Señor Gomez Speaks on Mas'

Mr. and Mrs. Gomez

Pages: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Staff Article
Interview Recorded: May 15, 2005
Posted: June 12, 2005

Carnival has reached a height

What I would like to say, is that where Carnival came from to the present stage is nice; it is good. We have to go with the flow. But, it has taken away a lot from the youths learning the craft of making mas'. What I am saying, is that you can go by Samaroo and in two days time you can bring a band. Nothing is wrong with Samaroo, nothing is wrong with that because that is the way to go, to a point. But it is still good to know that it has one or two of us like myself that is left back and could still teach this thing like the papier mâché. Those fellas do not want to go into that. The people out there want it who paying the money. The wire fella tells you, "Boy you still in wire." I tell him that is how I am living.

Wire is a must, whether it is fiberglass or the cane, you must have the frame work. I can remember for Independence I made the Coat of Arms. Aunty Kay said to dress my Carnival thing. I had made the Coat of Arms on the ship to put in front of my door. The Coat of Arms came on a big truck, so when everybody was going, they started to turn back. She said, "But look what coming," and they put it on the stage. They asked who did it and she said, "Do not say anything as yet," and she started to coach, and then they said bring him out. When he came out, he came out like a clown. They gave him real prizes. It wasn't competition, but there were things donated like wristwatch from de Limas. They got real nice things. I also made the Coat of Arms for Point Cumana for Best Village. I have the pictures inside; I do not throw away my things.

In all, Carnival has reached a height. We have Carnival all over the world, and in every production of Carnival, a Trinidadian is there. Carnival is good to all of us. Look at all the big bands, they are making money and they have been through fourteen and fifteen Carnivals. I am glad to see that Trinidad and Tobago could send out all of these things. Do not mind wherever they have it out there, or who learn it out there. They still need us because it can only go to a point, and in no way anybody could take away that imagination from us, no way at all. I go all about and when I went to Venezuela my wife played queen there. The President and everybody were hugging up. They never saw that before because at the time it was water and they were just throwing the water. I had a contract with the government in Venezuela on two occasions. What they do is give you a certain amount of money to bring a band. They had never seen that type of mas' before.

It was a Humming Bird with a Hibiscus, my wife played the Queen and the other fella played the King. They saw different things like the big butterfly and so on. The next year they called me and said, "Gomez you have to play, forget that man in that band, you come and bring something." There was a little pig that used to be dancing on the TV and I said, "You see me, I am making that." I went and I bend my wire and I got all my movements. On the day in question every band leader had to bring in all their different stuff. Like if you playing dog, you bring dog and so on, and I brought the dancing pig and it stood up. All the bandleaders looked surprised and they said, "Boy they will give Gomez it", and they were really correct. The boss man came and he spoke in Spanish, it was a kind of rap. He used to bring top stars from Hollywood, a midday show and he used to have the best. Twice I won the best band before I left to go to America.

Coming back to 'Blue Diamonds'... I go right through. My children in New York are my sponsors and that is why I do not charge. If I tell my children I am not playing mas', they will say, "Daddy do you know what you are doing?" They did not feel so nice that I did not bring 'Blue Diamonds' this year, but I did it because some of the guys there, the loud mouth fellas who do what they do best, which is to talk, cannot do anything. They said they could make the money. I gave them a chance, but it did not go anywhere. I was going back, but I felt it coming to me to stick to the children's Carnival with my teaching in the schools and do any other work for people around, which you could say I was successful in doing. And it is not because I was successful am I doing that, but like the lay-off gave me more to go into. I have to bring 'The Vikings' for two more years for a project in the schools, which is run by NCC.

That is why they try to bring back like 'The Days Of Glory', the big bands, 'The Vikings', whatever big productions and so on. They want to go into the more traditional costumes, the historical mas' rather than the bikini thing. They are not pulling it down, but they are telling you where they want to go, which I believe where they want to go is the right way, because that is what the tourist wants to see. They want to see the Blue Devil, the Pierrot Grenade, they like the speech making; it has something in it. A fella from Jamaica saw me once in Barbados making a donkey. He said, "What you making boy?" I said, "I am making a donkey." He said okay and he was gone. When he came back in the evening the donkey was standing up. He asked me where was the blue print and I said here, pointing to my head. He said, "Where are you from, Trinidad?" So you see, right away we have a stamp, a reputation.

Continue...

Pages: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Homepage | Steelpan | Carnival | Features