More children will be allowed to participate in adult bands during the senior Parade of the Bands Competition on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. This after the National Carnival Commission (NCC) yesterday changed a rule that limited the number of children allowed to play mas in adult bands.
In an interview yesterday NCC chairman Kenny de Silva said the figure had been raised from two per cent to 30 per cent after objections from bandleaders.
Rule number nine outlined in the NCC rulebook stated that in bands that have children as part of their presentation, the number of children must not exceed two per cent of the registered band size to qualify as an adult band.
This meant a large mas band with 2,000 masqueraders can have only 40 masqueraders under 18. With the rule change it means that a maximum of 600 children can play with a band of 2,000.
Traditional mas bands which mostly see families playing together, with parents accompanying their children, will either have to remove children from the band at judging points or remove children from the road completely.
“We moved it up to 30 per cent. We realised it would have had a negative impact on family bands since it applies to anyone under 18,” De Silva said.
Last year, Ronald Alfred, leader of Original Whipmaster Jab Jab band, was penalised on Carnival Tuesday. He was forced to pull his seven children out of the band before he got on the road and had no children in the band in the competition. Alfred was just one of many traditional bandleaders who share the creation and participation of mas with their children.
President of the T&T Carnival Bandleaders Association (TTCBA) Gerard Weekes said his organisation urged the NCC to remove the rule entirely.
“I don’t support it. We reject that rule in particular. It does not augur well for the development of mas,” Weekes said in an interview.
“Our association is in support of that move being removed in its entirety. There is a feeling that Carnival bands are not suitable for children under 18.
“That may work for a few bands but the majority, which are traditional bands, have children learning the art of mas and you are telling parents they can’t involve their children,” he added.
Weekes said he started playing mas at nine years old with his father, an experience which led to him bringing out his own Carnival band. “There are family bands in T&T, particularly at the traditional level, passing the baton from one family member to the next.
“Then you have Rosalind Gabriel who allows parents to play with their children on Monday and Tuesday,” he added.
Gabriel, who has brought her band to both the junior and senior Parade of the Bands for the past several years, will not be on the road on Carnival Monday and Tuesday this year. She may attend the Socadrome stage.
“It breaks my heart but I had to let my masqueraders know. I will not be able to take my band to Socadrome or any of the judging points because of the rule.” Gabriel’s band is a children’s band. She said, historically, children have played mas in adult bands.
The rule has seen mas bands taking Carnival organisations to court because of confusion over its enforcement. One bandleader described it as unenforcable.
“They are going to what, guess who is a child and who isn’t? Or are they going to ask everyone on the road for their birth certificate?
“Why are you trying to pass a rule for mas bands when you have it in steelband and in calypso? There is no clear argument for the rule.”