By Essiba Small
The midday sun was unforgiving. In the backyard of a house, just off Mucurapo Road in Port of Spain, Calvin Peters was placing a few Japanese Ninja Samurai hats, that he just painted red, on a mat. He was just about to have lunch, he told us; the rows of drying hats, proof that he had a productive morning.
The house, which belongs to Kinetic designer Ronald Guy James, transforms into the unofficial Kinetic Mas Camp this time of the year. Kinetic is led by multiple-time Carnival King, Peter Samuel.
“Excuse the place”, James felt the need to say as he ushered us in to the first room of the house. In this mustard coloured space it was hard to tell if we were standing in the living or dining room, what with a long table parked in the middle, littered with stacks of fabrics and sundry other mas making things.
Sitting at one of the sewing machines was Josvé, a young Venezuelan man, who was experiencing the mas-making process for the first time and already loving it. James was also on stitching duty and said some of the sewing was also being done at Stacy’s Garments, Chaguanas
“Excuse the place”, James felt the need to say as he ushered us in to the first room of the house. In this mustard coloured space it was hard to tell if we were standing in the living or dining room, what with a long table parked in the middle, littered with stacks of fabrics and sundry other mas making things.
Sitting at one of the sewing machines was Josvé, a young Venezuelan man, who was experiencing the mas-making process for the first time and already loving it. James was also on stitching duty and said some of the sewing was also being done at Stacy’s Garments, Chaguanas.
For Carnival 2024, Kinetic will present Yōkoso, which means welcome in Japanese. The band will feature 16 sections.
Outside, in an annex- the only air conditioned space in the house- Devon and Antonio were busy adding gold foil to masks for the section Bushido. A cellphone, which sat on a desk between them, played vintage calypso on YouTube. In a corner, near Antonio, were rolled up mattress foam, stored for the very late nights and crunch time at the camp.
A few hours earlier at Kinetic’s official mas camp on Alberto Street, Woodbrook, Samuel was excited to share about Yōkoso and the inspiration behind it. But there were a lot of things he had to get off his chest as well.
“Anytime I meet people 30 and under, I ask them what they think of Yōkoso,” he said.
“That’s because the bandleaders, I wouldn’t even say bandleaders, the businessmen who now produce Carnival bands…. because it is just business to them… what they produce, has nothing to do with our culture or our creativity.
“I hear some of them saying ‘we don’t have the know-how to produce Carnival’. We (he and James) were both very much a part of Minshall, and when we did the opening ceremony for the Olympics in Atlanta (1996), every single costume you saw at that opening ceremony was made right here in Trinidad and Tobago; every single one. So don’t tell me we don’t have the know-how or the capabilities.
“The Emmy that Minshall won for the Winter Olympics (in 2002 for Outstanding Costumes for a Variety or Music Program. XIX Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony), the costumes were made here.
“So come out and say it is business. That it’s cheaper to make a prototype, send it to China and bring it in.
“My problem with that is that these people have now killed an entire workforce, who could have been working for Carnival. But your bottom line is profit and loss, I can’t get vex with you for that. What gets me vex is that they are killing the creativity of the mas.”
Samuel continued : “We have reached the stage now where, when we make mas like this (referring to his 2024 presentation), people say ‘oh that’s a children’s band.’ You can go online for yourself and see the comments.
“From the time you doing anything creative, it is a children’s band. Because we associate this type of styling with children’s mas.”
Samuel is committed to staying true to the mas he said because he grew up in it.
“I was born and bred in Woodbrook, which is the heart of Carnival. Right there on Alfredo Street.”
The Kinetic design team is led by James and features the talent of newcomer Sudesh Ramsaran and revolutionary New York-based, T&T-born fashion designer, Donna Dove and Sudesh Ramsaran.
“Yōkoso has a very strong Japanese concept,” Samuel said.
“Ronald sat down with his team and the first thing we did, after we got all the sketches, was get in touch with the Japanese Embassy. We sat down and showed them what we were thinking, because we did not want to put a design out there that was offensive to them.
As the conversation continued, the door to the mas camp opened and a soon-to – be masquerader walked in to collect her costume.
“We have already started delivering our Monday mas costumes,” Samuel said waving to the customer as his team handled the sale.
Then, continuing where he left off, “we have seen it in the past, even the year Minshall did Hallelujah, people said it was offensive. So, we met with them (representatives from the Japanese Embassy) and we were pleasantly surprised that they loved what we were doing.
“There were just two sections that they asked if we would change. One of them had a holy pathway, which they said they didn’t mind us using as a prop. But to have somebody carrying it? They preferred that we didn’t do that.
“That’s why I laugh when I go on Facebook and see people saying that we have offended the Japanese culture.
“As a matter of fact, the Japanese Ambassador ( Matsubara Yutaka) and his wife, are playing in the band.
“We have meetings with them right through. All the writings you see on the costumes, it is they who translated them for us. So, they are very involved.”
Revellers playing with the band on Monday will get to experience a different kind of Monday mas wear – happi coats.
The happi coat is a traditional tube-sleeved Japanese coat which is usually worn during festivals. The happi coat features symbols and text on the lapels, with a larger design on the back of the coat.
“A representative of the Japanese ambassador actually came up with that idea to use the happi coats.
“We brought in two of them as samples and worked out the cost. At first, we wanted to order them, but then it would take too long to arrive. We took the sample to Three Star, the people who make our T-shirts, they said no problem and they made these. Even the Japanese Ambassador couldn’t believe we made them here. He was most impressed.”
Yōkoso, Samuel said, is for the mature masquerader, which does not translate to mean “old” in age, he said.
“It is for those people with creative minds, who want something different.”
