Where did the word “carnival” come from?
A theory in the meaning of 'Carnevale' is that the name is derived from the Italian "carne levare" or similar, meaning to remove meat, since meat was prohibited during lent which occurs before Easter.

The Carnival began after the success of a huge battle of the 'Serenissima Repubblica' in 1162 against the Patriarch Aquileia of northern Italy. After this event people began gathering in St Marks Square for dancing and for reunions and wore masks as a disguise. In 1797 it was outlawed by the King of Austria.

Info Source: http://gocaribbean.about.com/od/culturesandpeople/a/A-Brief-History-Of-Carnival-In-The-Caribbean.htm

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The Venice Carnival is now world famed - it always occurs during the ten days paving the way for Shrove Tuesday. Carnival, being a pre-Lent festival, means 'farewell to meat' and is commemorated throughout Italy.

It was initially held in Venice during the 11th century and comprised of over two months of jollification, until it fell into decline during the 18th century. It was reintroduced in 1979 with great success and nowadays it is a great reason to don a mask and costume, parade around the city, be entertained by the live music in the main squares of the city, the events organised by the tourist board and is a captivating open-air festival where everyone can participate. Extravagant costumes are showcased in St Mark's Square and Venice is the idealistic back-drop for superb photographs.

Carnival in the 18th century embarked on with a succession of balls in St Mark's Square, as can be seen on the fresco on the walls of the popular café Quadri's. Fortunes were misspent every night of Carnival in the Ridotto Gambling casino, whatever the social status all the people don costumes and masks, many connected to the Commedie del'Arte, Harlequin, Columbine, the Plague Doctor and of course the courtesans.

Info Source:https://www.walksofitaly.com/blog/venice/all-about-carnival-in-venice-venetian-masks-and-more

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Feathers were recurrently utilized by Africans in their motherland on masks and headdresses as a representation of our potential as humans to rise above tribulations pains, heartbreaks, illness — to travel to another world to be reborn and to grow spiritually. Today, we see feathers used in many forms in creating carnival costumes.

African dance and music practices metamorphosed the early carnival celebrations in the Americas, as African drum rhythms, large puppets, stick fighters, and stilt dancers began to make their emergence in the carnival festivities.

In various parts of the world, where Catholic Europeans created colonies and penetrated the slave trade, carnival took root. Brazil, once a Portuguese colony, is well known for its carnival, as is Mardi Gras in Louisiana (where African-Americans mixed with French settlers and Native Americans). Carnival celebrations are now found throughout the Caribbean in Barbados, Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica, Haiti, Cuba, St. Thomas, St. Marten; in Central and South America in Belize, Panama, Brazil; and in large cities in Canada and the U.S. where Caribbean people have settled, including Brooklyn, Miami, and Toronto.

Info Source:  http://crawfurd.dk/africa/carnival.htm

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This masking and mimicry amalgamated the calinda – or stickfighting accompanied by chanting and drumming – and rituals of Canboulay to become a jamette – or underclass – masquerade. After many a battle with the British colonial government, who kept attempting to ban drumming masquerade, and even the steel pan – the festival eventually found a home on the Monday and Tuesday before Lent, and was adopted as a symbol of Trinidadian culture during the independence movement. Here is a clip of the Canboulay Riots Re-enactment which happens each year in Port of Spain:

Info Source: http://www.trinigourmet.com/index.php/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival-a-brief-overview/

Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLBupp7g_vQ

Held on the Saturday before Carnival at the Queen's Park Savannah, the Panorama Competition is another noteworthy characteristic of Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival.  Reconnoitered as the pre-eminent steel band competition in the world, Panorama is an annual music competition open to both conventional and single pan steel bands in four main categories: Large Conventional Steel bands, Medium Conventional Steel bands, Small Conventional Steel bands and Single Pan Bands.  Up to 100 musicians rhythmically beat their pan sticks against the steelpans to create infectious music that seems to fuel the desire to dance. Developed in the 1930’s, the steel pan is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago and is generally acknowledged as the only musical instrument created in the 20th century. The video below shows one of the competitors in the Panaroma competition 2016- Desperadoes.


Info Source: http://www.trinigourmet.com/index.php/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival-a-brief-overview/

Video Source:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3wvvQndXtY

The leaders of masquerade bands, King and Queen costumes can weigh between 50 – 200 lbs., and portray colourful themes from nature to fantasy illusions. Costumes are supplemented with lasers, fog, light shows, fireworks and sound effects. The clip below exhibits the Kings of the King and Queen costume competition for 2016 finals.


Info Source: http://www.trinigourmet.com/index.php/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival-a-brief-overview/

Video Source:

A prodigious cultural show, Dimanche Gras is held the Sunday night before Carnival at the Queen's Park Savannah in Port-of-Spain.

In addition, on the night of Dimanche Gras, 10 to 13 calypso singers compete for the title of Calypso Monarch against the defending title holder from the previous year.

Info Source:
http://www.trinigourmet.com/index.php/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival-a-brief-overview/
Video Source:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D4c4ttu-NM

J’Ouvert, also known as jouvay, is perhaps one of the last modern Carnival festivities that primarily demonstrates the origins of Carnival – in particular, its origins in masking and in Canboulay processions. This is also true of the Canboulay re-enactment that happens in early hours of each Carnival Friday morning in Port of Spain. Described by some as a “religious” experience, the dance from dark to light through the streets of town early on Carnival Monday morning is called J’Ouvert (from the French meaning “break of day”). This is the pre-dawn ritual that begins the two official days of Carnival.

Locals and visitors from all walks of life lose themselves in the anonymity offered by costumes of oil, mud, body paint and in recent years even chocolate. Vigorous gyrations to pumping music and “rhythm sections” (music bands made up only of percussion instruments) keep any early morning chill at bay.

Info Source: http://www.trinigourmet.com/index.php/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival-a-brief-overview/

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There are two types of mas coexisting in Trinidad: Pretty Mas and Ole Mas. 

“Ole mas”, an important part of J’Ouvert, is street theatre. Ole mas competitions pit rival masqueraders – donned in their own or loaned old clothes, often incongruously formulated and cryptically complex by a satirical placard (usually of something socially or politically topical in nature) – against each other for the prize. Puns are a mainstay for the placards and costumes. These presumptuous and clever costumes and characters most of the times display public perceptions on current affairs, and also reflect Trinidadian’s playful creativity (some of the other islands actually refer to us as “Trickidadians”).

This is not the modern “pretty mas” that stipulates the cameras on Carnival Tuesday. In the dim light of dawn no one is paying attention to the details, but the energy of the thousands who take to the streets is irresistible and inevitable.

Below is an example of Ole Mas for Carnival.

Info Source: http://www.trinigourmet.com/index.php/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival-a-brief-overview/

Picture Source: http://www.guardian.co.tt/sites/default/files/field/image/HIGH%20GRADE.1.jpg

 

The only interval in the events – allowing those who have not slept since the previous Thursday night a little rest – comes on Monday night, though some people still party all through the night into Tuesday morning. Tuesday starts early, and the bands march through the streets once more, stopping only for lunch, and going until they can go no more. Some with less energy crash at sundown, but other keep going with the bands, following the huge music trucks until late at night, often ending up at a Last Lap fete. Then and only then do we all finally get some sleep.

Info Source: http://www.trinigourmet.com/index.php/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival-a-brief-overview/

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The Midnight Robber

The Midnight Robber is one of the most adored colorful traditional carnival characters. Midnight Robber, is instantaneously identifiable by his exorbitant costumes and distinctive speech, called “Robber Talk.” The "Robber Talk" is originated from the practice of the African Griot or storyteller, and the speech patterns and vocabulary are imitative of his former master and is characterised by its boastful, mocking style was derived from an assortment of sources: the Bible, literary texts and school readers and speaks of the Robber's indestructible ancestry as well as his horrifying exploits. 

Initially encouraged by cowboy costumes, the Robber typically wears an oversize hat with fringed brim, the crown assuming different shapes (graveyard, coffin, The Red House); a flowing cape decorated with symbols of death and destruction; black satin shirt and pantaloons generally in black and shoes or boots resembling an animal with moving eyes. He summons and dismisses his audience with the blow of his whistle while threatening them with a gun, sword or dagger and a wooden money box in the shape of a coffin.

Info Source: http://www.trinigourmet.com/index.php/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival-a-brief-overview/

Info Source: https://www.google.tt/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHWA_enTT616TT618&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=list+of+carnivals+around+the+world

The origin of the word junkanoo is debatable. Such theories include that it is entitled after a folk hero named John Canoe or that it originated from the French gens inconnus (unknown people) as masks are donned by the partygoers. The festival may have been derived many centuries ago, when slaves on plantations in The Bahamas commemorate holidays granted around Christmas time with dance, music, and costumes. Following the emancipation period, the tradition persisted and junkanoo transformed from simple origins to a formal, organised parade with intricate costumes, themed music and official prizes within various categories. 

Info Source: http://www.bahamas.co.uk/about/junkanoo/what-is-junkanoo

Picture Source: https://bahamasmasqueraders.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/DSC_0095-3-1024x683.jpg

 

Initially a celebration signifying the end of the annual sugar cane harvest, it has since transformed into Barbados' largest national festival analogous to Carnival in Brazil and Trinidad. With the rigorous effects of World War II on Barbados, the festival was demobilized. It was later reinvigorated in 1974 by local stakeholders including Julian Marryshow, Flora Spencer, Emile Straker, and Livvy Burrowes with the Barbados Tourist Board. With the progressive change, the general schema of Crop Over began to closely imitate the Trinidad Carnival. Beginning in June, Crop Over runs until the first Monday in August when it culminates in the finale, The Grand Kadooment. 

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Info Source: http://www.barbados.org/cropover.htm

Here is a rendition of Barbados Calypso in the Calypso Competition for the Crop Over festival.

Info Source: http://www.barbados.org/cropover.htm

Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGDHLS8yTyU

The competition takes place on the Ermy Bourne Highway, commonly known as East Coast. The air is reminiscent with the exotic smells of Barbadian cooking during the Bridgetown Market Street Fair. Rich with the spirit of local traditions and religions, the Cohobblopot. Festival blends dance and drama and music with the crowning of the King and Queen of costume bands. Every evening the 'Pic-o-de-Crop' Show is enacted when conclusively the King of Calypso is crowned. The pinnacle of the festival is Kadooment Day celebrated with a national holiday when costume bands pervade the streets with Bajan music and fireworks. For example, in 2011, Bajan singer, Rupee won the People's Monarch for his hit single, "I am a Bajan." 

Info Source: http://www.barbados.org/cropover.htm

Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TybxnGmTAQ

 

Christmas Festival traditions comprises of both music and dance, specifically related to masquerades and iron bands. The highland fling is an ordinary Christmas Festival dance, also played in the modern Carnival, performed by people clothed in Scottish kilts, masks created from wire and bearing whips of cowhide. Dancers sporting banana leaves and animal horns participated in the John Bull, while carollers paraded with long poles covered in lanterns, called carol trees, singing with accompaniment by the concertina. Stilt dancers in robes, called the Moko Jumbie, Jumpa-Ben or Long Ghosts, were also common, and were accompanied by kettle and bass drums, fife, triangle (cling-a-ching) and the boompipe, constructed from a plumbing joint one meter long.

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Info Source: http://www.antiguanice.com/v2/client.php?id=454&cat=94

 

Steel drum music was constructed when the bamboo percussion instruments originally was employed to back up calypso were substituted by hammered steel pans cut from oil drums. Whereas there is no debate that the steel pan was established in Trinidad, the indigenous development of the steel band in Antigua and Barbuda was a protuberance of the iron bands which were prevalent at Christmas time. Steel drum music has been an imperative part of Carnival since at that time, and Antigua is residential to many of the Caribbean's finest steel bands. Soca is a musical form that attaches the slower beat of American soul music to the upbeat tempos of calypso. Soca was originated in the 1970s, and by the middle of the 1980s it had become a fundamental feature of Carnival.

Info Source: http://www.antiguanice.com/v2/client.php?id=454&cat=94

Carnival Patrons on parade in Antigua
Antigua's carnival officially starts with a commencement of a parade through the city of St. John's. Bands and troupes come out in T-shirts bearing the insignia of their respective companies. Floats, which were influential in the past, have begun to see a regeneration in their popularity. The participants of several competitions also make a strong appearance in the Opening parade.

 

The typical parade route is generally like the following: The Parade will commence at 3:00 pm from Parliament Drive, and turn unto Queen Elizabeth Highway. From there it will turn right onto Independence Drive, left onto Redcliffe Street persist on until it turns onto Thames Street. From there it will move up High Street, back onto Independence Drive, around the round-about by government house and then finally into Carnival City through the north gate.

The parade finishes at "Carnival City" (the official title given to the Antigua Recreation Ground during the carnival season). There the opening ceremony follows and the contestants for the many carnival competitions make a final public appearance before their shows. The opening ceremony usually terminates with fireworks. 

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The Children's Carnival parade is set aside so that the children may really luxuriate in the carnival festivities to the maximum. They march throughout the streets as well and end the parade at Carnival City.

 

The children are decked of in their costumes and display various themes, adopted from fairy tales etc. Cheerleading has also made its way into Antigua's carnival. At Carnival City the children penetrate the Prince and Princess competitions. Here each mas troupe enrols a boy and girl who sport a costume withthe expectations of winning the prince and princess competition.

Info Source:  http://www.antiguanice.com/v2/client.php?id=454&cat=94

Picture Source: http://andyewilliams.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/antigua-childrens-carnival-2009/carnival1.jpg

The Queen of Carnival show is the most reputable and desired pageant title in Antigua and Barbuda. Elegant young ladies from all over the island participate in the competition that has precipitated many into the public eye. Many doors can be opened for the available of such a "Queen Show". The young ladies battle in the following rounds to justify that they are superior to the other delegates:

Info Source: http://www.antiguanice.com/v2/client.php?id=454&news=5890

Picture Source: http://www.antiguanice.com/v2/documents/Delegates%20with%20reigning%20queen-W590.jpg

Delegates with Reigning Queen

The Junior Calypso competition endeavours to retain the Calypso art form alive in the nation's children. The competition is subdivided into two parts, the 5 to 12 category and the 13 to 19 category. Each child sings one calypso and is judged on criteria that comprises of performance, lyrics, clarity, content and utilization of stage.
 

Many of the Junior Calypso winners have gone on to battle in the Calypso Monarch Competition.

Notable winners are:

 

2.Party Monarch

The most attended show for the Carnival season, Party Monarch, enticed over 11 thousand patrons in 2007 and approximately nine thousand in 2008. The competition is divided into two sections: the Groovy and the Up-tempo. Ten competitors per segment battle for the title of Party Monarch. The Party monarch sees lots of persons of all ages come out to listen to the local talent. The competitors sing Soca songs.
 

The Party Monarch competitions are also the fastest growing competitions and the artistes are really flourishing. It is important to note that some pundits are also holding the view that Antigua's Soca is swiftly that of Trinidad.

The most outstanding winners of the Party Monarch competition are:

3. Panorama

Steel Pan and Steel Orchestras are a huge deal in Antigua with assorted pan yards around the island. These Pan players come out into groups of about one hundred (some more, some less) and perform at Antigua's official Steel Pan competition, Panorama. 

Some of the Steel Bands that perform are:

Info Source :
http://www.antiguanice.com/v2/client.php?id=454&news=5890

Like j'ouvert all over the world, Antigua's is distinguished by much revelry. Patrons wake up early at around 3 or 4 am and go into St. John's where they find their preferred bands and "jam" with them along the route. There is much drinking, more jamming, painting of the bodies with blue and brown paint, and people who don colourful costumes.

Antigua's carnival festivities terminate on the first Monday and Tuesday in August, dubbed Carnival Monday and Tuesday, official holidays. After J'ouvert Morning on Monday morning revelers return into St. Johns in the afternoon to march through St. John's.

The troupes, bands and floats all come back the very next afternoon to repeat this but on a new route. This is dubbed Carnival Tuesday. The parade culminates at Carnival City where the various troupes are given prizes and the Road March king is decided upon. 

List of Antiguan Mas' Troupes and Groups:

Info Source: http://www.antiguanice.com/v2/client.php?id=454&news=5890

Picture Source: http://www.jhr-caribbean.com/megatemplate/uploads/photogallery_images/Img1582013_16554.jpg

 

The Christians and the famous follower Maximo De La Rosa would allow their slaves to have some deviation so that they got the "wild" out of their system, but the slave owners also would relish in the festivities. Since Christians believed that this a "pagan" celebration, they attached their own inflections because they wanted to be fond of it.
 

Carnival has been observed in the Dominican Republic since the mid-1500s. Corroboration of this has been found in the ruins of La Vega Vieja (near the present day La Vega) displaying that celebrations were held here before they were celebrated in Santo Domingo. The celebration includes the residents donning themselves as Moors and Christians.

Though it is not known for certain, it is perceived that the colony of Santo Domingo was the first place in the Americas to show a pre-Lenten costume. The celebration became a way to escape from the rigid religious traditions. By the late 1700s the carnival became a major celebration in the colony. Then on February 27, 1844, when the Dominican Republic won its independence from Haiti, the celebration gained more splendor, because the Dominicans were celebrating their independence. This amalgamation made February a very festive month in the Dominican Republic. 

The celebration is represented by an "upside-down chicken", and since the country is Catholic by its constitution the rulers of the world must not be God or Jesus Christ, but the Devil. Men dressing as women, and livestock governing their ranchers are presumed in this eccentric carnival. The cental character in the celebration is the "Diablo Cojuelo" (Limping Devil in English). However just because the "Diablo Cojuelo" plays a main role in festivities, does not mean that it is a celebration to worship the Devil. In fact this celebration actually supports the opposite, as it becomes a satire of the Devil.

Info Source: http://www.colonialzone-dr.com/traditions-carnival2.html

These are some of the most used around the country. Every town has their own variations of these and some original characters. Below is a picture of the Diablo Cojuelo.

Info Source: http://www.colonialzone-dr.com/traditions-carnival_characters.html
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In 1937, the Carnaval was officially adopted by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. In 2012, a local news weekly called Carnaval de Ponce "Puerto Rico's National Carnival".

Info Source: http://gopuertorico.about.com/od/historicponce/p/Ponce_Carnival.htm

The vejigantes are the undebatable stars of this festival. In a word, they are demons. Moreover, the vejigante is a figure derived from a centuries-old folklore that mixes African, Spanish, and Caribbean cultures. The name originates from vejiga, which translates to "bladder" in Spanish. 
The mask is the most iconic and colorful of the costumes, and even it has rules and regulations governing.

Like Mardi Gras, the carnival has its origins in Catholicism. The vejigantes, armed with their vejigas(inflated cow bladders), go around whacking children and other innocents, apparently to beat away any evil spirits that are lingering around them. However, given that they are known to target attractive women, these spiritual motives might be suspect.

The festival concludes with the Entierro de la Sardina, or "Burial of the Sardine." This mock funeral, finalized with dummy-laden coffin, is in honor of the coming season of lent. The Coffin and dummy are set on fire, to signify the burning away of the sins of the flesh.

The Carnaval terminates with the Burial of the Sardine, at which point everyone sings a song in Spanish that translates into: 
The Carnival is dead now
They are burying him;
Throw just a little dirt in
So he can rise again.

Picture Source: https://prezi.com/qmovdhwnz6ka/carnaval-de-ponce-puerto-rico/

Info Source: http://gopuertorico.about.com/od/historicponce/p/Ponce_Carnival.htm

Incited mainly by Trinidad’s yearly pre-Lenten Carnival, this three-week festival of the arts reveals the assorted expressive traditions of the Caribbean, bringing together a wide range of indigenous songs and instrumental music, dances, masquerade and oral traditions. It also highlights different foods and folk practice of the region. Since the late 1980s, involvement by groups from Central and South America, Africa, the Bahamas, Haiti and elsewhere in Canada has attached a dimension of multiculturalism to the festival that is distinctively Canadian.
 
  Name Change

In 2006, the City of Toronto extracted its support for the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC), the organization that had run the carnival since its origin, due to the CCC’s financial arduousness. In its place, the City formed a committee encumbered with planning the event. The festival was renamed Scotiabank Caribana in 2008. In 2011, however, a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice reconnoitred the legitimate right of the Caribana Arts Group (the CCC’s successor) to the Caribana name. As a result, the event dsicarded the word Caribana, becoming the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto. In October 2015, the festival lost its largest sponsor, Scotiabank, and changed its name yet again to become the Toronto Caribbean Carnival. Despite these changes, most people continue to use the name Caribana to refer to the festival. 

Info Source: http://www.africandiasporatourism.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=319:carib

Festival events comprise of calypso “tents” (shows), “jump-ups” (dances), “fetes” (parties), “mas” (masquerade) competitions, a junior carnival, “pan blockos” or “blockoramas” (steel band street parties), and “talk tents” (shows featuring storytellers, comedians and others well versed in oral traditions).

Although the Toronto Caribbean Carnival is the official name for the sequence of events organized by the Festival Management Committee, other organizations and individuals install carnival-type events during the Caribana season. For example, the Organization of Calypso Performing Artistes (founded in 1981) holds an annual Calypso Monarch Competition highlighting the talents of local calypsonians (calypso performers). The Caribana Arts Group, which owns the Caribana trademark, acclaims itself with having paved the way for other Caribbean festivals held in Toronto on the first weekend of August, such as Irie Fest and Jambana.

The climax of the Caribana festival is the Grand Parade, originally held on Yonge Street and then, by 1970, on University Avenue. Since 1991, it has set out from at the Canadian National Exhibition site and persisted on a 3.5 km route along Lakeshore Boulevard. Scheduled on the first Saturday of August in celebration of the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1834 (see Slavery Abolition Act), the parade is a magnificent showcase of costume, sound and color that winds its way past thick crowds for several hours. Participants in the parade are well ordered into masquerade “bands” (there were over 40 such bands in the 1990 parade; in 2016, this number was closer to a dozen), each of which is accompanied by live music bands (usually steel and/or brass, but the employment of percussion groups is a more recent development). Each masquerade band displays a specific theme (be it historical, satirical, political or fantasy) and is led by a “king” and “queen” who appear in the most lavish costumes. These bands battle with one another and are judged based on their costumes, energy and creativity. 

Info Source: http://www.africandiasporatourism.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=319:carib

Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfSs3e3n_t8

Music is a vital element of the Grand Parade, as it promotes one of the main aesthetic attributes of a Caribbean carnival: motion. The music is, for the most part, calypso and its newer form, soca (a neologism from soul and calypso). Other musical styles showcased are reggae (from Jamaica), tassa drumming (from the East Indian tradition in Trinidad), cadence (from Haiti and Dominica), zuk (from Saint Lucia), Latin salsa and, recently, North American rapand R&B.

In addition to the Grand Parade, Toronto’s Caribbean community puts together a kick-off parade nominated J’ouvert. It, too, is stimulated by Trinidad’s carnival practices. J’ouvert places much more emphasis on rhythmic music than song, highlighting steel pan bands and improvised instruments.

info Source: http://www.africandiasporatourism.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=319:carib

The other consequential component was the "hippie" London Free School-stimulated festival in Notting Hill that became the first put together as an outside event in August 1966. The prime advocate was Rhaune Laslett, who was not under the impression of the internal events when she first proposed the idea. This festival was a more diverse Notting Hill event to highlight cultural togetherness. A street party for neighbourhood children turned into a carnival procession when Russell Henderson's steel band (who had played at the earlier Claudia Jones events) went on a walkabout. By 1970, "the Notting Hill Carnival consisted of 2 music bands, the Russell Henderson Combo and Selwyn Baptiste’s Notting Hill Adventure Playground Steelband and 500 dancing spectators. 

Info Source: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/new-students/newsfeed/0000-student-life-new/notting-hill-carnival

Notting Hill Carnival is very reminiscent of Jamaican dancehall sessions due to the sounding of the event creating a "space". Notting Hill Carnival’s use of sound systems invokes cultural and personal associations for listeners, bringing about another "space", or a home for populations of the Black Atlantic Diaspora. Physically, the dominance of the sound envelops the crowd, creating a setting for the Carnival even though there are no physical boundaries. The fact that the sound systems are in the streets precipitates an environment where participants hear the sounds before they can actually see the systems themselves. The experience that all of these factors brings about for participants of the Carnival is representative of the Carnival-goers becoming a part of the larger diaspora, and acquiring a feeling of a distant African homeland, without having seen or having first-hand knowledge of the African continent.

Info Source: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/new-students/newsfeed/0000-student-life-new/notting-hill-carnival

Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAgFoK6vBI&spfreload=1

Info Source:http://www.answers.com/Q/What_are_disadvantages_of_Trinidad_carnival#slide=1