Carnival backstage | Closeup By Georgia Popplewell and Laura Dowrich-Phillips | Issue 161 (January/February 2020) Carnival is a time to shine: from performers on the soca and calypso stage to costumed masqueraders in the street and fete-goers showing off their most acrobatic dance moves. But “the greatest show on earth” wouldn’t be possible without the dedication of the many thousands who work behind the scenes — year-round or seasonally — on the organisation and logistics of the festival. Laura Dowrich-Phillips and Georgia Popplewell meet four of the people whose backstage efforts make Carnival happen
Kambule: on morning ground | Snapshot By Attillah Springer | Issue 161 (January/February 2020) 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
T&T Carnival | Did you even know By Caribbean Beat | Issue 161 (January/February 2020) Our new trivia column opens with a T&T Carnival quiz. Think you’re an expert on Carnival and calypso history? See how many of our twelve questions you can answer correctly
Q&A with Maya Cozier | Screenshots (May/June 2019) By Jonathan Ali | Issue 157 (May/June 2019) Trinidadian filmmaker Maya Cozier talks about her new short, She Paradise
An evening with Dany Sanz By Kristine de Abreu | News & Online Exclusives A special invitation from Neishel Vilain Pierron and Band of the Year K2K Alliance & Partners brought French make-up artist Dany Sanz to Trinidad
Carnival, Trinidad and Tobago | Wish you were here (Jan/Feb 2019) By Caribbean Beat | Issue 155 (January/February 2019) Postcards from the Caribbean’s most extraordinary places
Bookshelf (Jan/Feb 2019) | Book reviews By Shivanee Ramlochan | Issue 155 (January/February 2019) This month’s reading picks, with reviews of High Mas: Carnival and the Poetics of Caribbean Culture; Giant; Black Dogs and the Colour Yellow; A View of the Empire at Sunset; and Erotic Islands: Art and Activism in the Queer Caribbean
Playlist (Jan/Feb 2019) | Music reviews By Nigel Campbell | Issue 155 (January/February 2019) This month’s listening picks, with reviews of the latest by Keba; 5OH8 + KVL; and Tebby