Black Immigrant Daily News
A new carnival band — Yard Mas — is promising to cause an energetic disruption for Carnival in Jamaica on April 16, 2023, with its launch, a collaborative effort of five brands.
The new masquerader-motivated band has seen the I Love Soca, Fete Republic, Broadtail, CS, and Zarmak Limited brands collaborating to create a “bona fide Jamaican experience” for masqueraders globally.
The person behind the collaboration, I Love Soca Managing Director Andrew Bellamy, saw the need to provide an “ego-free, masquerader-focused, high-energy carnival experience, with all brands aligned to make the masqueraders a priority”.
Yard (Yaad) — a word that affectionately references Jamaica as “home” — is the essence of the new brand that pays homage to the authenticity of a truly Jamaican carnival band built during the renaissance of the carnival movement in Jamaica, post the COVID-19 pandemic, a release from the team said.
“Pre-COVID, Carnival in Jamaica was on the cusp of a global breakthrough and we see ourselves as the providers of the game-changing element to the process through our Night Carnival experience, which made Yard Mas an easy collaboration,” said Adam Fernandez of the Fete Republic team.
Broadtail Designs owner, Dania Beckford, is an advocate of “every body is a carnival body” and, with the launch of Yard Mas set for January 2023, inclusivity is paramount in the costuming of all body types and the accommodation of all nationalities and cultures as the seamless creation of the new “yardies” of soca in Jamaica emerges, the release added.
According to the team, Yard Mas has also partnered with Xaymaca International to provide a new experience for those who missed out on their 2020 Carnival in Jamaica experience.
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“Having stepped down as CEO and band leader of Xaymaca International due to the non-alignment of the directors, I know I needed to provide an avenue for Xaymacans to benefit from this new experience.
“I appreciate the trust they had in me when I was a part of that band, and I pride on providing the promised experience to them and our new masqueraders in this new venture,” said Bellamy.
Yard Mas said it welcomes and assures priority access to all Xaymacans with proof of payment to the new Mas Band with the credited amount that they deposited or paid in full for the carnival in Jamaica experience in 2020.
NewsAmericasNow.com