Caribbean Beat — January/February 2017 (#143)

“I never choose
the mas”
Tracy Sankar-Charleau, who explores the
spiritual roots of folklore through mas
performance, on being “chosen” by her
characters — as told to Tracy Assing
Every traditional mas character is alive. Every traditional
mas person, whether they want to look at it that way or not,
from moko jumbies straight down to a fancy sailor, they all
have to deal in the spiritual aspect of it. You have a fancy sailor
turn around and tell you, you can’t just do so and put on a costume
and say you dance a dance like that — you have to be on a high.
And, as I tell people, is not an alcohol high, it’s a whole different
thing. Traditional mas has a level of spiritualism in it, and each
character, each person, knows how to be.
We take on that character, whether it be for an hour or for
the whole day. This is not just jump in a costume and palance
yuh backside. This is awakening something when you need it to
do something for you. For me, really and truly, the La Diablesse
was on a whole different level. I am the vessel and I have to do
whatever it is she tell me to do.
I’ve been playing mas for the last ten years with my mom.
I started off with her. That didn’t happen until my thirties. I
was doing photography work with her band, helping with her
workshops. But then I became an individual performer — next
year will make it four years. From there it just took off
We are from an artistic family. My mom was a draughtswoman
and also a seamstress. That was her job at home. We were
always making something. Is she give us the courage to just start
we own, so to speak. My sister, she does stuff with her, they are
joined together. But I branched off on my own, because I decided
to deal more with the folklore aspects of it, the spiritual aspect of
it, and the part it plays within the whole persona of the mas. They
do the Dame Lorraine. I play the Dame Lorraine, the fancy jab,
the jab molassie, and in 2015 for the first time I brought out the
La Diablesse. So in all it’s four characters I play. 2017 will make
it five. I giving them my version of a burrokeet. This time I will
be the one dancing the horse.
I was bored with the Dame Lorraine. It’s a cool character. It’s
my mother. I am a little more out there. I’m a little more brackish
and a little more loud and outgoing. When my mother realised I
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