It’s hard not to love jouvert. Afterall, what’s not to love about getting up after midnight, doning old clothes you don’t mind ruining, and heading out to a pre-dawn ritual that dates back to at least the late 1800s. Trinidadians, Grenadians, Bajans, Jamaicans, Lucians, Haitians, this year I even saw a Garifuna band. Although I love going home to Trinidad for Carnival, it seems to me that the NY Jouvert had maintained an essence of old times that is lost in Trinidad. For one thing, the bands are overwhelmingly accompanied by steelbands or rhythm sections. In fact, there wasn’t a single band I saw with a DJ (except the Gren mob with their little cart and speaker boxes).
And that feeling at the end of a good sweet jouvert, where you’ve bounced up so many old friends, laughed at the satire and political commentary, and thrown your cares to the world – there’s very little that beats that feeling, no matter how tired you are at that point. About 3 hours after the sun rose and we were getting ready to head back to the house I decided to keep shooting. This woman passed by wearing the “flyest” (IMHO) Grenada pride get up I have ever seen. It was amazing, just look at her. And to top off this visual feast, as I kept hitting the shutter button she kept getting closer – until I stopped her before the camera did. It was lovely! So here you are folks, courtesy a proud, creative Gren on Nostrand Avenue at the end of Jouvert in Brooklyn, NY for Labor Day 2010, is my photo of the week (above, the two below are just gravy – FYI :-)).
Enjoy!
L
Absolutely lovely photos!