Vance Umphrey: “Living a dream” | Snapshot
American musician and educator Vance Umphrey on the love of steelpan that brings him to Trinidad Carnival year after year — as told to Attillah Springer
A movement of Maroons | Inspire
Descendants of Maroon peoples in the Caribbean diaspora have been working tirelessly to be recognised as Indigenous. Attillah Springer takes us inside this important work
Carnival is love | Backstory
T&T Carnival is tradition and originality, ritual and rebellion, the sacred and the profane — and a million love stories. Here are three of them, from Attillah Springer, Amanda Choo Quan, and Georgia Popplewell
Tony Hall (1948–2020) and Dennis “Sprangalang” Hall (1949–2020) | Icon
Attillah Springer explains the roles of T&T’s irreplaceable theatrical brothers in the ongoing struggle for cultural self-determination
Kambule: on morning ground | Snapshot
Early each Carnival Friday morning, before dawn breaks, crowds assemble at Piccadilly Greens in east Port of Spain for a re-enactment of a key event in the history of Trinidad — and of Carnival itself. Attillah Springer gives an intimate account of Kambule, when the spirits of the ancestors are invoked in a ritual of memory, story, song, and resistance
The Mighty Shadow | Icon
Attillah Springer writes a letter to T&T’s late calypsonian-philosopher
Every Trinidad Road March ever — and our top 10
Of the 80+ songs that have won the official Road March title at Trinidad Carnival, some are little remembered, some have become “back-in-times” favourites, and a few are considered landmarks — whether for their musical qualities or for trends they ushered in. Here are all the recorded Trinidad Carnival Road March winners from 1930 up to the present — and our picks for an all-time Road March top 10
Word of mouth (March/April 2015)
Beat it Attillah Springer explains why Trinidad’s old tradition of the Good Friday bobolee remains more relevant than ever The Good...
