During his 20-year love affair with Trinidad Carnival, British mas man Alan Vaughan has won competitions and friends along the way. This year he’s back with another stunning West African-themed moko jumbie band.
From the back stairs of a spacious open-plan studio, Alan Vaughan gazes over the rusty rooftops of Belmont. In the distance, the spire of St Margaret of Antioch Church pokes its head up. Beyond it, the green hills undulate towards Morvant.
“It’s all very close together,” he says, looking at the tightly packed houses in Port of Spain’s oldest neighbourhood. He’s been encamped in Belmont for weeks, making mas for his new band Moko Somokow.
After posing for a picture, Vaughan returns to his desk in the workspace he shares with other artists. His friend and collaborator Kriston Chen has just brought him a vintage Singer sewing machine.
“I prefer these old solid ones to the modern plastic,” he says pointing at the other sewing machines on the tables around him. He’s upstairs at Granderson Lab (the G and R have fallen off the sign on the door) on Erthig Road. The former printing press was taken over a few years ago by the owners of Alice Yard and turned into a workshop for a fashion company and other artistic enterprises.
It’s a drastic change from Vaughan’s usual setting in Newcastle, north-east England and a departure from the familiar surroundings of Taradale where his erstwhile moko jumbie band, Touch D Sky, are based. He’s been coming to Trinidad for 20 years and since 2012 the two-phase housing development built on former cane fields outside San Fernando has been his Carnival headquarters.
“We started off in a squat in an empty house and the police came and threw us out, so we ended up making the whole mas in one of the boys’ bedrooms,” he laughs.
In the five years since Touch D Sky’s founders, Adrian Young and Jonadiah “JJ” Gonzales, invited Vaughan (“Mr Alan” to his friends) to design for the band, he has not only learned how to sew (his background is in sculpture and painting) but also taught himself how to stilt-walk.
“We wanted to move things on,” he explains. “Up until then the whole experience of being a moko jumbie was being called up to ‘do a run’ at a fete…there were no moko jumbies saying ‘we want to bring out our own mas.’”
By 2015, he had moved things on to a level nobody could have predicted, becoming the first British designer in history to win the Carnival Queen competition when Stephanie Kanhai performed Sweet Waters Of Africa dressed in Vaughan’s interpretation of the African goddess Oshun.

Smiling at the judges from ear to ear, Kanhai also became the first moko jumbie to win the crown.
“People still grumble about that now,” says Vaughan. “Moko jumbies aren’t supposed to win when you have people entering these big expensive float designs.”
The boat-shaped headpiece Kanhai wore symbolised, he says, “the African blood that travelled over the Atlantic and is still flowing on this side of the Atlantic.”
His mas band that year was named Crossing the River, after the Caryl Phillips novel about the global migration of African culture. The book was an epiphany for Vaughan who had become besotted with West African culture, art and religion since visiting Afrocentric parts of Brazil in the 1990s.
“There’s a parallel world going on in Brazil that’s right obvious and I found it really hard to find in Trinidad – for years I couldn’t see it. Even in Rio, a big commercial city, on a street corner you’ll see some flowers, a candle, some cigarettes and a bit of rum, for Eshu.”
“New Year’s Eve, Copacabana beach is just full of people sending little boats out for Yemanja. It’s part of so many people’s lives – the spiritual life going on at the same time as the physical. Bata drums in the night, paper balloons crossing the sky for St Anthony.”
With Touch D Sky on hiatus for 2018, Vaughan has launched the spin-off band Moko Somokow (meaning “spirit family” in Mali’s Bambara language) and has decided he will perform in the Carnival King competition himself, for the first time.
“I want to walk across that stage,” he says, smiling. “Before I’m too old.”
His entry is called The Magnificent Return of Sundjata, after the king who united the 12 tribes of Mali together to form an empire in the 13th century. Griots in Mali still tell the epic of his prophecy, birth and return from exile.
The aesthetic themes of the costume are familiar to followers of his work – richly coloured fabric adorned with shimmering pieces of material that flutter like bird feathers, and swirly sequined patterns that glitter in the light.
Asked what his artistic inspirations are – leaving aside the fact he has played mas in bands by Peter Minshall and Brian Mac Farlane – he somewhat surprisingly references medieval paintings.
“It’s the richness of the detail and because they’re not dealing with reality.”
Growing up in Gloucestershire in rural south-west England, he was a punk rocker with orange hair, a plastic rain mac and Day-Glo socks by the time he left home to attend Cheltenham College of Art and Design in 1978.
“That was my awakening year,” he says nostalgically. “I’d failed my art A-Level but they’d given me a place anyway and when I got there they said, ‘well that’s great, everyone who fails is a far better artist.’”
“It was the year that taught me to think. I still remember the head of fashion saying, ‘I always look at fashion like body sculpture.’”
That statement has followed him through his life’s work and still informs his mas making today.
He went on to study fine art at the University of Nottingham, then took a job as artist in residence on the psychiatric ward of a hospital in Newcastle – the city he now calls home – before raising funds to open the North Tyneside Arts Studio, which caters for people with mental health problems.
By the mid-90s, a Conservative government that had decimated public funding in Britain for everything from hospitals to school meals had begun withdrawing support from arts projects, including his. Depressed at constant attempts to shut down the thing he had built, Vaughan took the advice of a Trinidadian roommate and came over for Carnival.
“I would come and shut myself away in Maracas Valley and not speak to anyone for three months and just make bits of art out of junk,” he chuckles. “I didn’t know any artists, I wouldn’t go and socialise, it was just my time.”
Trinidad was a life-changing experience for Vaughan, particularly his fascination with moko jumbies “appearing out of nowhere.”
“And it’s often these quite unruly young lads, so there’s this hint of danger and menace going on, you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
He shares some of these experiences back in grey, drizzly Newcastle, teaching children moko jumbie walking at a local community centre. In 2015, he brought one of them down to the British Museum in London and flew Kanhai and Gonzalez over from Trinidad, to perform together for crowds outside the world-famous institution.
But despite his fondness for the Caribbean and for Europe, Vaughan’s heart really lies in Africa.
“Africa is a different way of thinking,” he says.
He recalls a conversation he once had with the “mesmeric” South African professor Pitika Ntuli, who told him a story about the Ndebele women who paint their houses with geometric shapes, “almost like Mondrian paintings” and in the rainy season it all washes off.
“This British missionary aid worker goes over there and tells them about this exterior household paint, and the women just look at him in horror saying, ‘why would we want to do that?’ And the missionary says, ‘so it won’t wash off and you don’t have to redo it.’ So the women tell him, ‘but we’ll want a different pattern next year because our lives will have changed.’”
Ntuli’s conclusion was that the European view of art is to create “little forevers”, like paintings that are exhibited and preserved for centuries, while in Africa they are “forever creating”.
“You do something, it has a purpose and then life moves on and you recreate.”
The annual, seasonal renewal of Trinidad Carnival is arguably similar, even if the inspirations hark back to longstanding traditions.
But what inspires Vaughan to make mas? He sums it up quite simply but poetically.
“It’s the same as writing a novel. You do it because you think there’s something important to say, but you hope other people are going to read it and enjoy it.”
Source:  Newsday, January 27, 2019 

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​IT was an emotional ceremony yesterday as the Express presented its 2018 Individual of the Year awards at the Radisson Hotel in Port of Spain.
As brothers Ravi and Navin Kalpoo collected their award, they revealed that it was the one-year anniversary of their mother’s death.
The Kalpoo brothers became local heroes following last October’s unprecedented flooding in Central and East Trinidad, rushing out to help rescue more than 300 people in distress in Kelly Village.
Their mother, Doolarie Kalpoo, was known for her tireless community work.
Source: Express, Feb 2019.
​Check out this video below... starts around 1:24 

Applying for a US immigrant visa? Make sure you have your computer-generated polymer birth certificate, according to an update from the US Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago.
In an update shared to social media on January 28, 2019, the US Embassy said this is required for all immigrant visa applications from February 1, 2019.
"#VisaUpdate: Starting February 1, 2019, U.S. Embassy Port of Spain will require the new green polymer, computer-generated civil documents issued by the Registrar General."
"These include Trinidad and Tobago birth certificates, marriage certificates, and death certificates. All previous versions of these civil documents will no longer be accepted."
"Please ensure that you have your updated documents prior to your scheduled immigrant visa interview in order to avoid any delays in visa processing," the Embassy said. 
According to the US Bureau of Consulate Affairs, a citizen of a foreign country who wishes to enter the United States must first obtain a visa, either a nonimmigrant visa for a temporary stay, or an immigrant visa for permanent residence. Visitor visas are nonimmigrant visas for persons who want to enter the United States temporarily for business (visa category B-1), for tourism (visa category B-2), or for a combination of both purposes (B-1/B-2).
For more information on the US visa application process see here: https://bit.ly/2B8dHpX
To search for your birth certificate details and order a polymer certificate online, click here: https://bit.ly/2KFSXgl
To contact the Registrar General's offices see here: https://bit.ly/2Nfv8wS 
Source: The Loop TT, January 2019

According to CNN a foreign language can be the best aphrodisiac, and as a result, CNN traveled the world in search of the 12 hottest accents.
Coming in at number 10 is the Trinidadian accent which is the only West Indian accent on the list. This is what CNN had to say ” For fetishists of oddball sexuality, the Caribbean island of Trinidad offers an undulating, melodic gumbo of pan-African, French, Spanish, Creole and Hindi dialects that, when adapted for English, is sex on a pogo stick.”
A Few Famous tongues: Nikki Minaj, Billy Ocean, Russell Latapy, Geoffrey Holder, V.S. Naipaul, Peter Minshall, Heather Headley, Wendy Fitzwilliam, Ato Boldon, Brian Lara, Dwight York, Marlon Asher,and ah bunch ah Soca artists like Machel Montano, Denise Belfon, Shurwayne Winchester, Nadia Batson, Destra, Bunji Garlin, Fayann Lyons, Iwer George, Patrice Roberts, Farmer Nappy, Zan, Blaxx, Benjai and many more…you get the picture

​The decriminalisation of marijuana may be coming sooner than you think.
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi in response to an Urgent Question in Senate on Tuesday indicated that the issue was a matter of priority and will be laid in Parliament in the first half of 2019.
Al-Rawi revealed that consultations with stakeholders have already begun with public sessions to begin after feedback is received from interest groups.
He explained that Government is working to ensure that it’s thorough in its consultation process and as such intends to collate the information from this feedback and address it in public consultation, which is expected to be conducted across the country.
“So what we have to do is go to the public domain exactly as we did in our prison consultation, our child marriage consultation and several of our other issues and get the voices of the people in open forum with open microphones, with open communication.”
This, he said, will ensure that they have the “widest form of understanding of this particular topic”.
While the Attorney General could not provide a list of interest groups and organisations engaged on the matter, he said Government had written to around 100 stakeholders.
“We’ve written to about 100 entities and we’ve received umpteen replies, so I couldn’t do justice to all of the stakeholders but we’ve included a very broad subsection.
We’ve written to the Medical Association, to the Law Association and to special interest groups. Interest groups have approached us, private citizens have approached us.”
Questioned further by Opposition Senator Wade Mark on whether a list of the stakeholder and interest groups would be made available ahead of these public consultations, Al-Rawi said he was two minds about doing so as it was an ongoing process.
The Attorney General issued an invitation to the Opposition to write in offering their points of view and expressed the hope that Government would receive Opposition support on the matter,
“This is an ongoing process and it will become public in a very short space of time when we go to the public domain... So, I welcome the Opposition but when we go public everybody will be invited and we will address the issue of exactly who we’ve received consultation from at that point because I hope on this occasion we will have some support from the Opposition.”
Responding to further questions on the matter, Al-Rawi said Government would opt not to produce a green paper.
He said the best way to treat with the issue is to do it in the same way Government approached the issue of child marriage.
“You see, for far too long our country has been stuck in analysis paralysis,” he said.
Al-Rawi stated that it is Government’s intention to dive into the issue and get busy with producing the work product.
Legislation to protect prison officers will also be laid in Parliament during early 2019
Source: The Loop, Dec. 2018

SOME 758 alleged killers are awaiting trial for murder, acting Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon told the Senate yesterday. Replying to a listed question by Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen, Dillon said, “A total of 758 persons have been accused of murder and are currently committed to stand trial at the Assizes.”
The minister replied to two other law-and-order questions posed by Ramdeen, respectively on police suspensions and witness protection.
Dillon said, “The Commissioner of Police has indicated that a total of 277 police officers are currently on suspension.” He said 269 are on suspension for criminal investigations, and eight for departmental/internal disciplinary investigations. Ramdeen, in a supplemental query, said some suspensions have been for as long as 14 years, but Dillon merely replied they are all at differing stages.
Also, Dillon said in a three-year period from September 2015 to September 2018, some 76 people were admitted to the justice protection programme. Ramdeen, in a supplementary question, tried to ask if the number represented a significant drop from past figures, but Senate President Christine Kangaloo disallowed it.
He tried again, asking how the Government plans to make the programme more attractive, but was again blocked by Kangaloo.

Source​Sandals has withdrawn from the Tobago project.
CEO Gebhard Rainer, in a press conference today, said the main reason for withdrawing was the negative publicity surrounding the project.
He said the Sandals team had been grateful for the unwavering support and transparency from the Government and from the Prime Minister.
"From the beginning there has never been a doubt about what the Prime Minister has been trying to do for the good of Trinidad and Tobago," Rainer said.
He said there would be no cost from Sandals that would be passed on to the TT Government as any cost they would have incurred from preliminary designs would be at Sandals' expense.
National Security Minister Stuart Young said a handful of people had tainted a global international brand and that was a sad and disappointing day.
Source: TT Newsday, Jan 2019

​Efforts are currently being taken to have Port-of-Spain declared a Unesco City of Music.
Port-of-Spain Mayor Joel Martinez revealed this on Friday night as he spoke at Phase II Panyard for the reveal of their 2019 song selection for Panorama.
Martinez said while efforts were made years ago, he has decided to push it again.
He said he met Carla Foderingham, former Chief Executive Officer of the Film Company of Trinidad and Tobago, who told him that the process was started some time ago but stalled.
"She said Trinidad has not had a designation from Unesco as a City of Music. Jamaica got it for reggae and I went to a function in Jamaica, the Mayor of Kingston invited me and they were so proud of their designation and they were spouting it so I felt when Carla brought it up to me I said let's get it done," he said. 
Martinez said we have lost out on so many things because we have not pushed it and having that designation would be an acknowledgment of our contribution to the world. 
"We are a talented nation, full of music, full of culture. We have invented the steelband, we have invented soca, we have invented calypso, we have invented chutney, so what are we waiting on?" he asked.
He said the process for the application has begun with Foderingham spearheading the project and he is hopeful it will be completed in time for the designation to be applied before the end of 2019.
To be approved as a City of Music, the following criteria need to be met according to Wikipedia: 

• A city must be  a recognised centre of musical creation and activity
• Experienced in hosting musical festivals and events at a national or international level
• Engage in promotion of the music industry in all its forms;
• Contain music schools, conservatories, academies and higher education institutions specialised in music
• Have informal structures for music education, including amateur choirs and orchestras;
• Have domestic or international platforms dedicated to particular genres of music and/or music from other countries;
• Have cultural spaces suited for practicing and listening to music, e.g. open-air auditoriums

Souce: The Loop, January 2019

For the first time in approximately three years, Trinidad and Tobago will be able to fully see the upcoming ‘Blood Moon’ lunar eclipse, which is also a supermoon, on January 21, 2019.
Although Trinbagonians were able to see the last partial lunar eclipse in August 2017, the last time a total lunar eclipse was fully visible to Trinidad and Tobago was on September 27-28, 2015.
However, on January 21, 2019, the total phase of this total lunar eclipse will be visible from North and South America, Europe and western Africa.
Central and eastern Africa and Asia will see a partial eclipse of the Moon.
The full eclipse should be visible to Trinbagonians from around midnight on January 21, 2019.
According to a report by meteorologist and avid astronomer Joe Rao, this month’s lunar eclipse is supposed to be a ‘blood moon’ and a ‘supermoon’, meaning it will appear to be larger than usual.
The phrase ‘blood moon’ is a misnomer as the moon can vary in colour from red to brown, grey or even black during the eclipse.
Traditionally, the January full moon is known as the "Wolf Moon." Names such as these are said to have been handed down from people living in old England or from Native Americans and are promulgated today in many popular almanacs.
Source: The Loop, Jan. 15, 2019