By Stephen Weir Photographs by Don Moreland It started Friday night and ended early Sunday evening – three junior carnival band launches in three days in Scarborough. D’ New Regulars & Foreva Carnival, Venom Carnival and Epic Carnival held parties and costume shows for youngsters interested in taking part in the Junior Carnival Parade this […]
By Stephen Weir Connector (Joel Davis) undoubtedly has a sense of humour. When the 2016 Toronto Calypso Monarch was asked to pose for a ” fun picture” with a member of the audience at a new weekly Blocko, he said he knew someone just stupid enough to help him out. He was right. A blond […]
By Stephen Weir Photographs by Don Moreland held in Scarborough. A trio of mas’ camps -Sunlime Mas’, Louis Saldenah’s Mas-K-Camp and Tribal Carnival – held free launches . On Saturday, Sunlime Mas’ held just what its name suggests. In brilliant sunshine, the band launch was taken outdoors onto a large wooden stage that had been […]
By Stephen Weir /Photographs by Don Moreland The sexy fishnet stockings and tights and the angel wings from the adult carnival costumes launches in Toronto have been put away and now it’s the children’s turn to show their stuff on stage. This weekend there are three junior costumes launches – Tribal Carnival and Sunlime Mas’on […]
By Stephen Weir The 2018 Toronto carnival band launching season ended last Saturday evening at the Rebel nightclub when Atlantic Mas’ held the eleventh – and final – costume show. Onstage was Machel Montano, the king of soca, telling Torontonians to go down the road with him on August 4th. “Get your costume from […]
No fewer than eleven costumed bands “in competition” will be in the Grand Parade at the Peeks Toronto Caribbean Carnival 2018 on August 4. And there will be more “big bands” this year, reports Chris Alexander, Chief Administrative Officer of the Festival Management Committee (FMC) , organizers of the carnival. Speaking at the FMC’s media […]
By Stephen Weir There are two constants at all Toronto mas’ band launches. Law number 1: The costume designs will always radically change from one season to the next. Law number 2: Don Moreland will be at every launch, photographing the models in their costumes and recording the elaborate fashion shows. Although Moreland is […]
Weekend launch of ‘Bird of Paradise’ and ‘Straight out of John John’ By Stephen Weir Call it Toronto Doubles, if you like. Two mas’ camps holding band launches on the same Saturday night the second weekend in a row. This past weekend it was a pair of long established mas’ camps – the Costume Creators […]
Louis Saldenah’s Mas-K-Club took no prisoners on Saturday night. The biggest band, with a legacy of winning that stretches back to the early days of Caribana, held a dramatic costume launch at the Chandi Banquet Hall in Scarborough in front an estimated crowd of over a thousand people. Sixteen sections with the theme of the […]
Super Blue to headline Mother’s Day fete in Toronto By Stephen Weir Last month, the Toronto mas’ camps with their colourful costume launches, kicked off the 2018 Carnival season in Canada. Next month, calypso singers are making sure their part in the annual festival starts on a high note. On Saturday May 12, a concert […]
