|
 |
Carnival
Packages
Carnival
Packages include: Accommodations, Air, and tickets to the
internationally famous Panorama Steelband Finals and Dimanche
Gras Calypso/Costume Show. We provide custom music, art and
media tours.
|
|
A Queen
of Kiddie Carnival
|
|
There
is no experience on earth to compare with Trinidad
Carnival, the mother of all Carnivals, the oldest
and greatest of them all, often imitated, never equaled.
It's termed by many as the world's most spectacular
celebration.
For
the two days preceding Ash Wednesday, you will see
the stunning beauty of tens of thousands of colorfully
costumed revelers and you will hear the scintillating
sound of steelband - hundreds upon hundreds of delicately
tuned oil drums playing to the rhythm of Trinidad's
Calypso. You will feel a spirit move you as
it has never done before.
Trinidad Carnival is far more than two days of
masquerading, however. It's a whole explosive
season in itself. And the seeds of brilliance
that blossom during that season have been germinating
in the minds of designers, composers and panmen since
well before Christmas. Trinidad's culture prepares
to celebrate itself between January 1st and Ash Wednesday
with songs pouring from recording studios, performed
nightly in Calypso tents, costumes by the thousands
being stitched, and the process of turning more than
a hundred panmen and women into a single, giant steelband
unit.
|
|
|
At
Carnival time, something extraordinary occurs in Trinidad
& Tobago. Barriers fall. Rank ceases to matter.
The air permeates with the recognition of the human
need to recreate, to play, to suspend the superficial
world of commerce, gossip and politics for a time, and
let deeper values predominate. It is a time for
you, the individual, to experience an opportunity to
learn about truth, joy and the art of living.
The
celebration started hundreds of years ago, and though
today's happy festival bears little resemblance to the
Carnivals of old, the festival's roots lie in a mixture
of the rites of Bacchus, of French Catholic celebration,
and the revelry of newly emancipated slaves.
Carnival
arts are public property, analyzed and judged even as
they are being created. Rehearsals are attended
as avidly as finals. As you stride out into the
pulsating Port of Spain evening, you have many choices:
|
|
Child
in Kiddie Carnival
|
Desperadoes Steel
Orchestra
|
STEELBAND
& PANYARDS
Trinidad
has given the world the only new acoustic musical instrument
invented in the 20th Century - the steelpan.
Rhythm and percussion, vital parts of Carnival, were originally
provided by African drums and, later, the beating of various
lengths of bamboo - "Tamboo Bamboo". When
African drums were banned, they were first replaced during
World War II by large biscuit tins. Soon a ready supply of
discarded oil-drums was available, enabling the creative genius
of the drummakers to surface. In order to create a variety
of notes, they sunk the drum-ends, heated them, and hammered
notes into them.
From
the early two-note bases ("doo-doops") there are
now the instruments with enough notes for the entire voice
ranges of a symphony orchestra. The voices of the steelpans
are tuned to concert pitch which expert arrangers orchestrate
into extravagant calypso music, symphonically complex.
The summit of the season's work and nightly practice sessions
is at the "Panorama" competition for the steelband
championship, which is an inimitable feast of sight and sound,
the finals being on Carnival Weekend. It's the Super Bowl
of Music. Nothing comparable exists.
The larger
steelbands invite onlookers to attend their rehearsals in
their panyards (practice areas). It's serious business
for the 100 players, but there are bars and delicious snacks
for visitors to enjoy while they sit, chat, sip, and drink
in the sound of the glorious music in its birthplace.
|
|
CALYPSO
& CALYPSO TENTS
Trinidad
& Tobago is also the home of Calypso, an art-form that
parodies the issues and gossip of the day. The Calypsonian
comments, pokes fun, and satirizes, airing the ills and thrills
of society. The true practitioners of the art can be
heard in nightly Calypso Tent shows (originally under canvas
in humbler circumstances). Up to twenty singers perform
in an evening in an atmosphere of friendly banter and expert
opinion. Nowhere will you get closer to the soul of
Trini than here. The season's songs are judged, and
the nine best Calypsonians are selected to compete against
the defending champion for the year's Calypso Monarch title
on Carnival weekend at Dimanche Gras.
|
|
King
of the Bands
Peter Minshall, Designer
|
|
MASQUERADE
BANDS & MAS CAMPS
The
costume masquerade bands range from 50 to 3000 players
whose designers create around a very imaginative theme.
At the pinnacle of this extraordinary creativity are
the kings and queens of each band - the leaders. These
costumes are made of wire, wheels, bamboo, feathers,
fabric, metal, sequins, anything that comes to hand.
The result is an image of such beauty, it is hardly
possible to believe that an ordinary man or woman
stands at its heart. The kings and queens compete
and the Finals are on Carnival weekend at Dimanche
Gras. Then the entire masquerade is in the street
on Carnival Tuesday.
Rather
than be a spectator, the full joy of Trinidad Carnival
is to play in a masquerade band yourself. The
parading bands headquarters are called Mas Camps.
You can visit the different ones nightly and see the
costumes, broaden your understanding of mas, and make
your own choice of which band to play with. You can
also sign up for a mas band through Pan Caribe Tours.
|
|
|
FETES
From
January onwards the parties (fetes) or Jump-ups never stop.
They are high intensity affairs, thanks to the astonishing
standard of the live bands. Tickets are easy to acquire,
and the radio and newspapers are full of the venue locations
and times.
|
Carnival Monday / Tuesday
Phone: 1-800-525-6896
USA & CANADA * 1-512-266-7995 Fax: 1-512-266-7995
E-mail: info@pancaribetours.com
Mail: P.O. Box 3223 Austin, TX 78764
Created by Viper
Sites All pages copyright Pan Caribe Inc. © 2000. All Rights
Reserved
|