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Well this year I played with Harts. I had my eyes set on Tribe of IP but since I was getting married the Friday after carnival in Tobago I had to save some $$$.. In the end I didn't really end up saving that much money since I had to pay extra of food and drink but that is another story.

I have very mixed feelings about this band. Everything went extremely smooth in regards to costumes. The registration was a breeze.. Just go online (site was in perfect working condition) and they let you pay with your Visa and Mastercard. There was no hype with this band so I wasn't stressing about some of my friends not making it into the section with me. I brought 5 friends from NYC with me and it was their first times playing mas.

Picking up costumes was smooth as well. They even let us pick up costumes for our friends without much fuss. Getting alterations was great also. They altered all our waistbands in 1 day without any fuss. The quality of the costumes was like no other I have seen. It was the extact replica of what was on the website. Head dress was well made and full of feathers. All the sizes were correct and my thong (YES THONG!) fit perfectly.

We were so excited to go on the road! Not the road experience leaves something to be desired. Music was nice they had all their trucks synced to play the same music. They had Imij and Co which after a while that ladies voice was kinda annoying. The attitude of the majority of the people in the band sucked. And yes I thought it was racial. My husband is Puerto Rican and all his friends were white and they thought the attitude of the people in the band was weird. They told me they liked the attitudeand vibe in Yellow Devils better. I swear they were looking at me like who let her in? 80% of that band was stuck up white Trini's. The band did have an exclusive feel, everyone seemed to know each other. There also were more old folks playing mas also. We went to the wrong drink trucks at first and the people were yelling at us. They could have simply said your drink truck if the name on your wrist band. Some thing happened at food time.

After awhile everyone was getting drunk so it was fun but I don't think I'll play with them again.. I felt so out of place! And I live in Manhattan and practically all my friends are white but these folks were strange. Everything else is onpoint though but when I play mas everything has to gel.

Dam, I wanted to give them a try. Not any more

I have NEVER wanted to play in Hearts. Me and ah friend of mine left our band to check another friend in a next band, we had was to walk thru Hearts and I said to mehself, Not me inside ah here.

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When two people cussin, they doh tell each other that they pretty or they nice.


-Meh Granny say so.

Sorry to hear your experience was.......well what it was.........we have very special folks in sweet T&T but luckily for us who have been living in the real worl we know dey aint shit......im very interested in your experience.......how did the negros in the band behave........do u think it was more a color thing or a social status aristocratic thing?

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We Come Tuh Ramajay.................Eh Eh...............WE Come Break Away

Thanks for this review. Koodos to you for trying something new. Tell us more about the wa the cost broke down please. Some one said they paid $600tt extra to get drinks and lunch from a truck monday and Tuesday and $100tt to use the wee truck.

Ok so yeah you had to pay an additional $600TT for drinks and food. And extra $100TT for the wewe truck. All together I payed $527US. So now I"m thinking paying with IP and Tribe ain't so expensive. I wasn't going to get the drinks thing and try to slide by but caved in the end and got it. I probably could have drank off my husband the whole time. And when you buy a drink band it's only for a certain truck. It not for the entire band. Some drink trucks had champagne etc.. kind of corney but it was interesting to see.

The few negros in the band just were chilling together. Now that I look back I think it was part racial and part social status. One of my friends came with us was white and also a Vice President in one of the world leading investments and he was getting treated like crap to. Like I said though the more people drank the more I didn't care or notice. The tourists in the band were nice though and friendly. To sum up the vibe I felt it was cold and unfriendly.

Girl, I played TRIBE and made out better than you at $516. Was able to drink from any truck... LOl, I am just kidding. I am all for having new experiences. From what you say it sounds like the negative feeling you felt was due partly to the fact that you and your crew was "new" to the band. Sounds like there was a little bit of turf war. Like why all these newbies coming to muck up we band. glad you had a good time after all.

aw girl, add $3 to that total and you could have played in my section in Tribe. lol the last thing i want to worry about on carnival monday & tuesday is which truck i'm allowed to get my drinks from. lol i'm too busy gettin' on bad fuh alla dat. dais too much headache. funny thing is, you're not the first person i've known to say these things about Harts. i've always admired their costumes but frankly, i've heard about how exclusive they can be. my temper is way too quick to deal with that foolishness after i pay my money to play my mas. hopefully next year you'll play again & with a different band for a better experience.

Had a good time but never again. I'm just letting other know about my experience. We did meet Nigel Hart and he was very nice and funny. If other bands can get as organized as them regarding costume distribution and quality. They gave out costumes at their house.. Nothing fancy no stadium or anything, but all my costume was there in one piece. Next year I think I'm going with IP or Tribe IF I can get registered for the section I want. It's always a battle..

Interesting, not surprising though. thanks for your feedback. hopefully your future carnivals will be more fulfilling.

Harts seriously lacks the real "Carnival vibes"; when the party now start; theirs is already over; not to mention the racial issues..Trinidad is a rainbow country; and they are just not a great representation of what we are all about. Further, that whole "drink cart" thing is so "back in the days"..the all-inclusive concept is miles ahead. Their costumes are pretty; but also tend to be very repetitive over the years.

Nigel is a sweetheart and very organized. But my family and friends always played in Harts and most of their members know eachother because Harts has been around forever. Some of their members always snob and turn up thier noses at people who played in Poison, Tribe, IP etc. It's a carnival turf thing that happens in all the bands and it also use to happen in several sections in Poison. As well as certain fetes where some local Trinis have these huge egos. But over the years I have learn to adapt and have no problems flipping up from my Trini accent to a perfect American accent with a quickness. Sometimes you just have to give a reality check to some local wannabees. That will be considered poor white trash or ghetto hoodrats in certain social economic circles in America. So it's always entertaining sometimes to see/read some of the comments because some should not try to play they making style atall in Trinidad. Were the local Trinis also snobing your American White friends too? One of my very spoilt rich White friend's is still traumatized by how rude some people were to him in Trinidad.lol On the flip side I got a big kick out of it because for the first time nobody in Trinidad was farting on his flity rich White butt.lol But on the other hand he loved the people in Tobago because he enjoyed using his money to get folks to kiss up to him again.

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So yuh mean if ah black man like me venture into hards and grab ah lil ting for a small wine ah might end up lock up??? Buh dais not de carnaval spirit at all.

I think its a cultural difference.........its funny how I observed in my time in this country how the caucasians enjoy themselves over here and what they call a "party".............then yuh look at certain fetes like Bachnnal Wednesday,Trini Posse, etc..........different strokes fuh different folks.......ame thing fuh other bands like Tribe, Legacy, IP, etc......each band have a different culure.......and the faithfuls will try to wrig yuh neck if yuh say anyting bad bout dey band

nah i eh tink yuh go get lock up........is if d ting go wine back on yuh.......my feel on dem and most folks like dem in Trini is dat is bout Social staus first den race........f dem kno yuh is a high roller den yuh good to go.......if yuh lokk d right way and speak with that excellent tone and pronounciation den even better.......yuh ever hear dem talk lol

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We Come Tuh Ramajay.................Eh Eh...............WE Come Break Away

thanx for the hart review. they have pretty costumes but damn i was so surprised to see 4 sec passed and it's white ppl alone. now dat i have an idea of the vibes, dis 1 is def outta my list. i tink ill do like de rest of my lucians and jump in TRIBE!! ....one day.