The de­ci­sion by four large Car­ni­val bands to cre­ate their own venue at the Jean Pierre Com­plex for the Car­ni­val Tues­day pa­rade has raised ques­tions about the na­ture of the fes­ti­val that some find trou­bling.The bands–Tribe, Bliss, Yu­ma and Harts–rep­re­sent a huge con­stituen­cy of the up­scale, fit and at­trac­tive young peo­ple who choose to wear a Car­ni­val cos­tume on Big Tues­day.

The evo­lu­tion of these bands, which pride them­selves on cre­at­ing an all-in­clu­sive par­ty ex­pe­ri­ence, has long pro­voked con­cerns about elit­ism in the fes­ti­val. On the oth­er side of the ropes that have de­fined the bor­ders of these mo­bile par­ty en­gines, things seem de­cid­ed­ly all-ex­clu­sive.

The pro­file of the So­cadrome's mas­quer­aders, the all-in­clu­sive na­ture of their road par­ty and their dili­gence in pro­vid­ing se­cu­ri­ty for their mem­bers have all con­spired to sug­gest a re­turn to the mid­dle of the 20th cen­tu­ry, when the up­per crust of so­ci­ety rolled through the streets safe on dec­o­rat­ed lor­ries.But the shift in taste from per­form­ing a mas­quer­ade to wear­ing a pret­ty cos­tume that's part of an ex­clu­sive street par­ty has been hap­pen­ing for at least 20 years now.

http://www.guardian.co.tt/dig­i­tal/new-mem­bers