From the time my plane landed at the Piarco International Airport, something felt different. The long immigration lines filled with nationals returning home, as well as people making the trip for Carnival was a clear indication of the sort of anticipation people had for what was about to come.

I was there, yes I was. I was in Trinidad for Carnival 2010, and witnessed the phenomenon that is the PALANCE. I played mas in the street for at least twelve hours both Carnival Monday and Tuesday, and was able to get the first hand experience of the festival that year after year prompts individuals to purchase costumes and pay for airfare six months in advance. My friends and I saved for months and went to the gym to get ‘Trini stomach’ ready. We made sure that we were regularly up to date about all the soca songs as they were released. We did everything that we thought we needed to do to prepare us for the trip, but we would soon realise that the experience was far more than we would have ever imagined.
Kiddies Carnival was on the Saturday before the holiday, and the streets were alive with the giggles and laughter of the little ones.

I did the tourist thing and walked around the Savannah, which is where everything happens. I sipped on my snow-cone and ate doubles as we walked around the Savannah taking pictures of all the kids in their respective bands. The costumes that the kids wore were breathtaking; they showed wonderful detailing and playful creativity. There was one little girl, who didn’t look more than seven whose costume was very elaborate, topped with the fact that she was on stilts. I watched in humor as many of the parents accompanied their kids, jumping and jamming as they themselves got into the thick of things. The sun in Trinidad is like seriously scorching hot though, there was no cool breeze which made it even worse. I thought the Antiguan sun was unforgiving, but I am going to have to definitely give the award to the Trini sun. Its ability to give dark me a darker tone within the space of an hour, made it the unanimous winner.

I greatly enjoyed the Carnival fetes. They are one of kind party atmosphere extravaganzas, which to me gave me value for my money and more. On any given night you had at least five fetes that you could chose from to go, many of us actually did two on some nights. I attended Girl Power which was the same evening of The International Soca Monarch show. I saw electrifying performances from The HD Band featuring Patrice Roberts although they were missing the Soca genius Machel Montano.

The crowned King and Queen of Soca, Fay Ann Lyons and her husband Bunji Garlin alongside their band Asylum, were also a crowd pleaser. Their combination of sexy chemistry and talent was in its highest element. The showstopper came though when the newly-crowned Soca Monarch winners JW and Blaze, rushed the stage with their performance of the new word for bacchanal ‘PALANCE’. The pair showed up on stage about a half hour after the announcement was made that they had won. Still hyped off of their monumental win, they gave new meaning to what it means to ‘mash up de place’. The song with its simple lyrics embodies the crazy-don’t-care hyper attitudes of Trinidadians come Carnival time.

I have never in my life seen people lose their mind and lose control of their bodies as they did with that song.  The funny thing, is that the artists who perform the monster jam are actual radio DJ’s. For supposed amateurs they got on the stage with the energy of season veterans. Seeing really was believing, their popularity was no fluke.

Part 2 follows...