Carnival A-Z - Paddington Arts

A is for AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY

The Notting Hill Carnival takes place on August Bank Holiday every year, with Sunday being Children’s Day and Monday being Adult’s Day.

In the mid 1960s community activists in the Notting Hill area organised a community festival, as a response to the social tensions and deprivation in the area. This has now grown into the largest street festival in Europe, and, despite several attempts to move it or ban it, still thrives today attracting over one million visitors from all over the world.

Elimu Carnival Band and Paddington Arts have been working in partnership since 2001, and have put a band on the road every year other than when carnival was banned due to covid.

B is for BAND

Elimu Paddington Arts Carnival Band consists of ‘masqueraders’ (dancers in costumes), stewards, and supporters in T-shirts.

Traditionally, the performers with very elaborate costumes are the King and Queen of the Band, Adult Individuals, Junior King and Queen and Junior Individuals.

There are also Sections. These are groups of performers united by colour, design or age.

On the road the band is accompanied by two sound trucks with DJs, PA equipment, and 8ft high stacks of speakers; a truck carrying food and drink supplies; and a coach or bus to carry the walking wounded or the worn out and exhausted.

Behind the last truck come the T-shirt wearers, who are family, friends and band members.

C is for COSTUMES

Each year a theme is chosen and a team of designers, appointed to interpret the theme for the costume wearers (‘mas’ players).

Themes can be historical, political, fantasy or can be traditional with a host of characters from Caribbean folklore such as Jab Jab, Midnight Robber, Dragon and Anancy, which have all been presented by Elimu in the past.

D is for DANCING

Dancing on the streets is core to what the Notting Hill Carnival is about.

At Carnival, individual freedom is paramount. This means anything goes. So you can expect to see all kinds of dance from the weird and wonderful to the exotic and erotic.

Elimu prepares by rehearsing various dance routines in order to make an impact at the Judging Point of the Carnival and to entertain the audiences along the route.

E is for ELIMU

Elimu is a Swahili word meaning ‘Education’ or ‘Knowledge’.

The Elimu Carnival Band grew out of the Elimu Youth and Community Centre in the Harrow Road, West London, and went on the road for the first time in 1980.

In 2001 they joined up with Paddington Arts, and are now known as Elimu Paddington Arts.

F is for FAMILY

Elimu is a family band, which means everyone is welcome from toddlers to grandparents. Every member of this Elimu family plan their holidays to avoid missing Carnival.

Like all such families and communities, it is the sharing of significant events and experiences, and meeting up from time to time – even if only once a year – that cement relationships and give them significance.

Carnival is an important social and cultural event. Everyone contributes to the activities and preparations during the months before the Carnival.

G is for GRACE FOODS

Many Companies in the UK have sponsored the Band. These have included Mars Confectionery, Jazz FM, LBC, HM Prison Service, British Airways, The Greater London Council, Transport for London and Grace Foods.

Grace Foods UK have supported the band since 2009.

Most food produced by Grace Foods are from the Caribbean.

Every member of the band is given a goody bag of Grace foods to take home.

H is for HERITAGE

Elimu Carnival band has been going since 1980, so there are many stories that can be told.

This project is about finding out and recording the history and heritage of the band.

We have set up a Young Elimu Heritage Group and members of this Group have photographed and interviewed members of the band, conducted a survey in order to find out more about their own history and, hopefully, help to pass it on to the next generation.

We have collected many T-shirts of the band since 1980 and several parts of costumes plus photographs of the Elimu family at various Carnivals.

For every year since 1980, we hope to be able to collect or capture something that reminds us of the Carnival in that year.

I is for INDIVIDUALS

Everyone is an Individual, and nowhere more so than in carnival!

The roots of the Notting Hill carnival are entwined with the Emancipation from slavery in the West Indies, and the cry for freedom and the need to express oneself, are heard around the world even today. Even in the Band sections, members like to customise their costumes, and those who would like to ‘play mas’ as an Individual, are supported to design their own costume, and assistance is given in the construction and making of the costume.

J is for JUDGING POINT

Carnival is about collaboration within the band; helping each other in the making of the costumes and the performance on the road.

At Judging Point, there is a more competitive rivalry and a creative competition between the bands. Here, judges sit and wait for each band to briefly present their theme in a dance performance and to display their costumes.

Elimu Paddington Arts has been very successful over the years, and have won many prizes.

K is for KING

The King costume is one of the most elaborate and spectacular in the Band.

The person who wears this costume is known as the King of the Band.

Our King is Nolan Simmons who joined the band in 1983.

“When you put on a costume you become somebody else. You are not that person in a suit walking around London. Putting on the King costume means that you have changed character; from London commuter to character in a street play. And you’re different on that particular day. You let yourself go; just having a good time.

I have played King for Elimu Carnival Band every year since 1983, except for two occasions. I’m in my seventies now and as long as I stay healthy I will carry on.”

L is for LAUNCH

Every year, our Band has a Carnival Launch, a month or two before the Mas Camp opens.

It is like an Open House to the public. People can see what our costumes are like for that year and also sample a bit of the Carnival spirit.

The costumes and/or Costume designs are on display, so people can sign up to join the band and order a costume. Old friends and new members can meet up and see what the theme is for this year, and there is usually some entertainment such as a Junior Calypso Show, or last year’s video, and a fashion show for this year’s costumes.

M is for MAS CAMP

A Mas Camp is a communal space where all the preparations for Carnival take place. It is the ‘Engine Room’ for the Carnival Band.

The ‘Camp’ is where the costumes are made, where the dance rehearsals take place and where the registration to participate in the Carnival is done.

‘Mas’ is short for ‘masquerade’. It does not refer specifically to masks worn on the face but to the whole costume for the body, and the combination of dressing up, dancing and portraying characters.

Since 2001, Elimu has had its Mas Camp at Paddington Arts Centre, a youth arts organisation in Woodfield Road, West London, and the band has participated in Carnival under the name: Elimu Paddington Arts.

You will find all ages at the camp, and this helps create an inter-generational and family atmosphere.

N is for NOTTING HILL

Many people would have heard of Notting Hill because of the Carnival. The area is also well-known for its world famous Portobello Market and the site of the 1999 British Romantic Comedy film with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

The Notting Hill area is full of contrasts – luxury mansions, fashionable restaurants and art galleries alongside run down social housing, flea markets and squats.

For much of the 20th century the large houses were sub-divided into multi-occupancy rentals. People from the Caribbean were drawn to the area in the 1950s or placed there by recruiting agents, partly because of the cheap rents and partly because of the ease of access to their work places.

Many of the new arrivals were exploited by slum landlords and also became the target of white racists in the 1958 Notting Hill race riots.

O is for ‘ON DE ROAD’

Carnival is a Street Festival and all the months of costume making and logistical planning culminate in taking the band ‘on de road’.

The band follows a traditional order of its procession whilst ‘on de road’: the Flag Waver with a special Elimu Flag and a banner announcing the theme of the band followed by all the major characters – the King, Queen, Junior King, Junior Queen, Individuals – and then the Sections, with the T-shirt wearers bring up the rear.

There are two sound trucks, carrying the DJs and the PA system with giant speakers, a flatbed truck carrying the food and drink, and a bus or coach to carry those too tired, unfit or unwell (i.e drunk!) to walk.

Everything must be done whilst the Band is on a continuous procession and performance. Food must be served, costumes repaired, blistered feet soothed, the inebriated comforted, the DJ shouted at to change the music and the demands of the Police followed. All ‘on de road’.

‘On De Road’ are also the spectators; thousands of people wanting to see or join the Carnival Band, take photos or wave to someone they recognise.

P is for ‘PLAY MAS’

To ‘play mas’ means to wear a costume and take part in carnival. But it means more than that too, it means letting the carnival spirit take over, and becoming what the costume represents, whether a person, animal or mythical creature.

In Trinidad and several other Caribbean islands Carnival was celebrated by mainly French Catholic plantation owners. Before emancipation of slavery in 1807, the enslaved were forbidden from joining in carnival. After emancipation they now took full advantage of the relative new freedoms the ending of slavery brought them. Dressing up in costumes that mimicked the European fashions of their former masters, even whitening their faces with flour or wearing white masks, they established a tradition that continues in the costume-making of today’s Notting Hill Carnival.

Q is for QUEEN

Every Band has a Carnival Queen. Together with the King of the Band, these two characters are the main creations of the Carnival performance and they are at the centre of any presentation.

The Queen of the Band for the last twenty years is Jennifer Regis.

“On Carnival day I am excited, nervous and I can’t wait to put on my costume and get on the road. I love it. As the Queen of the Band, I am the centre of attention. Everyone is looking at me. I am proud to be the Queen. It is difficult to explain the excitement of wearing a costume, dancing on the streets and enjoying yourself. I hope I will be Queen for a long time.”

R is for ROUTE

The carnival route takes us past notorious council estates, restaurants and art galleries boarded up for the day, and million pound mansions and elegant terraced houses. In their place are multiple street vendors selling mainly Caribbean food and drink – jerk chicken, curry goat and rice and peas, roti and rum punch – and many others selling food from all round the world.

For Elimu the round trip is 3.5miles long, which would probably take an hour to walk on a normal day, but takes anything from 4 to 6 hours on Carnival days. It is a fun and liberating experience to take over the streets, all normal traffic is banned, and the interaction between the crowds and the bands is part of the carnival tradition.

S is for SOCA

Soca music is the favoured music of the mas bands. It is very big in Trinidad, and has evolved from Calypso music which was traditionally sang with acoustic guitar accompaniment with subjects that include political satire, scandals, sexual double entendre and comedy. Soca music is electric, both in its amplification and its infectious ability to make people dance.

Machel Montano is an internationally successful soca artist. His song ‘Mr Fete’ (a fete is a patois term for a carnival party) was a big hit in Carnival 2014, and seemed appropriate for carnival Monday when it rained all day. Some of Elimu’s mas players could have written these same words:

“they call me Mr Fete since I born I never miss one yet
if sun shining I drippin swet
thunder storm and am soakin wet
they say Mr fete u mad
and I say Mr fete u mad
I come here to get on bad

fetin is we name we doh play
we goin night and day
no fete can tire we
we comin again everyday
we full of energy
is fete they callin we like that is we name”

T is for T-SHIRT

Elimu has produced T-shirts for each of its 34 years of existence. These t-shirts are thus one of the most significant markers of the history of the Band. You can see them all on our website www.elimu.org.uk

T-shirts record the year of the band, the theme and the sponsors.

In recent years, the Band has encouraged t-shirt wearers to customise their shirts by adding ribbons, hats, scarves and bling as well as the usual cutting and knotting.

T-shirts are the most coveted item in the Band’s repertoire. In 2014, the Band produced 600 shirts; all of which were distributed and sold.

U is for UNITY

The Notting Hill Carnival started in the 1960s as a response to social tensions and conflict, with the intention of bringing the community together to celebrate the various cultural backgrounds of the people who found themselves living next to each other. Today, even though the demographics might have changed, the divisions between rich and poor, and the tensions between different ethnic and immigrant communities still exist. Carnival is an inclusive celebration where everyone is welcome, and the spirit of carnival is of Peace, Love and Unity.

“We’re seeking unity, welcoming everyone
No matter your age, whether you’re old or young
Come together in the name of love and peace
To meet up on Bank Holiday and party through the streets

We’re calling all – no matter your occupation
We’re calling all – no matter your race or nation
To come and take part in this special occasion
To come and participate in emancipation

We’re like an army going down the road
Vibes in and dancing, and costumes round the Grove
Being part of one, the band as a whole
Is empowering and emancipating to my soul

It’s not about acting mad to the melody +
Carnival’s about Caribbean cultural legacy
Making beautiful creations of the highest artistry
‘Playing mas’ is a celebration of our history”

by Andrew Jaggs

V is for VIBES

Carnival is freedom to express yourself, be who you want, ignore the constraints and inhibitions of ‘normal’ life, and go a little crazy if you wish.

“As soon as I put my costume on I am now in character, I am so excited that I become like a five year old at Christmas, getting the first present and opening it up.

When people say ‘carnival vibes’ this means to parade yourself in costume along the route and act and be part of the costume parade. Display your costume and go as crazy as possible. Also the key thing is to make sure the crowd is entertained, along the route.”

W is for WUK UP

Carnival revellers love to come to carnival to ‘wuk up’ which is to dance with a partner up close and personal, and to gyrate your hips together as one. While to some it embodies the carnival spirit of letting go your inhibitions, to others it appears inappropriate, especially among the young who like to imitate the elders. If you came from Mars to understand human behaviour you would have to report it looks like having sex with your clothes on; and if you tried it on a complete stranger (let alone a policeman) on any other day, you would most likely be arrested for sexual harassment if not sexual assault!

X is for XCITEMENT

Carnival means different things to different people; you can examine the historical connection, the social and political significance, and the cultural impact. But to most of the participants of Elimu Carnival Band, carnival means fun and excitement: the thrill of the sounds, the smells, the colours, the costumes, the noise and the hype of the crowd. People have been waiting the whole year for this day to come round, the mas camp has toiled away for two months, the anticipation is immense, and the eXcitement is at fever pitch.

Y is for YOUTH

Elimu Carnival Band has been going for over thirty years, so the children and grandchildren of the original members carry on the traditions. This exhibition is for the youth of today to better understand their heritage, so they can face the future with confidence and courage.

“The first time I went to carnival was I was 10 years old. It was LIVE for me because it was the first time I could let go and enjoy myself, I was with my mum, sister and cousins. I started to go when my aunty said Paddington Arts had a band called Elimu. I made loads of friends there.
The next time I was ready because I knew the route and how everything worked. The costumes were ready and I was an octopus. The costume took a long time to prepare but once I was in it I had a brilliant time, it was really fun. Carnival is coming and I’m ready to wuk up my waist.”

Z is for Zzzzz…

When Carnival is over, and you have been through the vibes on de road, the eXcitement, the wukking up and the playing mas, there is only one place to go…… to the land of Zzzzzzzzz………

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