Montreal?s most colourful and exciting parade, Carifiesta, is a tradition born of slavery in Trinidad and Tobago, when French colonial masters hosted huge masquerade balls three days before Ash Wednesday. Slaves got a day off and mimicked their masters at their own parties, a tradition that morphed into Trinidad?s famed Carnival.
That tradition migrated north to such cities as Miami, NYC, Toronto and Montreal. And this year, Montreal?s competing floats, known as ?mas bands,? will all ?play mas? (as in masquerade) at the 38th annual Carifiesta on July 6, beginning at noon. More than 100,000 spectators are expected to line the parade route.
Each mas band must have a theme and at least 35 people in costumes, which are made of colourful feathers and bouncing fibreglass rods. Participants in mas camps throughout the city build mas (stitch costumes and build floats) for competition.
Established in 1974 and run by the non-profit Caribbean Cultural Festivities Association, this year?s edition of Carifiesta will? boast seven mega-floats and a marching band.
There is also a new route this year: The parade kicks off at noon at the corner of Fort and Ste-Catherine streets, then continues west along Ste-Catherine to Phillip?s Square. The judging stand this year will be at the corner of McGill and Ste-Catherine streets.
Check out the photos below from previous editions of Carifiesta, snapped by Montreal photographer Seb Oran.
Pan Coalition at the Montreal International Steelpan Festival (Photo courtesy Gong Communications)
There are plenty more Caribbean-flavoured celebrations in Montreal this weekend, including Montreal?s 32nd annual Jamaica Day at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Ile Ste-Helene (it?s free, and goes from 2- 11 pm on July 6, complete with live reggae music by legendary Jamaican singer Neville ?Tinga? Stewart backed by Montreal?s own Uprising band), as well as the 13th edition of the Montreal International Steelpan Festival (MISF), which is being held at C?DA Little Burgundy and Vinet park on July 5-7.
?In Trinidad & Tobago the steelpan ? the only new acoustic musical instrument invented in the twentieth century ? rapidly created a movement that has spread through the vibrant calypso musical culture, being staged at the various annual carnivals and events throughout the West Indies, ? MISF founder and ethnomusicologist Salah Wilson says in a MISF press release. ?This melodic percussion instrument invented in the 30?s by recycling barrels of oil and tuning them into a family of instruments has developed a culture of its own that has spread across the globe. ?A musician is called a pannist, the rehearsal place for steelbands is called a panyard. A manufacturer is called a pan maker and the tuner is called a pan tuner.?
The Montreal International Steelpan Festival features three days of pan music, a dozen pan soloists and steelbands of international reputation including Andy Narell (who performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in 1991, 1996 and 2005), Darren Shepperd, Fusion Steel Orchestra, Pan Coalition, Salah?s Steelpan Academy and Joy Laps Trio.
The event will conclude with the annual steelbands competition at Vinet park, where admission is free. This year steelpan workshops are also being offered for free on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Click here for more info, and scroll down for a Montreal International Steelpan Festival video.? Information and reservations: (438) 875-1426 / (514) 596-4422
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Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F7366/~3/FPJDZJVT87w/
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