Trinidad Carnival 2011 - Band Route, Prize Money, and Who is Boss

Bikini and Beads

The Bands for this year Carnival are returning to the Savannah causing happiness in some who were previously unhappy. This move back is seen as so important that the theme for  Carnival 2K11 is “Back to D’ Savannah” aka “Forget Manning.” The National Carnival Commission, which is the body responsible for organizing Carnival celebrations in Trinidad and Tobago, has a budget of TT$130 million of which TT$45 million is for prizes. The Soca Monach and Chutney Soca Monarch competitions carries the biggest prizes with a first prize of TT$2 million each. These huge prizes caused a reinvigorated Machel Montano to not only enter the Soca Monarch competition after a long absence, but to also to declare on February 4^th to a group of adoring fans that included Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, he will lose 20 pounds for the Competition so that he can fly off the stage easier. No doubt, Machel will be on the extremely effective and easy to follow  diet by Timothy Ferriss which guarantees followers will lose at least 20 pounds in four weeks without breaking a sweat or eating a chicken roti.

More Bikini and Beads

The first prize for Band of the Year is however only TT$1 million which might have something to do with the alleged huge profits band leaders make selling Mas Players bikinis and beads that are used to entertain locally while generating employment overseas. Minister of Arts and Culture and former US Marine, Winston “Gypsy” Peters, has threatened band leaders, and by extension all mas players, with a 1,000 to 2,000 percent increase in taxes on readymade costumes in an effort to create local, glue-gun jobs and show band leaders who is boss.