Features
Melissa Doughty
Soca star Machel Montano will be presented with the keys to the city of Port of Spain on July 22, part of Tribe’s SunsetWKN experience.
The group’s SunsetWKN will be held July 22-24 and will reveal its 2023 lineups for all six groups under its umbrella on July 23.
Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez said a decision was made in 2020 to give Montano the keys to the city. However, these plans were delayed due to the pandemic.
This year, she planned to give him the keys at the Municipal City Awards that took place on June 24 at the Mille Fleurs, but, at the time, Montano was out of the country.
“Ultimate Events (Tribe) gave us a presentation. They wanted to do a three-day presentation with a mayoral parade that would open their set,” Martinez said.
He said the mayor’s parade was meant to highlight the town and was a way for the Tribe to give back to the town and the Woodbrook community.
When Tribe made the presentation, Martinez decided it was the perfect opportunity to present Montano with the keys.
Montano is being rewarded for his 40 years of soca music in Trinidad and Tobago and the world, he said.
SunsetWKN is introducing a new style of carnival and group launches that Tribe Group creative director Valmiki Maharaj hopes will build on TT’s eco-tourism, carnival and craft-related experiences.
In a media release about the event, Tribe said, “SunsetWKN, the presentation of the 2023 Tribe Carnival of the Bands (TRIBE FOB), is a compilation of Carnival experiences over three days, beginning Friday evening with a show cultural dubbed Theater of Ariapita Street.
“The event, which is free to the public, starts at 19:00 on Ana Street at Ariapita Avenue and elements of the presentation will unfold at various stops along the route.”
Maharaj said that doing this was a dream of his for a really long time.
“What we are producing here, I would describe as the beginning of the dream. I have a lot of big plans for it over the next five years. I don’t want to do this for just one year.”
Modeled by Ysabel ‘Bella’ SoBrien – Laura Ferreira
The weekend came from the brand wanting to amplify its voice in the national conversation of TT culture and branding, Maharaj said.
He thought it was important for the Tribe to begin its launch with an open and free parade in which people could come in the spirit of the community.
“To really see us in a different light,” he said.
While, Maharaj said, this has been in the works for years, the pandemic really strengthened the creative company’s resolve to do this.
The concept combines the best of TT’s carnival with its culture and its “characteristic show” people, he said.
“The road will be closed from 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm for vehicular traffic and will be turned into a pedestrian thoroughfare,” added Maharaj.
During this time there will be various shows before the actual show begins.
“This will be a preview for the big show that begins on Anna Street.”
Maharaj said that it is a narrated show that he has named One Avenue: Seven show.
It will start at the top of Ana Street and a narrator will talk about his memories and love for TT.
It is being acted and written by Nickolai Salcedo, said Maharaj.
“The idea is as he walks down the street, he dreams and talks about TT and what he likes on earth. As he describes it at each intersection, you will have a different cultural display, as if you are seeing it in his mind,” Maharaj said.
At the intersection of Ana, Gallus, Alberto, Rosalino, Luis and Alfredo streets, people will be treated to excerpts from Kambule by Eintou Springer, choreographed by Dara Healy; a piece choreographed by the Indian Khalnayak Academy led by Brian Mangaroo; a piece by the Chinese Society of Art and Culture Studies, led by Ethan Tsui and Mancini Mahadeo; a piece by Dabke Drummers led by George Makhoul and choreographed by Bridgette Wilson and dancers from Bentley Potter Dance School and Tobago Jig choreographed by Akimo Sandy.
All of this will lead to an Adam Smith Square finale also choreographed by Wilson.
For Maharaj, this fits into plans for a revamped Port of Spain.
“We have been in deep conversation with both the mayor’s office and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts headed by Randall Mitchell.
“We had many discussions about their plans for the city. We know they are working on a road resurfacing plan right now that is supposed to be executed in the next couple of months.”
The Tribe group received the blessing of the minister and the mayor. The group also did it to support the Woodbrook community of which it is a part, Maharaj said.
Businesses in Woodbrook were hit hard by the pandemic, so the Tribe is working with its sponsors — a key one being Carib — to ensure bars and other businesses are well protected Friday and into the weekend.
The response from his stakeholders, the carnival and masquerade community has been absolutely amazing, he added.
Maharaj hopes that this new initiative will renew the spirit of carnival and ignite the imagination of the younger generations.
“I want us as creative people and artists to see our creativity, presentation and costuming ability beyond our masks on Monday and Tuesday.”
He said that what is designed for the carnival route is not the only skill of the creative people and artists of TT. He said these types of parades and shows allow artists and designers to make different types of costumes and tell stories in a different way.
“With Lost Tribe every year, I want to remind us that we are a people of stories,” he said.
Maharaj also hopes that much more of this kind of storytelling will be done not only by Tribe, but by other creative people and artists.
Saturday’s itinerary begins with SUNsweat, a free fitness party experience at the Hasely Crawford training grounds, which will incorporate elements of traditional TT music and dance into a fitness routine.
On Saturday night, the Tribe Family of Bands will officially unveil the costumes of all six bands under its umbrella – Tribe, Bliss, The Lost Tribe, Harts, Rogue and Pure – at the Jean Pierre Complex, Wrightson Road Port of Spain. On Sunday, she’ll host her Las Jam Carnival party.
CEO Dean Ackin said he hopes SunsetWKN can become the blueprint for an alternative tourism product, “a destination weekend that visitors would want to fly to experience.”
