic on Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
Raymond Ramnarine and Dil-e Nadan and 90s band Second Imij, in full reunion, will also be on the road with Kinetic Mas.The Second Imij reunification will feature Imij & Co bandleader Joey Ng Wai and the band’s original vocalists Ghetto Flex (Hilton Dalzell Jr), Russell Cadogan and Tricia Lee Kelshall.
Hits from the golden age of soca
Henderson promised ‘a Vegas-type show’ from the bands. He will also be joined by veteran calypsonian Crazy (Edwin Ayoung), Sharlan Bailey, son of Shadow (the late Winston Bailey) and veteran soca crooner Tony Prescott among others ‘I’ve been in the business for 50 years and a line up like this has never happened on the road for Carnival,’ Henderson said.
‘A little birdie mentioned to me that Mavis John would like to be part of it as well,’ Jacobs added.
Henderson said as those calls from entertainers to be part of the historic return of live brass on the Carnival Parade route continues to come in, he remains focused on ‘bringing a whole party with the golden age of soca’.
‘I am preparing my Opus. Basically because Carnival is theatre and drama it opens classically, the middle piece will be modern soca but the last piece is for people who have grey hair the F jam with Brass, its iconic brass for Carnival. Part of it is dedicated to my close friend Blaxx (the late Dexter Stewart).
‘This is my first time on the road for over 35 years.These two fellas (Samuel and Jacobs) locked me in a room till I agreed. So I have no choice, but we going to make it fun,’ Henderson said.
MUSIC MEN: Dil-e-Nadan vocalist Stephen Marcelle, right, makes a point to veteran musicians, from left, Carl Jacobs, David Rudder and Carl ‘Beaver’ Henderson. All four will be on the road live with Kinetic Mas on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. PHOTOS: MICHAEL MONDEZIE
COMING TOGETHER: Masqueraders portray costumes from the section Si-Borg at Tuesday’s launch.
ALL BLACK: A masquerader from the section Black Out.
ALL SMILES: A masquerader from the section Miyaki.
READY TO PLAY: Kinetic Mas bandleader Peter Samuel, from left, shares a light moment with designer Donna Dove, veteran crooner Carl Jacobs, Dil-e-Nadan vocalist Stephen Marcelle, designer Chelsea Niomi Fraser, veteran producer Carl ‘Beaver’ Henderson and head designer Sudesh Ramsaran, during their Carnival 2023 launch, last Tuesday evening, at the band’s mas camp on Alberto Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain.
