Caribbean Beat — January/February 2017 (#143)

maria nunes
I never choose the mas. The mas choose me. It speaks to you.
So you can’t just think that at the end of the day, you put on a
costume. It doh work like that. You awakening something. And
for me the folklore starts from somewhere. All stories have a
beginning, and when it hands down through generations it takes
on different faces and different meanings for everybody.
I like to lacouray myself. I like to showcase myself — but who
doesn’t? On a normal, average, basic day I keep to myself. I try to
The birth of La Diablesse
After several years of portraying a traditional Dame Lorraine in her mother
June Sankar’s well-known band, Tracy Sankar-Charleau began an exploration
of other mas and folklore traditions through individual performance.
At Carnival 2015, she debuted a new character, La Diablesse, based on the
notorious cow-footed temptress of T&T folklore. But Sankar’s La Diablesse
also incorporates elements of the Haitian voudou deity Erzulie Freda,
embodying both love and sorrow, and borrowing some visual iconography
from the Roman Catholic Madonna. Photographer Maria Nunes recalls the
impact on Sankar’s audience: “The whole of Victoria Square erupted. People
were truly gasping.”
Sankar’s vivid portrayal took on a new intensity after the death of her
husband in October 2015, killed during an attempted robbery. They had
been married for nearly two decades, and had four children. Just a few
months later, Sankar’s 2016 mas portrayal channeled her sense of loss and
rage into a searing and powerful performance that stunned audiences who
had grown accustomed to nostalgically pretty “traditional” mas characters.
stay away from people. I have friends, but sometimes they don’t
even see me for months. I prefer to keep on the down-low, but
when it’s time for me to pop up, I get to be me. I get to show you
for a change, look at how it supposed to be done.
What happens when I am playing the La Diablesse, I am
trying to come out of it. I am always crying, I am always
sorrowful. I cannot always not be who I am. This is the woman
herself. This is the Lady of Sorrows. It come like I am living out
the whole entire thing.
I still express myself in my photography, but
this is more fun. I like to be able to feel things.
I like to touch it. With my mas I get to touch it,
I get to actually bring something to life. I get to
bring it out to you, and you can literally come
up, touch it, smell it, see me, embrace it. It’s
like reading a story and that’s all it is, it’s all up
here in your imagination — but wouldn’t it be
wonderful if it could literally manifest itself and
materialise in front you? I get to do that. I get to
take the stories that we all have and make them
into something where it’s a fascination even for
the oldest of the old.
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