Trinidad Carnival: Canboulay - Where it all started

Devil Canboulay portrayal
 

Pictures and description by Tony Fraser reporting from Port of Spain

 
Canboulay is where it all started...after emancipation 1834...the freed African portrayed his suffering by mocking his enslaved status...
 
 
 
The black and blue devils reminded them of their status daubed in black oil reduced to an almost inhuman state...
 
Blue and black devils
 
The pan aggregation on canboulay morning with rudimentary pans and organisation....was a reflection on the early steelbands...
 
pan players
 
and then the tambu bambu bands...pounded out a rhythmic beat...as the goat skin drums were  banned by the colonial administration ...the drums stirred rebellion in the spirit of the African...the tambu bands were the precursor to the steelband...
 
Tambu Bamboo band
 
Canboulay is at the heart of the masquerade.
 
pan men
 
 
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