Six Years of Carnival
Posted on July 12, 2023
2014 – Welcome to the Carnival
It all began in 2014. That year, I hosted Jouvert for the second time as JAM Jouvert. Jouvert preparation was my focus throughout the lead up to Carnival Monday.
With no wristband or accreditation, only my girl friend in tow I took to the streets all day on Carnival Tuesday. Usually there is this one song that encompasses my feeling and that year, Welcome tot the Carnival was it! It is usually never the road march tune but something that captures the essence of Trinidad Carnival.
2015 – Great Parade
After my first video getting over 100k views on youtube, I was hired by Alex Lall, Khalil Blues and the House of Bacchanal section in Fantasy. This time, I took my friend Wrencia with me and together we captured two videos. One of the ‘Great Parade’ and another for House of Bacchanal.
2016 – Carnival is Here
2016 was special to me. This was the year I officially launched kensambury.com as a visual marketing agency for events. This year i had new tools and a very well organized unit. Strangely however, my two assistants disappeared after lunch and never returned. Drone in tow as well I captured unique, never before scenes of Carnival. Also, much thanks to my colleague Ian Davis who shared his Carnival footage with me.
2017 – Still, The Greatest Show on Earth
This video is testimony to the grandeur that is Trinidad Carnival. That same year one of my best friends, Sekon Sta sang his timeless hit Kings and Queens. That and Kes’ incredible served as the perfect anthem to the stage crossing and wanton abandonment that is Trinidad Carnival. Shooting this was a real act of love, as it was the culmination of attending ten fetes a week and being charged with the visuals of 10 Jouvert bands. I wanted to do the most as I knew, in a couple months i’d restart hosting events and i’d never be able to do that much in Carnival again.
Also special thanks to Elechi Todd for the additional shots.
2018 – Inside the Festival
In the weeks leading up to Carnival 2018 I was deep in the midst of re-launching Tropical LUAU. This was my first ever Carnival fete, but still an event with its own legacy. From Jouvert straight to Carnival Monday and Tuesday myself and my chief cinematographer Lindon Wong captured everything we saw. This year due to a mix up, we had no wristbands so we weaved in between masqueraders negotiating security until the kind people at Carnival TRIBE banded us. As though that was not enough, one of our cameras were lost at the end of Carnival Tuesday but what really happened is that the kind people of Carnival TRIBE secured it. Nevertheless, throughout the trials here is a view Inside the Festival.
2019 – Come for It
In 2019 I felt much closer to become that ultimate Carnival Renaissance man blogger Ameniki referred to in her interview with me a while back. My brand Tropical LUAU had developed into a proper Carnival Thursday fete, boasting a stellar cast and over two thousand attendees. A growth of over 2x the previous year. In this context my camera and I set out on a one man journey to service the world in the wake of my Carnival Thursday victory. The day after my event I stayed up working with Mr. Killa’s Soca Monarch final performance and watched him win a great victory. against the odds. On this mental high I took to the streets with my side kick Lindon Wong and we mingled and shot all we saw.
In conclusion, after taking to the streets for more than half a decade I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being a masquerader and a cinematographer. My viewpoint serves to encompass the masquerader’s experience – so this is what you will see if or when you come to the Streets of Port of Spain, Trinidad for Carnival. The Greatest Show on Earth.
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