"Mother of Humanity" tops Queen final

Chariss Bovell portraying “Mother of Humanity—The Weeping Madonna" from Brian MacFarlane's Sanctification—In Search Of, captured the 2012 Queen of Carnival crown at the Queen’s Park Savannah, in Port of Spain, early on Monday (February 20).

Roxanne Omalo ("The Last Dance of The Enchanted Witches") finished second and Rose Marie Jagessar ("Wachiwi–I Dream of a Bustle Dancer"), third.

By Donstan Bonn

Mac Farlane's SANCTIFICATION at the stadium on carnival Monday.

Brian Mac Farlane will be putting on a theatrical  presentation of Sanctification at the national stadium in Port of Spain on Carnival Monday 20th February 2012.
 An on-line statement on Face book to loyal masquerades read,

UWI art students work on the camp.

"TO ALL LOYAL MASQUERADERS:Mac Farlane Carnival would be taking our Mas to a different level in 2012. Together with you we plan to transform the Mac Farlane Monday Mas experience into something Magnificent.In addition to being on the road in full costume and revelling through the streets of Port Of Spain, we will be presenting ourselves in our very own space.Free of Hassel,Full of Collage, Be part of this powerful Theatrical Presentation of Mas.
The Pre Show starts at 6:30 with Rosalind Gabriel's Children Presentation followed by Shadow ,David Rudder,Silver Stars and Patrice Roberts. At 7:30pm we Mac Farlanes will cross the Stage with Kees Dieffenthaller and Tony Prescott performing where all Masqueraders will get a chance to play themselves for 45mins - 1Hour. We Look Forward to YOU being apart of this experience with US."

The section "Salacious"- SANCTIFICATION

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IN SEARCH OF SANCTIFICATION: MAC FARLANE MAS 2012

MacFarlane makes the cut

The Shape of Carnival 2011

I was not sure if I liked Brian MacFarlane's offering for Carnival 2011, when I saw the costumes down at Mobs 2 last Friday evening in Chaguaramas (because it creeped me out a little bit) but I was sure I was looking at next year's band of the year.

Don't know if its the colour scheme of silver and black with some white, but the fantastic or should that be phantasmic shapes of his Humanity, Circle of Life had such a dark perfection that he is right about one thing, it really is as he has said "his most creative and inspiring presentation to date".

And, in that one presentation, ladies and gentlemen, the sheep have been separated from the goats in the search in this column for the shape of Carnival 2011. Having been to the 2011 presentations of most of the major bands, I feel that I can say I have seen nothing to challenge it with the exception of Peter Samuel's presentation of Skullduggery which introduced an element of punk and something different into the mas. But Samuel's mas really needs numbers to make it work on the road and some of his costumes need reworking for the concepts to better resonate and that's another story. But the fuzz from the feathers has cleared and there is MacFarlane and there is the rest consisting mostly of the hordes of beads and feathers.
What remains to be seen is how masqueraders will deal with the costumes on the hot carnival days because they seem to be on the cumbersome side, although MacFarlane gives the assurance that they are very light to carry, but as previous presentations have shown the MacFarlane masqueraders don't seem to mind that. And despite the influences traditional and new from which he obviously continues to draw, with this work MacFarlane seems to be working out a statement that is his.


The sections carry names such as Birth, Baptism, Love, Time, Prayer, Knowledge, Joy and Sorrow, Marriage, Passion, Work, Good and Evil, Giving and Receiving, Freedom and The Farewell

By Deborah John

MacFarlane gets CHOGM contract: Chutney/Bollywood segment for opening

A Chutney/Bollywood segment will be included in the cultural act for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) opening ceremony on November 27.
Carnival designer Brian MacFarlane has once again been contracted by Government to produce the opening event.
Following the Fifth Summit of the Americas opening ceremony in April, the producer was criticised by many, including the Indo-Trinbago Equality Council (ITEC), for a lack of sufficient East Indian cultural representation.
"When we actually went through the script at the end of it all and checked these complaints, the whole committee, we realised that the East Indians got more play than the Africans did," said MacFarlane during an interview yesterday at his Rosalino Street, Woodbrook, mas camp.

"Their segments were longer. There was a whole segment on Phagwa that was done, that was never shown because the cameras can't pick up everything that was being shown because the stage was pretty big.

"Nevertheless, we have looked at it and listened to what they have to say. There is going to be a whole sort of chutney with a Bollywood twist if, you want to call it that. That's going to be put in to it."
MacFarlane, who recently launched his 2010 presentation "This is Resurrection, The Mas" at Buccoo Reef, in Tobago, said he was already in talks with a popular local East Indian group to perform the Chutney/Bollywood piece.
He revealed that entertainers such as Sparrow, Denyse Plummer and Mungal Patasar have already been confirmed. He said a grand and exciting portrayal of Trinidad and Tobago's culture can once again be expected.
"It will be on par with what we did for the Summit of the Americas," he said.
"I have already made my presentation to the whole committee, including the Honourable Prime Minister who is very excited about the whole thing. We have started work already. And it's going to be the same amount of performers. Maybe 700 to 800. And the reason for this is there is no time for costume change because it moves so quickly."
MacFarlane defended the undisclosed multi-million dollar cost for his services in April.
"The cost that was quoted in the papers first of all had VAT in it. Secondly they itemised it as the cost for the opening ceremony, it was not, it was the cost for everything that was done," he said.
"The entire Summit Village, all of the artistes 800 plus, bringing Machel from away, bringing Arrow, also the lighting, the revolving stage, the fire-proof drapes we had to use by law," he said.
"All of the events we did at the Prime Minister's residence, the Diplomatic Centre, the plenary. So it was numerous, numerous events that took place the cost covered. So when you really start to break it down you would realise it is not that much."
Along with the opening, MacFarlane will also be working on the production of the Summit Village and other meetings for the November summit.

Kristy Ramnarine kramnarine@trinidadexpress.com

Trinidad Express