Tropical Carnival

Can't get enough of these masks
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I saw a notice in the news about a Tropical Carnival on Saturday afternoon and went to Bastille to see it ; it was small scale and rather disorganized (there were long gaps between groups in the parade .. almost to the point you thought it was over before another group arrived. A very colourful affair with people from the French West Indies, Antilles and Guyana but there were few signs to identify the origins of most of the groups. Two scenes that really amused me (1) a member of the crowd, large young black guy wearing the droopy baggy oversized jeans tried to join in the dancing with one group. Soon there were dancing rings around him, making him look quite absurd. I guess it just proves that not all black people can dance.  (2) one group were dressed up in (artificial) leaves to resemble Amazon tribes ; a member of that group came over near me to make a call on his cell phone and the image of him staring at this phone struck me as really odd ; he looked like a primitive who had never seen a phone before..

A troupe with masks
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Synchronicity strikes… masks again! One group (origin unknown) wore black cloaks and had wooden masks .. including three super sized ones. It was all great fun with lively drumming and dancing .. but turned a little sinister at the end as the trucks with big sound systems came through playing hip hop music (not live performers, but recordings) and the crowds following them were menacing, pushing and shoving the on lookers. Luckily I found an escape route which eventually took me through a park which has been created out of an old railway cutting .. lots of families enjoying the sun,cyclists and joggers.. a nice antidote.

Synchronicity strikes… masks again!