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The Secret Life of Canada: Season 6, Episode 15: The Caribana* Episode

(*and yes we're still calling it that)

Hosts: Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson

FALEN JOHNSON: This is the Secret Life of Canada. A podcast about the country you know, and the stories you don't.

SOUNDCLIP

[song: "Toronto Mas" by The Mighty Sparrow]

THE MIGHTY SPARROW: [singing] Every year Toronto, putting on a big show, Carnival they call Caribana! Jigging to a sweet tune, sweating in their costume, playing dey mas in Canada! See them how they jumpin' up and down...

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Hey, Falen.

FALEN JOHNSON: Hey, Leah.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: So, the song you're hearing right now is called "Toronto Mas" and it's by The Mighty Sparrow. He's an iconic Trinidadian calypsonian, and it's safe to say, like, one of the most famous calypso singers. He wrote this song in 1972, six years after the first Caribana festival. And that's pretty huge. And that's what I want to talk about today. I mean, I'm curious how a Canadian city ended up with the biggest cultural festival in North America. Because that is currently what Caribana is in Toronto.

["Toronto Mas" fades up]

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay. And, I know that we have lots of festivals in various cities, but if you have been to Toronto or Caribana, you know how huge it is. [LEAH-SIMONE: Mm-hmm.] I'm-- Or should I say Caribbean Festival, because it's not called Caribana anymore.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: That is actually true. It's called the Toronto Caribbean Festival. But we're going to go back into the history. And historically, it started as Caribana. A lot of people still secretly call it Caribana, such as myself. So, we're going to call it Caribana for now. And it all started, Falen Johnson, because of your favourite historical event.

[drumroll]

FALEN JOHNSON: What's my favourite historical event? [laughs] Is it Expo 67?

[symbol crash, "The Centennial Song" fades up]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: [laughing] That's right! It is Expo 67.

FALEN JOHNSON: [laughing] Okay. I know. I was, like, really trying to think of-- I was like, what, what else could it possibly be?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah. You love it. You do love it.

FALEN JOHNSON: I do, I do. We did a whole episode on Expo 67 from season four. Expo was a world festival that took place in Montreal. It was also the centennial -- Canada's 100th birthday.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah. And there were celebrations for it across Canada, not only in Montreal, right. So, here's a [FALEN: Mm-hmm.] bit from the first Caribana, from a CBC radio show recorded in 1967 called Centennial Diary.

SOUNDCLIP

[music: steel pan]

ANNOUNCER: Caribana 67. That's the name given to the eight-day celebration being staged by the Caribbean Centennial Committee on Toronto's Centre Island from August 4th through to the 12th. There are 300 performers and 12 orchestras presenting folk, limbo, fire and bottle dancing, calypso and folk song festivals, West Indian drama and fashion shows. Plus a kiddies carnival, water ski shows, a bookstore and art and handicraft displays. Following a Centennial ball and a Mardi Gras-style parade last weekend, Caribana 67 really went into high gear. Each island from the West Indies has set up a booth to display its culture, its wares and its attractions, while at other booths you can sample West Indian food. Anyway, with a floating nightclub and the entire show from the Trinidad Expo Pavilion, it's turned out to be a colourful and entertaining centennial project.

FALEN JOHNSON: Little did they know how that 'entertaining centennial project' would be going strong for close to 60 years now.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah, exactly. It's pretty wild.

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay, so, how did it all begin?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Well, it was founded by a group of community members in Canada who represented different islands and places throughout the Caribbean. Their goal was to show Caribbean culture to the rest of Canada and... and frankly the world, because so many people were there for Expo.

FALEN JOHNSON: And why was the festival and parade so important?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Well... So, almost everywhere throughout the Caribbean has a Carnival. They all have different names particular to their region and place. But to explain why they're so important and maybe why the one in Toronto became so important, we have to go back to where Caribbean carnivals originated, and that is in Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago are a set of twin islands in the Caribbean. They're kind of close to Venezuela and just south of the island of Grenada, if you know the Caribbean. And Carnival started there because of its early French colonial history, when French planters brought their carnival festivities over to Trinidad.

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay. And so, what did those festivals look like?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Well, the French would party from Christmas to Ash Wednesday, which in Christianity is known as the pre-Lenten period. I'd never heard it called pre-Lenten-- [crosstalk]

FALEN JOHNSON: That seems like a long... That seems like a really big chunk of time to be partying.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: That was a big chunk of time. I mean, these people had nothing to do, okay. Because they had enslaved people. So they were just [Falen laughs] being rich, doing nothing...

FALEN JOHNSON: Right.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: You know, like, being [FALEN: Yes.] rich and just getting people to bring them drinks. So, like, traditional Lent is actually a 40-day season of prayer and fasting. You know, and before this, they had fancy balls and they had concerts and dinners and hunts, and again, sitting around doing nothing. And most importantly, they had masked balls. And so, you'll hear the word 'mas' a lot in Carnival. And that's short for ‘masquerade.’

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay. Because I thought it was like mass, like church mass for some reason.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Ah.

FALEN JOHNSON: That's where my brain went.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Actually, that makes sense. But no, it's masquerade. [FALEN: Okay.] And the island's enslaved African population were watching this all go down, and they started then their own secret celebrations because they weren't allowed to party in the same ways. Obviously, they were enslaved, and a lot of celebration and festivities and, and things that they would probably do, were banned, right. Drumming was banned.

FALEN JOHNSON: Right.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: So they incorporated their sacred traditions like masking and funeral rituals, and used their secret 'mas' as an opportunity to mock their masters.

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay. Yeah, I... I like this, and this sounds like something that probably was happening in a lot of places at this time, right? Like, you know, making fun of the enslavers behind their backs. That would be...

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yes.

FALEN JOHNSON: Yeah.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: It's gotta go somewhere, right?

FALEN JOHNSON: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: And it was, it was really like one part festival and one part satire and mockery, and a way to release that rage and anger that you would have as an enslaved person in a somewhat safe way over this group of people who were enslaving them. So, many took on characters of their masters. You know, people would use face paint, and they would exaggerate what they saw as the behaviours of these slavers and their wives, you know. Like, just overdoing it and the excess of it all.

FALEN JOHNSON: I would love to see what that looked like. And I'm assuming it also included dancing and singing and things like that?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah. And storytelling was a huge part: shows, little plays with groups of people led by, quote unquote, "kings and queens." You know, it was a send up of, like, colonialism as well. So, the enslaved people used just about anything to make music. They would use old boxes and tins and wood bottles, whatever, and eventually they formed bands and played mas, you know. So, playing or putting on this masquerade. Then in 1863, when emancipation, the freeing of enslaved people took place, the celebrations actually ramped up. And Trinidad was, at that point, now controlled by the British. Here's a clip from Caribana 1974, where the host asked guests Roger Ames and Peter Marsland -- these were folks involved in Caribana -- about what happened to Carnival in Trinidad after emancipation.

SOUNDCLIP

ROGER AIMES: Originally, the British government tried to get rid of the festival because it was troublesome.

HOST: How was it troublesome?

ROGER AIMES: Well, people... I mean, it was a festival of the people. [HOST: Yeah.] Once the emancipation took place, it was something that belonged to the people. And if you read the accounts of Carnival in those days, they were always very against it, because it comes from the establishment press. And it was also a way of the people to express their feelings about the government, which you still get in Old Mas and in calypso, you know.

PETER MARSLAND: I think somebody described Carnival very explicitly a couple of years ago, when he said that it's... it's one way of getting rid of a year's frustration in 48 hours.

FALEN JOHNSON: Yeah, that's what I call my weekend! [laughter] Forty-eight-hour release. [laughs]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah. And I mean... you know, like, think about it. You're dressing up in a disguise; you're painting yourself. And maybe, just, like, whining up, dancing, jumping up in the streets without a care in the world. Like, you're uninhibited. That's, that's what it's all about. It's a letting go. And music has been integral. There are a lot of different styles and forms of music. There's soca music, steel pan music. There's reggae, dancehall and calypso. And calypso, from early on, has been central.

SOUNDCLIP

[music: calypso song]

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay. And what makes calypso, you know, distinct in comparison to other music?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Well, instead of explaining it myself, I think an actual calypsonian should try and describe it.

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Here's a clip from iconic Trinidadian calypsonian Lord Shorty, a.k.a., Ras Shorty -- some people know him by both names -- describing calypso to CBC radio at the 1975 Caribana.

SOUNDCLIP

LORD SHORTY: Yes. Well, my, my idea of the whole thing is that, as a calyposnian, calypso is a, in some cases, a serious, serious form. There are some of us who sings on strong topics that-- what we call strong topic is, like, political, world affairs and things like that, right. And then there are some of us who sing about Carnival, like... And there are some of us who are on a more humorous trend. That is my thing. I like making people happy. So, my, my thing in calypso is on a more humorous nature. I could take any serious topic and make it humorous.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: So a lot of people don't know that calypso, which is such joyous party music, is also, in many cases, satire. It's political commentary, it's social commentary. It's been a way to communicate political beliefs and kind of what everyday people on the street are talking about. And yes, it can be hilarious. Some of it's really funny, actually.

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay. And like, how is it funny? How is it hilarious?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Okay, so a prime example is one of my all-time favourite funny calypso songs. It's from my childhood in the early '90s, and it's called "Chicken & Ram" by the Mighty Gabby. He's a Barbadian calypsonian, and the, the song title is a play on the food pairing of chicken and rum. But this song is called Chicken and Ram. And it's so stupid, and it-- and wonderful. It all came out of this news story that a chicken farm in Barbados was selling basically dead chickens. Like, the chickens were very sick. They would die. And then the workers were like, should we just throw them out? Or... You know. And apparently, they were told by Ram, the owner of the chicken farm, to pluck them and sell them to restaurants. And so a lot of people got ill. And so, that's why the song is called "Chicken & Ram," after the the farm's name. Hence, the song title.

SOUNDCLIP

["Chicken & Ram" song fades up]

MIGHTY GABBY: [singing] Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had some chicks, E-I-E-I-O. Some was good, some was fed. Some was alive, most was dead. Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay. So, um. [laughs] Hilarious. [laughter] I'm like, I've had food poisoning, and it is not funny. [laughs]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Well, I think the funny thing is that they were sending up the owner of the farm. [crosstalk]

FALEN JOHNSON: Yes, yeah.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Who was, like, denying it, [FALEN: You're right, you're tight.] and was still trying to... And also, it's hilarious that anyone wrote a song about it. Like, [FALEN: Yeah.] it's funny because it was like the thing that--

FALEN JOHNSON: You know, inspiration can come from the most unlikely places.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: But it's like, think about the news. A lot of times the head headlines are not the things necessarily people are talking about, right?

FALEN JOHNSON: Mm-hmm.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: And actually, a lot of other artists made songs [laughs] about that chicken farm [FALEN: Okay.] and also got sued. So, I actually found an article from 2005. Falen, can you read this quote by the Mighty Gabby?

FALEN JOHNSON: "I was concentrating on highlighting the way people were feeling at the time. The issue was to voice the people's opinion, not to hurt."

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: And that's exactly it. That's what happens in satire. And I think if it's good, you know, someone takes offense to it.

FALEN JOHNSON: Mm-hmm.

[calypso music, steel pan music]

FALEN JOHNSON: So, we have calypso, we have dancing and bands playing mas. How does this one-time event in Toronto take off and become this huge festival?

SOUNDCLIP

[archival clip]

HOST: What do you think of the parade?

LADY: I think it is just wonderful and it should continue all the time.

HOST: Do you like the music?

GENT: Oh, I think it's terrific. I think Toronto in the last ten years has absolutely changed. For the better, that is.

HOST: Right.

GENT: It is getting more colour. It's no longer the sort of staid Presbyterian Toronto I used to know. But I think all these different groups coming in... they're absolutely fabulous, you know, the way that they're giving colour to the place, in particular the West Indians. Of all the ethnic groups that I can think of, they've added more colour to Toronto than any other group.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: So that was a clip from the '70s, and you can hear people's reactions from seeing the festival for the first time. It was pretty immediately an event that so many people outside the West Indian community wanted to come to, because it was so unlike anything people had really seen.

FALEN JOHNSON: Right. And Toronto was a bit tight-laced, you know, for a time. We've talked about this a lot. It wasn't really seen as a party city. So I imagine people were probably like, you know, finally, I can have a drink in the street and dance and have fun here for once.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: [laughs] Yeah, exactly. For once.

FALEN JOHNSON: For one time.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: It took till, like, 1967 [FALEN: Yes.] for one.

FALEN JOHNSON: Yes.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah. Exactly. And I mean, also, like, the spectacle of it all. The costumes are so unique. There are some that reach heights of, like, 40 feet tall and 20 feet wide, or even wider, and they're still so light that one person can wear it.

FALEN JOHNSON: Yeah, that's--

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: It's extraordinary.

FALEN JOHNSON: --wild to me. They're on-- Some of them are on wheels, right?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah, that's right. Like, most of the back of it would be on wheels. And then someone kind of wears, like, the front part like a backpack and they can kind of roll with it and still dance. So, it's, it's amazing. [FALEN: Yeah.] There's actually this famous story that I love, that in 1971, there was a competitor by the name of Clive Brand, and he was competing to be the King of Caribana. And his costume was so, you know, extraordinary for the time, and it was so huge and amazing. And it also included flares. Like, it lit up while he was walking. [Falen chuckles] Because people always tried to innovate these costumes. And it actually, uh, kind of blew up. Caught fire while [FALEN: Oh.] he was in it. People had to jump in, and they ended up throwing it basically into Lake Ontario [laughter] with the help of a crowd, so that he was not burnt alive. And he was fine. He was totally safe. But like, this is, this is, you know, the level that people try to get their costumes up to.

FALEN JOHNSON: Well, that's like part of the beauty of doing the festival near Lake Ontario, right?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: [laughs] Yeah, exactly.

FALEN JOHNSON: It's just right there. You can throw a costume… A burning costume can go into the lake, no problem.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: That's true.

FALEN JOHNSON: But that's, like-- that is some serious dedication.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: It is. And he won. He won. [FALEN: Oh.] I mean, I think they were like-- [crosstalk]

FALEN JOHNSON: Well, I should hope so. He lit himself on fire. [laughs]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah. It's huge.

FALEN JOHNSON: If that's not winning, I don't know what is.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah. And it was events like the King and Queen competition that put Caribana on the map. But I also think a lot of the success was because of the immigration policies of the government. They had changed, in 1971, after Pierre Elliott Trudeau's government started Canada's multiculturalism policy that allowed more people from the Caribbean to immigrate.

FALEN JOHNSON: Oh, okay. So like, that's when everyone from the Caribbean started to immigrate to Toronto.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: No, not at all. That-- I mean, people were being placed all over the country. And so that meant West Indians were travelling from all over Canada to come to Caribana. Because, like, all the other cities didn't have a Caribana or a, [FALEN: Right.] a really good Carnival. So they were like, let's go to Toronto, you know?

FALEN JOHNSON: Mm-hmm.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: And then they told two friends, and then they told two friends and so on and so forth. And, you know, today when you go to the festival, there are people from all around the world that have Caribbean heritage. And a lot of Americans. Just, everybody comes.

FALEN JOHNSON: Yeah, that's, that's what I have noticed about, you know, when Caribana happens. Is just, like, how global it feels. Like, there are people from everywhere. It's huge. And it's, like... it's kind of like a giant house party with... you know, people just start texting their friends to come and show up and join in. Because it is, like-- There's just people from everywhere.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah. And I think, like, you know, as I mentioned at the beginning, there are... you know, a kind of Carnival in every place in the Caribbean. There's a Carnival in Brazil. Like, lots of places all over the world have their own Caribana, if you, if you will. And so, I think it just draws people here. And it really started as a community-based event, you know?

FALEN JOHNSON: And, I mean, I haven't been in years. Does it, does it still feel that way? Does it still feel like a community event?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Well, yes and no. I mean, I reached out to Martin Scott-Pascall. He's the artistic director of the Dance Caribe Performing Company. And he is a costume designer, he's a producer. He's been participating and working with the festival. I mean, he's worn so many hats during the years at the festival. He's been there around, like, 30 years, [FALEN: Wow.] off and on. So I asked him what he felt had changed.

SOUNDCLIP

MARTIN SCOTT-PASCALL: It is bigger in the sense of numbers of people coming in, um, to the city. The young people don't want to be in costume, but they want to be a part of the parade, you know. And that is where a lot of the problem... You know, long ago it was storytelling, but it's-- I find that it's not there anymore. Most of the band, all designs look the same. It's a lot of feathers, a lot of beads. If we continue with this modern style, we are going to lose the beauty of what the cultural heritage of the festival is.

FALEN JOHNSON: I feel like that's always the way. You know, once something starts to become big and popular, there are obviously gains. But then, you know, you kind of lose something as well.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah. And what he's saying is true. If you look at most of the Toronto Festival costumes today, they are beautiful, everyone looks amazing. But there is a sameness there, you know? And Martin explained people used to make their own costumes over a year. Like, they'd start as soon as the festival...

FALEN JOHNSON: Wow. Yeah, yeah.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: ...ended. And they would just, like, work on them for the whole year. And while a lot of people still do, a lot of people also just order a bedazzled bikini online and call it a day, you know?

FALEN JOHNSON: [chuckles] Well, we do love a bedazzled bikini.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: [chuckles] Well, we do. We do.

FALEN JOHNSON: We do. We do.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: But historically, mas has had characters. And like Martin said, there's storytelling, which many people are not doing the kind of traditional stuff. But I did find someone who's trying to keep some of those traditions still going.

SOUNDCLIP

MICHELLE WALKER: The overarching theme of Carnival, of the Parade, of Caribana or whatever you want to call it, is the celebration of freedom, of the emancipation of former enslaved Africans.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: This is Michelle Walker. She lives in Toronto and immigrated from Trinidad over 30 years ago. And when she arrived, she was pleasantly surprised and shocked to find there was, like, this huge Caribana. And she's part of a group that's trying to bring back the Blue Devil character.

FALEN JOHNSON: Ooh. And what's that?

SOUNDCLIP

MICHELLE WALKER: In the Toronto festival, there was... actually, for a long time, there was no real representation of the traditional Old Mas characters. Old Mas, as we call it. In the Caribbean, the Blue Devil represents several different things. Now, some of the stories... one talks about, you know, the white man being the devil and becoming a symbol of mockery. The Blue Devil runs around and sort of intimidates people because their bodies are painted. And it's not just blue. The devils can come in, like... they could be covered in molasses, in chocolate or in oil. So, the Molasses Devil, for example, one of the stories was that there was a white slave master accidentally fell into a vat of boiling molasses. And the character of the Molasses Devil comes from that.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: The Blue Devil is also known as "Jab Molassie," and it's almost what I would compare to a trickster character.

SOUNDCLIP

MICHELLE WALKER: Yes, but the Blue Devil symbolizes also... you're covered in the blue paint or the coloured paint or, you know, whatever substance. And you are literally threatening to paint your audience member, you know, stain them if they don't hand you some money. It's a lot of fun. And there's also some spiritual aspect. Of course, the immediate connection would be, you know, an evil presence. But basically it is laughing in the face of evil.

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay, that sounds fun. I would offer to paint myself blue, but I feel like I'd just look like I was in the Blue Man Group, so, I don't know.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: You know what? A lot of people do. But like, that-- don't let that stop you. Why not? I'll do it. And we can see if we can join Michelle's group next year.

FALEN JOHNSON: I don't know. I feel like I don't-- It's like Blue Man Group or Avatar. [Leah-Simone laughs] I just... Neither's real. It just doesn't sit [LEAH-SIMONE: Okay, fair.] right with me. Yeah.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Okay. We'll find something else. We'll find something else for you.

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay. Okay.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: So, they are called the Blue Devil Moko Jumbie Mas. But it's these kinds of traditional Carnival characters and traditions that people like Michelle and Martin, that's what they're trying to preserve.

FALEN JOHNSON: Right. So, the festival can still be huge, but also hang on to some of its traditions.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Exactly. And that's how it's continued for so long because of its community.

SOUNDCLIP

MICHELLE WALKER: I have been proud to bring up my children in this amazing culture that is a part of me, a part of my blood, and for them to embrace it so fully. To see that tradition being passed on, like, I feel that I've accomplished my role as a West Indian mom. [laughs] And, and yeah, and I do hope they pass that love down to their future generations. It's, it's something that should not be lost. You know what I mean?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: And so Caribana 2024 -- or I should say the Toronto Caribbean Festival 2024 --has come to a close, which means that all of the people who were involved in making the costumes this year are probably already starting to plan next year. And I'm going to leave us with a bit of a fun song from this year. This is a Trinidadian group named Kes. This song is called "Miracle." It's one of my favourites, and I think it just, like, really pinpoints the feeling of how much fun Carnival can be.

SOUNDCLIP

[song: "Miracle" by Kes]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: This episode of The Secret Life of Canada was written and produced by me, Leah-Simone Bowen.

FALEN JOHNSON: And me, Falen Johnson. With sound design and editing by Grant MacDonald.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Script editing is by Yvette Nolan with research assistance by Andrea Eidinger and CBC Archives. Our logo is by Patuo’kn Illustration and Design.

FALEN JOHNSON: For CBC Podcasts the co-ordinating producer is Roshini Nair, Kate Evans is the senior producer and the executive producer is Cesil Fernandes. The director of CBC Podcasts is Arif Noorani.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: You can find us on our socials @thesecretlifeofcanada. Show notes and links for the episode are on our website at cbc.ca/secretlife. Remember to subscribe and follow the show. We are now on YouTube. You can share your thoughts on our Spotify feed or reach us by email at secretlifeofcanada@cbc.ca.

FALEN JOHNSON: Thanks for exploring Canada's hidden history with us.

TRANSCRIPT: The Secret Life of Canada, S6: The Caribana* Episode (*and yes we're still calling it that)

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