Cumm Cross Production

Dynasty Production

D’ Midas International

D’ Horizons

Island Pride Inc.

Mudd Band

Mas Players

Soca & Associates

T&T Social Club

Unity Sports

This is some of the organizations responsible for the annual Trinidad style carnival (Boston Carnival). They came from the Caribbean, primarily from Trinidad and have been residing in Boston for several years.

If you are interested in volunteering to assemble costumes, play mas or sponsor a band, review the band’s profile and either contact the organization’s directly or get in touch with us.

During the month of August, Boston carnival is one of the largest cultural events taking place in the city and attracts several hundred thousand visitors each year since 1973. August is also designated Caribbean Week

Boston Carnival 2K9 Review

By Michael C. Smith

The Trinidad Style carnival season was rained out due to a storm which was predicted to hit Boston on the day of the parade.

My morning started as it has for the past several years. That is on the morning of Boston Carnival, I left my house with camera to gather shot of the early morning reveler on Blue Hill Ave, Boston Carnival (BC) Jouvert, the revelers gathered in front of the Police station on Blue Ave. Visitors, party goers and folks returning form the boat cruse around Boston harbor all gathered to see the revelers in action, except this time there was an added element the rain.

The morning was unusually cold and damp and the sound of the Steelband in the air reveler on the move, about 6 bands in attendance and the rain poured on, however, many diehard revelers especially those from Trinidad will tell you that rain do not stop the carnival and that is true, the revelers certainly had a great time in the rain, however, I was not so fortunate, camera died, shooting stopped and I was out of there.

About 2pm I headed back to the parade, another camera in hand, the rain continued its relentless pouring. Bandleaders, masqueraders, spectators and vendors were not happy and I suspect that was true of the police officers also. Several bandleaders did not allow their member to participate in the parade due to the heavy rain and many were schedule to participate in Cambridge and New York’s parade. The other participants had their share of problems, such and music equipment not working; some band grouped together and crossed the stage as one and vendors lost several thousand dollars in revenues. Their disappointment and frustration were magnified because they could not get a coherent decision from the organization committee whether they should setup or leave, many of them choosing to do the latter.

I estimated there were less that 2000 people at the parade most of the spectators were die hard supporters and police officers. A bus arrived form New York in time to witness the street sweepers in action, a sign the parade had ended, all this before 4:00pm. Many of those we spoke with were disappointed in the organizing committee’s response or non responsiveness to the storm especially when there was ample notice of the pending storm.

Kiddies Carnival and the King and Queen Show were ok, attendance seems to have increased and overall the presentation were commendable, when one understands the internal turmoil taking place inside the organization since the election of officers.

2009 season was a financial lost for both bandleader (Not that they profit financially) and vendors. Those who ventured into the storm to supports their bands should be applauded for making the effort. In the end Boston carnival 2K9 was nothing more than an extension of the Jouvert that started several hours earlier. I heard one of the organizing committee members told an audience at a recent gathering there is now a rain date for carnival and what transpired in 2009 will not occur again. Well we can only hope that this it true, after 30 years of carnival one would assume that these minor issues were already in place.

Lingering questions and frustration from the bandleaders and vendors are pointed to the organizing committee. The lack of communication to the public as to what was going on was deafening. The calls and emails we received indicated the same level of frustrations. We tried to investigate and help resolve the pending issues, the results yielded noting worthy of publishing.

On a lighter note: Boston carnival village is getting quite active in terms of the quality of shows coming to the city. Local promoters are making the effort to get quality live Soca acts to enhance the Boston carnival experience. In recent years we have had Patrice Roberts, 3 Canal, Shurwayne Winchester and several acts. In 2009, Bunji Garlin, Fay-Ann Lyons, Machel Montano, Shadow, Mac Fingal, and Crazy delighted the audience. We are not yet in the big league of New York or other major cities that has a Trinidad style carnival, but we are on the way.

Boston Carnival is in a major city and we at the village is taking the steps necessary to put it on the world stage, however a lot more need to be done to ensure that the artisans are receiving the necessary funding when they continue to work so diligently to promote the culture and the next generation of bandleaders. - Care to comment on this review? Do it in our Village Blog. Posted: February 15, 2010 M.C.S