Saturday 29th August: Notting Hill Carnival Mas Camp behind the scenes - Sunshine International Arts at C.A.F.E

From Wassiville in North London, down South to Brixton, my tour of London's Mas Camps took me to Sunshine International Arts.  This community arts centre is called C.A.F.E meaning "Carnival Arts For Everyone" which it offers as a working studio filled with memorabilia, doubling up as a museum of the culture.  Here are photos of these artefacts from a 13 year history of participating in Notting Hill Carnival and a couple of shots of this year's pieces under construction.  The large premises means that grand scale costumes can be constructed and for this year's "Oil Slick" theme there are towering oil rigs being assembled as vertical back packs.  As a member of the public you can attend workshops and learn how to make masks, headdresses, accessories and costumes.  You are also welcome to take part in their band at Carnival.  There were so many beutiful trimmings, I wanted to get involved but had to keep going on my journey .............. with a quick try on of this cosmic metallic rainbow rickrack shoulder piece!!!  

Find out more details on visiting the cafe for lunch and how to get on board with the band here.

Saturday 15th August: Celebrating Trinidad: a moko jumbie performance at The British Museum

An insight into the spirit of Trinidadian carnival came to the British Museum today, in a special performance of Moko Jumbie stilt-walkers in conjunction with Zak Ové’s current installation.  TouchDSky's costumes are inspired by the traditional masquerade folk characters whose roots can be traced to West and Central Africa.  You can see the immense scale of the height of the acrobatic structures as they loomed high against the columns of the museum.  The sun came out perfectly on cue for the metallic materials to shimmer and bright patterns pop.  After dancing in the forecourt, the event moved inside the Africa galleries for musical storytelling "Tales of the Orisha: myth, legend and lore" from legends of the African diaspora which have lasted 400 years.

(TouchDSky's Moko Jumbies by Alan Vaughan, Story Telling with Jan Blake and Ade Egun Crispin Robinson on Bata Drum Percussion)