The showroom of Karibbean Island Pulse Kidz, located at 889 Rutland Road in Brooklyn, is where an award-winning Junior costume band showcases a dazzling array of ornate designs to outfit children as young as twenty-four months for the Saturday, Aug. 30 carnival road march and competition behind the Brooklyn Museum.
Natasha Hinds, a seasoned costume designer and band leader, who traces her roots to Trinidad and Tobago, told Caribbean Life on Aug. 21, that she would be competing in the small band category, as she has done in previous years, with an estimated 45 revelers, except for 2018 when she vied in the medium band category and captured the third prize.
“This year our presentation is the “Five Senses of Carnival”. “You will see the carnival colors, smell the sailor’s powder, hear the sweet sounds of pan, feel the feathers, and have a taste of the delicious market,” said Hinds, who has been consistently showcasing thrilling costumes since she began in 2014, except for 2020 during the covid pandemic.
The colorful sections are Sound of Steelpan, Sight of Colors, Touch of Feathers, and Smell of Sailors Powder the Delicious Market section, will be presented by Innovators Mas.
The costumes that start at a price point of $110.00, and up to $300.00, depending on the detail, and extravagance of the creation, comes in a package, that will include food, and drink.
“The presentation, the colors, the enjoyment, and family engagement is what I look forward to every year,” she said, adding that the togetherness, and the festivities is what make the junior carnival so enjoyable.”
“This is what I love, it’s not just mas, it’s also the unity, and family engagement, that pushes us forward,” said Hinds.
She shared that during COVID, she had compiled a folder of concepts, which she opened last year, and continued this year with epic creations, embellished with feathered backpacks. Other designs are decorated with glitter, and beading, and accessorized with leg and arm decorations.
Hinds spoke lovingly of her grandfather, a wire-bender back in Trinidad, who never trained her in the art of wire-bending, but, she mused, “for some strange reason, I bend wire, to create beautiful designs. It just comes to me naturally. I just do it, she said, noting, of all the grandchildren, she is the only one who is carrying on the tradition of costume making. “I have a love of it.”
Like most Trinidadians, who immerse themselves in the culture, her family are all engaged in every aspect of carnival. She shared that her father would encourage her to listen to old time calypso, and then quiz her on the names of the singer.
“My mother is a carnival lady, with that, I used to play mas with our Trinidadian neighbor, Monica Carrington, who after migrating to Brooklyn, started The Promise Mas band, that I volunteered with.
The band grew to include Hinds’ first effort as a section leader. She later formed her own costume band. “I said I can do more than volunteer; I am going create costumes, that would showcase the theme and presentation in each design I make.” As such, Karibbean Island Pulse Kidz, was launched in 2014.
Designing costumes for children, was her first choice. She wanted to share what she had learned from her father who “embedded the culture in me from a young age. I love playing mas”, she said, and applauded,
Monica Carrington, who was the first bandleader to appoint her road march manager with The Promise Mas.
Her job was to arrange the sections by color to be presented on the road before the masqueraders go on stage to be judged, experiences that Hinds, who from the age of sixteen through gigs, learned how to become professional in the world of carnival.
Born in Brooklyn to Trinidad & Tobago parents, Hinds continued to design costumes for kids that started with her band, from the age of two. They are all grown up, which means they can now select their own costumes.
This gives Hinds the opportunity to educate the little masqueraders about the history of playing mas.
“They must learn about the Caribbean culture, so they know that it is not just about putting on a costume with feathers. There must be a portrayal. I start from the younger ones, so as they grow, they would understand why they play mas with aunty Natasha.”
“I like to compete in the small band category. It is more controllable, and I can cater to the intimacy of the band. I brief parents ahead of the carnival, and explain what to expect during the road mas. I tell them, they have control of not only their children, but all 45 masqueraders, it’s a family band,” she noted.
The parents of would-be junior revelers could scan the QR code at the camp for more information, call Natasha Hinds, 917-342-5421, or email karibbeanfp@gmail.com
