An opportunity to relive iconic moments of Carnivals past. That’s the unique proposition Paparazzi Carnival is presenting masqueraders for its Carnival 2023 presentation Breakaway Beats, says bandleader Tracey Andre.
The Roberts Street, Woodbrook-based band unveiled the 15-section ode to past Road March winners, last Sunday night, at Sound Forge, Christopher Samuel Drive, Mucurapo Road, Port of Spain.
Head designer Alejandro Gomez started the display with an elaborate pink, green and yellow peacock-style depiction of Mighty Sparrow’s (Dr Slinger Francisco) 1969 winner “Sa Sa Yea”. Gomez followed with regal metallic gold, pink, blue and red fan-shaped backpack for Calypso Rose’s (Linda McArtha Monica Sandy-Lewis) iconic 1977 triumph “Tempo” and fiery orange angel wings to bring David Rudder’s 1986 title sweeper “Bahia Girl” to life. The display brought the lulling Paparazzi faithful, made to wait till after midnight, to full voice.
Andre said Breakaways, as the Road March winners were once called, is exactly the energy she expects from masqueraders when the band finally returns to the streets of Port of Spain on Carnival Monday and Tuesday (February 20 and 21, 2023).
“The theme is actually a reflection of what we anticipate will happen on the road in 2023. People young and old, those who haven’t played mas for years will indeed come to Carnival to ‘Breakaway’.
“Coming out of that two-year pause we also wanted to acknowledge the rich history of our Carnival and our great artistes who continue to provide masqueraders year after year, with the rhythms that create unforgettable memories of the road. It’s a reminder of how great our Carnival is and always will be, something that some only realised when it was gone,” Andre explained during a WhatsApp exchange with the Express on Wednesday.
Paparazzi’s launch follows over-the-top displays by YUMA Carnival and Tribe in past weeks. As mas bands jostle to stamp their brand on the much-anticipated return of the Parade of the Bands, Andre says she remains focused on tenets on which they have built a strong brand: the masquerader experience.
MX Prime’s (Edghill Thomas) Ultimate Rejects fete shaker “Full Extreme”, SuperBlue’s (Austin Lyons) “Bacchanal Time” (1993), Preacher’s (Barnet Henry) “Jump and Wave” (1994), Fay-Ann Lyons’ winners “Display” (2003) and “Get On” (2008), JW (Jason Williams) and Blaze’s (Ancil Isaac Jr) 2010 winner “Palance” and Iwer George and Kees Dieffenthaller’s “Stage Gone Bad” (2020) are also featured in Paparazzi’s tribute.
Machel Montano solo winners “Advantage” (2011), “Like Ah Boss” (2015), “Waiting on the Stage” (2016), as well as his winning collab with SuperBlue “Soca Kingdom” (2018) and Bunji Garlin (Ian Alvarez) and St Vincent’s Skinny Fabulous (Gamal Doyle) “Famalay” (2019) make up the rest of the presentation.
“Every band, big and small, has their space in Carnival and for me it’s never about trying to outdo the next band, but more so remaining laser-focused on creating the best experience for the masquerader while preserving the essence of the brand Paparazzi Carnival,” she said.
GENERATING NEW MOMENTUM
The global pandemic, as with most young business models, slowed Paparazzi’s momentum, Andre admits.
“The first Carnival we missed was probably the hardest as we had been going with a momentum and a routine for the past seven years and that suddenly came to a halt. Once reality set in that this virus was not as predictable as we thought, we all accepted that and switched our focus on keeping ourselves and our families safe. We only started back planning once we got the green light on events,” she revealed.
Gomez and the Paparazzi design team of Karlene Ballah, Anya Ali, Farida Ali Mootiram, Afiya Bishop, Ornella Moreau, Candace Lennard-Cairo, Rawle Permanand, Marcus Eustace, Brandon Phillip, Tyrel Celestine and Aliyah Ali worked overtime to bring a “quality product”, she added.
Permanand’s depiction of Fay-Ann Lyons’ 2008 title winner “Get On” and Marcus Eustace’s interpretation of Machel Montano’s 2011 runaway hit “Advantage” were particularly impressive.
“I am a bit of a perfectionist so I’m always anxious about launching a quality product,” Andre chimed.
Much has been made over the past two years of T&T’s inability to stage the festival leading to the islands potentially losing ground as the premier Carnival destination in the region. Andre, however, says while others may attempt to duplicate the parade the essence of what makes T&T’s Carnival unique goes beyond those two days.
“Trinidad Carnival is more than just the two days, it’s a whole experience and atmosphere that comes from the heart of the people and is grounded in our multi-cultural diversity. That cannot be recreated, marketed, or sold elsewhere. That said, we shouldn’t take our uniqueness for granted and there is much to learn from other carnivals that could make us even bigger and better than we are today,” she reasoned.
As for the Paparazzi 2023 road experience, Andre says it will be more of the same good vibes.
“Our masqueraders can expect to see many familiar, friendly faces on the road and have the same quality, cost-effective, all-inclusive Carnival experience in a safe, diverse, hassle-free environment that Paparazzi has become known for. We did do a logo design change to provide us with more youthful branding opportunities and we will be seeing more of this in our brand ambassadors, events, DJs and road experience in 2023,” Andre concluded.
Photography by Focus Studios: http://www.focusstudiostt.com/
