Wendell Manwarren On Ropes In Carnival: It’s An Affront, Challenges The Notion Of The Road As A Free Space
“Long time mas used to be look meh, now mas is look at meh…”
This from 3Canal singer and cultural activist, Wendell Manwarren.
He told YCG that mas in Trinidad and Tobago is becoming more and more narcissistic. He believes this is just one of the contributing factors to the changed vibe on the road come Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
“In all my years of playing mas, and that’s a long time, people used to come that was the hustle. They take whatever money they have and they buy a little water they come and they set up and they sell a little accra or a little roti or a little something. When you put everything inside the band what happens to these people? You cut them off from the thing.”
Manwarren also recalled years when police would stage roadblocks, preventing some people from entering Port of Spain.
“So if you coming in from the East or coming in from the West they stop you and put you out the maxi and send you back home. So those fellas stopped coming in town. So in the last 15 to 20 years, there is nobody on the road. Where is the vibes? You don’t play mas for yourself by yourself. When you’re playing mas it’s a transaction between you and the onlooker the spectator. But we’re killing that off.”
“Long time if you’re playing something, you had a portrayal. Now we’re playing these abstract themes, they’re not grounded in anything so all we’re looking to do is jump up and down, drink as much as we can, wine up on as many people as we can and say we had a time.”
Asked to comment on ropes being used to protect masqueraders, Manwarren scoffed.
“Those people see themselves as special and set apart and don’t wish to congregate with certain people. As a matter of fact, we trade in, we call it inclusive but it’s actually exclusive. What we’re trading in is exclusivity. A lot of us trade in the notion that this is only accessible to me and a few others of my ilk.”
He said it speaks to the depth of insecurity of us as a people and how young we are as a society. He told YCG the fact that we feel compelled to engage in these discriminatory practices to make ourselves feel special and set apart is very telling.
“The rope was laughed out of existence in carnival and then it was reintroduced many generations later. It was reintroduced with the notion that it was a security measure, but is a piece of rope! It aint really doing nothing to stop nobody … I see it as an affront because it challenges the idea of the road as a free space where everybody can engage. Basically what’s been happening over the years is that we’ve been trying to make this free space safer and safer for one grouping of people and I say this at the risk of being condemned, but I can say that because I understand both sides of the equation come in from Belmont coming from from that free space of expression and going to St. Mary’s College, and also understanding that aspirant culture that you’re a part of that you’re trained to leave certain things behind and judge yourself and the self contempt of the society is real. And a lot of us are not in a position to acknowledge that and see that what we’re doing is perpetuating it.”
Manwarren finds it sad and indictable that the country has allowed itself to be brought back to this place.
“As a matter of fact, there was a fete one time that you had to send a picture yourself before you could get a ticket. What is what is that? If that is not like you know discrimination, what then is it?”
Drawing reference to Grenada’s Jab movement, Manwarren said he looks at the Spice Isle with something akin to envy.
“There is actually a movement in Grenada that says jab is we thing don’t spoil it. Before you know it, we spoil it and we lose it so I want to use Grenada as an example of people holding on to their tradition, holding on to their expression and holding on to their culture. The first consideration is not the commercialisation of it, but from the time it starts to go down that road, we start to lose it. We have to be careful with these things.”
He said Trinidad and Tobago has already lost a lot.
“Thank God for Paramin. Thank God for the Alfreds and Caripichaima with jab jabs and keeping that culture alive. The schools could only do so much. The schools could introduce you to the idea but we have to reinvigorate communities.”
The culture afficiniado said communities have to be encouraged and supported without feeling obligated to go into Port of Spain and hand over what money they have to conglomerates for a chance to participate in the Carnival.
“That is what it has become, it’s a conglomerate. This is a clear departure from what mas used to be. Mas used to come out of families- Leong and Bailey and all these things. Then it became the individual mas man with a community supporting their vision like Barkley, Raoul Garib, Peter Minshall or whatnot. Now it’s corporate, it’s committees… we’re going down a Yankee road to our detriment then we want to say oh we will lose it to Jamaica. How?”
Manwarren said this possibility wouldn’t even be a topic for discussion if Trinidad and Tobago would give the respect that’s due to all elements of its culture. This, he noted, includes taking steps to preserve it.
