A steel drum band played under the tent at Cinema Paradiso last night, just downwind from trays of aloo pies and bake and shark. I grabbed a Carib beer and watched as the local Trinidadian community enjoyed its night.
"Where are you from?" a middle-aged woman asked a middle-aged man. (For the most part Cinema Paradiso is still, for some strange reason, shunned by the young.)
"India," the man said.
"My mother was from Hong Kong," the woman said testily. "But I'm from Trinidad."
"My father was from India, my mother from Trinidad," the man said in a conciliatory tone.
"So you're from Trinidad," the woman said, not relenting.
"Yes, I'm from Trinidad. You're right."
The evening film, Mas Man, was a documentary on the life and work of Peter Minshall, the carnival artist also known for creating Olympic opening ceremonies (Barcelona, Atlanta, Salt Lake City). When I went to Port-of-Spain for carnival in 1995, Minshall was criticized in the local papers by a local pastor for calling his band "Hallelujah." That year he draped his dancers in flowing white fabric.
In the theater I sat next to a tall, distinguished-looking Trinidadian now living in Miramar. He wore light-colored trousers and a white, loose-fitting shirt opened at the neck and displaying a thin gold chain. A delicate gold bracelet encircled his wrist.
He told me there were rumors that Minshall, who has not participated in carnival for several years, was coming back. In the meantime, Brian MacFarlane has taken his place for epic themes and breathtaking costumes.
"Without Minshall and MacFarlane," the man said, "carnival would just be beads and bikinis."
