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Showcase launches 2008 mas’ troupe designs

Friday May 09 2008

For Carnival 2008, Showcase will be presenting to the public a mas’ entitled Extracts from Asia. “This year the band will feature seven exciting and magnificent sections,” Tassa Hunte explained.

There will be five adult sections which include Dragon Festival, Festival of the Moon, Emperors Guard, Zhong Qui and New Years. The two children’s sections are Chong Yang and Samurai Warriors.

Hunte shared that generally his concepts for a mas’ comes from him pondering a theme and doing research, either using books or the computer.

“I’ll then do a basic sketch and then go into the final design and colour,” he said.

As far as the use of colours goes for Hunte, he does not use the same colours twice.

“Each section must have its own colour, we try to balance the use of the colours,” he added.

Band Leader Tassa Hunte explained that this year, its 25th year on the road, Showcase will be taking things a notch higher by moving the troupe from the small bands sections up to the medium band section of the competition which takes place during Carnival Monday and Tuesday.

Showcase broke away from Revellers Mas' Troupe when it was recognised that Revellers had grown significantly. Iris Matthew (deceased), Hunte, Vincent Daniel and Barry Buntin Gore were pivotal in the growth of the mas’ troupe. Showcase has done pretty well, as it is the current small band title holders and has been so for the past six years.

Registration has already got underway and interested people can visit the mas’ camp at Baldwin Street Ottos. Hunte stressed that mas’ players will not have to worry about increase in the price for playing with their band as the costumes are made right here in Antigua and as a result, do not incur as much costs as other bands that import their costumes.

The cost for playing mas’ with showcase includes refreshments and automatic. entrance to the after party held at the mas’ camp.

The band does not have any official sponsors onboard as yet, but there are potentials which include Antigua Luxury Homes, Antigua Home and Office Depot and Carib Beer.

Antigua Sun

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Pure Passion Reloaded presents Caribbean Heartbeat

Friday May 09 2008

by H. Drew

On Thursday afternoon, it was all about Pure Passion Reloaded, as the mas' troupe released its 2008 presentation under the theme “Caribbean Heartbeat – Why people come to the Caribbean”.

At an intimate launch held at Coates Cottage, the media was provided with the opportunity to see sketches of the 2008 designs before being afforded a glimpse of what the finished product looks like.

The mas’ comprises nine colourful adult sections, which include one pre-teen section.

The sections are aptly named providing the reasons why people would journey to the Caribbean. Thus, the sections are: The Sea, The Sunset, The Moonlight, The People, The Music, The Flora, The Fauna, The Carnival and The Nature.

With true Caribbean style, the colours of the mas’ reflect the vibrant tropical look of the Caribbean. The hues range from deep blue, to light blue, bursts of orange, flaming red, deep brown to effervescent green.

The designer of the costumes is Heather Doram, while Vindra Sooklal of Trinidad & Tobago took the concept and sketches and made them into creative pieces.

Pure Passion Reloaded is a young mas’ troupe which is promising to take revelling to the next level. To do this, they have enlisted one of Antigua’s big bands, Burning Flames, to join them on the road Carnival Monday and Tuesday.

The all-inclusive mas’ troupe is governed by a five-member executive team comprising Tracey Kirwan, Leslie Barnes, Morlon James, Karen James and Louvincia Kirwan.

The camp is located at Coates Cottage, Lower Nevis Street and for those who perhaps don’t have the time to make the trek there, they can visit purepassions.com to learn more about Pure Passions Reloaded.

Antigua Sun

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'EXOTIC' LAUNCH .. CP to present her own mas' troupe tonight

Friday May 09 2008

Antigua’s soca darling, Claudette “CP” Peters, after a number of years of playing mas’ within the ranks of greater troupes in the country’s Carnival, has decided to form her own Exotic Mas’ Troupe and will launch Mardi Gras tonight.

The event will be held at Da G Spot on Independence Avenue and will kick off at 8 p.m.

“You know over the years I have been playing mas' with a band, usually having my own section. I simply decided that if you can do this and be fairly successful at it, it just might be worth a shot organising my own troupe so that’s what I did.”

CP returned from Trinidad yesterday following a visit to make sure she had what she needed to pull of a successful launch of Exotic Mas’ Troupe. She said she believes what she has at this point is more than enough to get the party started and to attract people to her new venture.

Tonight’s programme will include a feature presentation from the popular Taxik Band of which she is the lead singer.

Antigua Sun

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Altered Snow Flower Section:

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Costume Pics from the launch:

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[MsEnglishHarbour]

^^^^ not bad ... i like

...patiently awaits xtreme's collection

[Islandtyme]

^^I wonder what their theme for this year will be. Them quiet bad.

[ank]

Originally Posted by Islandtyme

^^I wonder what their theme for this year will be. Them quiet bad.

Won't you wear some of them ?

[Nickyan]

um.........couldnt the 1 for dynamics w/ the curtain find a photograph or at least her 96 yr ol grandmother who's on the death bed???? this is SOOO UNprofessional!

claudette's troupe looking niiiiice!

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Originally Posted by Nickyan

um.........couldnt the 1 for dynamics w/ the curtain find a photograph or at least her 96 yr ol grandmother who's on the death bed???? this is SOOO UNprofessional!

claudette's troupe looking niiiiice!

the professional photos should be up soon. they were already taken, they just haven't been released yet.

[direct_effect]

http://www.xtremeintl.com/

Well the website was always up and up to date but I decided to post it now becoz they have put up their registration info (scroll down). Launch is on the 24th of this month.

Oh, the official carnival site is also up. www.antiguacarnival.com

This year's theme is "I am mas, I am music, I am culture, I AM CARNIVAL.

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Group shot ..The People, The Carnival, The Sea, The Fauna, The Moonlight, The Music....




The Moonlight




The People (available with or without the backpiece)




The Music




The Fauna




The Carnival

[ank]

Originally Posted by direct_effect

Xtreme Mas 2008

Well the website was always up and up to date but I decided to post it now becoz they have put up their registration info (scroll down). Launch is on the 24th of this month.

Oh, the official carnival site is also up. www.antiguacarnival.com

This year's theme is "I am mas, I am music, I am culture, I AM CARNIVAL.

Thank you .

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Well the newest troupe to Antigua's carnival scene is Myst and all the mystery and hype behind the new troupe is quickly leading to them almost stealing the thunder from the long anticipated Xtreme launch next weekend (Xtreme launches on Saturday, Myst on Sunday) and it's even worse now that it's been revealed that their launch will be invitation only.

Apparently, Myst will basically be transplanting Island People Mas from Trinidad into Antigua. This means Island People costumes from the 2008 presentation Animal Kingdom (I think), Island People service and amenities on the road and also (unfortunately) Island People prices. Right now the rumors are that the price range will be from EC$800 to $1250 (US$296 to $462), but like I said these are just rumors and there will be nothing definite until the launch takes place next week.

This is a pic of Myst's teaser flyer/poster:



Looks exactly like IP's Zebra section from this year.

For now, anyone interested can go to Myst's website at Myst Carnival 2008 and sign up for their newsletter.

P.S. no I do not work for Myst, just spreading some interesting info along.