You think you’re an expert on Carnival history and lore? Prove it: here’s a chance to test your knowledge of T&T’s annual festival, in the first instalment of our new trivia column. Be warned: the questions get harder as you go on, but the answers are at the bottom of the page.
1. The saying “You can’t play mas and ’fraid powder” refers to which traditional masquerade in which talcum powder is aimed at spectators?
Midnight Robber
Dame Lorraine
Sailor
Burrokeet
2. This small community in Trinidad’s Northern Range is known for its blue devil competition on Carnival Monday evening.
Lopinot
Brasso Seco
Paramin
Santa Cruz
3. What song did soca superstar Machel Montano win his first Road March title with?
“Big Truck”
“Toro Toro”
“Band of the Year”
“Jumbie”
4. In Peter Minshall’s 1983 mas band River, who was the adversary of the King, Man Crab?
Callaloo
Washerwoman
Madame Hiroshima
Tan-Tan
5. Which of these 1990s soca hits did not win a Road March title?
Superblue’s “Get Something and Wave”
Nigel Lewis’s “Moving”
Preacher’s “Jump and Wave”
Colin Lucas’s “Dollar Wine”
6. Belmont masman Ken Morris was celebrated for his creations in what medium?
papier-mâché
copper
aluminium
bent wire
7. Why was Carnival postponed from February to May in 1972?
social unrest
bad weather
a catastrophic fire
a polio outbreak
8. Who is the only calypsonian to date to win all three of the Calypso Monarch, Soca Monarch, and Young King titles?
Black Stalin
David Rudder
Shadow
Kurt Allen
9. What was the name of the masman remembered for creating elaborate tableaux, including the famous One Penny (1948), a giant coin with a life-size Britannia?
Wilfred Strasser
Wilbert Holder
Leon Payne
Harold Saldenah
10. Who was “the man with the Hammer” in David Rudder’s 1986 calypso “The Hammer”?
Elliot “Ellie” Mannette
Patrick Arnold
Rudolph Charles
Jit Samaroo
11. Which steelband has won the most Panorama titles, with a total of 11 wins as of 2019?
Desperadoes
Renegades
All Stars
Exodus
12. What mas designer’s 1960 band Ye Saga of Merrie England unleashed a royal carriage with four white horses and a masquerader portraying Queen Elizabeth I?
George Bailey
Cito Velasquez
Irvin McWilliams
Edmond Hart
Answers: 1 Sailor 2 Paramin 3 “Big Truck” 4 Washerwoman 5 “Dollar Wine” 6 copper 7 a polio outbreak 8 Kurt Allen 9 Wilfred Strasser 10 Rudolph Charles 11 it’s a tie, and a trick question! Desperadoes and Renegades 12 George Bailey
