BOCAS Carnival Capsule 2022
Carnival is one of the defining cultural phenomena of Trinidad and Tobago, bringing together tradition and innovation, ritual and celebration, visual spectacle, music and performance. Carnival is also a splendid archive of history, images, and ideas which have influenced artists in all mediums and forms, including our writers.
In 2022, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic means that many Carnival events are curtailed. But you can still enjoy and be inspired by our annual cultural traditions in this special Bocas Carnival Capsule, a specially curated selection of recorded events from past editions of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, films from the celebrated Banyan Archive, poems, stories, and essays from the rich catalogue of Peepal Tree Press, and features from Caribbean Beat magazine.
The Bocas Carnival Capsule 2022 will be available for on-demand viewing from Friday 25 February. Presented in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts.
Bocas Video Archive
A night of words and music with Anthony Joseph, author of Kitch, a new novel based on the life of T&T’s iconic calypsonian.
A celebration of the Midnight Robber, one of T&T’s indigenous performance traditions. Writers Vahni Capildeo, Rhoda Bharath and Colin Robinson read new pieces inspired by the art of robber talk, and master Midnight Robber Damian Whiskey delivers sinister news and topical commentary.
Bocas Audio Archive
War Chants 2016
Black Indians, traditional masquerade characters of Trinidad Carnival, are known for their fierce costumes and war-like songs, composed in a secret language known only to initiates. Anderson Patrick and Darlington Henry demonstrate the art of the Black Indian, and discuss their tradition with Maria Nunes.
Bocas Photo Archive
Short films from the Banyan archive
Founded in 1974, Banyan produces innovative and entertaining programmes to inform and reflect Caribbean people and culture, with an extraordinary archive of hundreds of films and videos. For our Carnival Capsule, Banyan shares three short films aimed at younger viewers, telling stories around T&T’s Carnival and music.
Peepal Tree Press presents
Carnival on the page
“Put Away Blues” by Jennifer Rahim
A poem from Sanctuaries of Invention (2021)
“Carnival Tuesday, 1987” by Anthony Joseph
An excerpt from the novel Kitch (2018)
“Jeffrey Chock and the City” by Gordon Rohlehr
An essay from Perfected Fables Now (2019)
“All the Dead, All the Living” by Shivanee Ramlochan
A poem from Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting (2017)
“Farrell” by Anton Nimblett
A short story from Now, After (2019)
“Death of a Steel Bassman” by Vladimir Lucien
A poem from Sounding Ground (2014)
“Notting Hill” by Malika Booker
A poem from Pepper Seed (2013)
From the Caribbean Beat archive
For thirty years, Caribbean Beat magazine has covered arts, culture, and travel from our region — including dozens of celebrated features on every aspect of T&T Carnival. Here are some highlights from the magazine archive, to expand your knowledge of Carnival tradition and innovation.
Trinidad Carnival’s artists of the streets
By Dylan Kerrigan and Nicholas Laughlin Profiles of eleven mas designers of Carnival’s “golden age” — from Harold Saldenhah and George Bailey to Wayne Berkeley and Peter Minshall First published in the Jan/Feb 2004 Caribbean Beat
Creatures of the mas
By Dylan Kerrigan A guide to T&T Carnival’s familiar traditional characters — sailors, devils, Dame Lorraines, Midnight Robbers, and more First published in the Jan/Feb 2005 Caribbean Beat
Carnival is mine
By Israel McLeod, Lisa Allen-Agostini, Tracy Assing, Nicholas Laughlin, and Nigel Campbell Carnival has as many versions as there are lovers of the festival. Here are five stories and interviews covering everything from pan to J’Ouvert to the sheer joy of performance First published in the Jan/Feb 2017 Caribbean Beat
Trinidad’s Road March
by Mark Lyndersay A short history of the coveted Road March competitition for the most popular Carnival tune — and the magazine’s picks for the top ten Road March songs from the 1930s to the present First published in the Jan/Feb 2018 Caribbean Beat
Look mas
By Jason C. Audain A portfolio of images that capture the beauty and power of traditional mas characters First published in the Jan/Feb 2020 Caribbean Beat
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