Muhammad Abu Bakr Speaks on Mas'

Mr. Bakr shares his experiences

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How I came into Mas'

Staff Article
Interview Recorded: April 24, 2005
Posted: April 30, 2005

How I came into Mas' happened around the age of twelve when I met George Bailey. I used to go to choir practice and would run away from the practice because I liked pigeons. George had nice pigeons and I had some of his birds. From there, I would observe how he used to draw; he was left handed, and he would explain the drawing of the Mas' to me. It was from that point I started Mas'. Then I started freelancing, doing a little Mas' here and there, I freelanced for some years. I did Mas' with George's brothers - Albert and Alvin and George himself. The best of it was with Harold Saldenah. I did a lot of Mas' with Harold Saldenah in the seventies/eighties until he left to go to Canada. The last Mas' was when he brought 25th anniversary. Then he came back some years after but it didn't really work out for him, because everything was so different. If he had left an associate when he was leaving, and then make an appearance every year, it would have been nice. Mas' is not something you could cut of and then come back in. You have to be consistent, because remember both the children and the parents play. That is why it is important to have an adult's band and a band for children, because after a time, the adults and the children migrate from the areas or something.

I really started doing a band on my own from 1994. I started off as a Monday band because I found it was unfair for the people to be going in the Grand Stand on a Monday and do not see Mas'. What I started to do was to make Mas' for people to see on a Monday and I did very well.

The masqueraders reacted very well to the idea. We used to have a very nice large band. There was a time when Starlift and I had nice Mas' like; 'The Good Times', 'In The Spotlight', 'A Colourful Wish', 'Fan Fare', 'We Dancing' and 'Hit Meh With D Music'. 'Hit Meh With D Music' was one of my better Mas'. That is when I decided to go Tuesday. I took the Mas' from Monday and I decided to go Tuesday as well, because I felt it was nice. I did very well with it; I even won a contract to Boston. I went up to Boston and I brought out a band. We built the same Mas', but I used the name 'Horizon'. Then I went back up and I did 'Jewel Fantasy', which was very good. The first year we went up there, we placed third in Boston and third in Cambridge. When we started here with my band, we started with over five hundred masqueraders and it just grew. What started to happen though, was the young costumed players became uncontrollable. The last band I did was with Alvin Bailey after I came back from Boston; 'The Legacy of Genghis Khan and His Queen' was placed second, the band did very good. After that, I just freelanced, but I am thinking about doing something. I find that they do not have the kind of control now, as they had in the past. For the past three years it looks all right, but I am still monitoring it.

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