The first stage of Blackhurst Cultural Centre (BCC) outdoor Carnival Arts’ mural project has now closed. BCC received 18 Expressions of Interest (EOI): 11 solo submissions, five pairs, and two collectives (comprising three or more members). While most of the submissions came from Toronto, others came from Hamilton, Milton, Edmonton (Alberta), Barbados, and one pair […]
The Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) has announced that JetBlue is adding additional service to the destination in time for its biggest cultural festival, Spicemas. From 7 August to 1 September 2023, the carrier will operate a second daily nonstop flight, a 162-seat A320, leaving New York’s John F Kennedy (JFK) airport at 9:50 pm and […]
Kenrick Vincent Joseph Bruzual died last Saturday, 25th March, at the Scarborough Grace Hospital for a well-played 82. In 2018, Ken Bruzual received the Toronto Caribbean Carnival’s Pioneer Award. Lennox Borel, retired University of Toronto professor and long time colleague of Ken, said of him: “The development and evolution of the Caribbean Carnival Arts in […]
By Roger Gibbs After watching some of the recent media coverage of the Calypso, Steelpan and Mas band competitions held during Carnival in Trinidad, and subsequently reflecting on the annual Calypso competitions in Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, Dominica, and Antigua, I ask the question: Is competition really the best way to develop and support the […]
By Stephen Weir Just as this week’s Caribbean Camera was going to press, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival sent out a call for this year’s Face of the Festival. The carnival is looking for a Brand Ambassador to represent the Toronto Caribbean Carnival this summer. “Are you the next Face of the Festival?” asked festival organizers […]
Just as the Caribbean Camera was readying this week’s paper, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival (TCC) delivered a press release announcing several key management changes. The annual festival has been without a CEO and Chair since the early Fall with the departure of last year’s CEO and Chair Laverne Garcia. Ajax lawyer Jennifer Hirlehey has been […]
By Stephen Weir To say that Johanna Grant is breaking the mould for how a band leader runs a Mas band is selling her short. The Jamaican Canadian nurse is smashing it, and burning the rule books while she is at. Her Freedom Mas Band is back for its second year with the Toronto Caribbean […]
By Lincoln DePradine Musical entertainers Henry “Cosmos’’ Gomez and Roger “Rajiman” Gibbs, and York University’s Nathanael Ojong, were agreed on one thing at the end of a 90-minute interactive workshop, titled “Calypso as Music of Resistance’’, held at the university’s Keele Campus. “It was really great,’’ said Ojong, deputy director of York University’s Harriet Tubman […]
By Stephen Weir Now that the Trinidad Carnival is over, Toronto Mas camps are getting ready to kick-off the 2023 Toronto Caribbean Carnival season. In a matter of weeks there will be late night costume launches and the opening of mas camps and pan alleys. E.P.I.C Carnival will be the first of the bands competing […]
Carnival is looking too much like Trinidad-style costumes The St Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) has mandated that all troupes taking part in the Grand Carnival Parades must have a section of 15 persons or more, depicting St Maarten’s culture, at the front of their troupes. Alternatively, should troupes not be able to field […]
