Dyer presents SVG’s newest mas band – ‘Maskarade’

To take Vincentian art and creativity internationally and regionally is the vision of Conroy Dyer, Band Leader and Designer for one of the country’s newest Carnival Mas Bands – Maskarade.{{more}}

To some this may sound like a pretty steep order, especially when it comes from someone like Dyer who is making his debut.

Although he is new to competition, he enters the local Mas Band scene with a wealth of knowledge and experience having done work with Wizards Mas Camp and having done mas designs while a student at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus in Jamaica.

He has in the past been affiliated with some of the big names in the business, including Roy ‘the Dragon’ Ralph, Lennox ‘Dinks’ Johnson, Lennox ‘Skully’ Hunt and Julian ‘Piling’ Pollard.

His philosophy is one that focuses on skill and creativity in the Mas tent rather than the ‘fast food’ ideology that has crept in.

“I personally believe that we have a high standard of Mas, even though some of our local bands have been straying or running away from actual costumes to the swim suit, Brazil style type of Mas; I don’t really want to go down that route,” Dyer explained.

Maskarade’s unique interpretation of ‘Abracadabra’ features five junior sections: Jack/Jill and the Beanstalk, Fairy, Clown, Flower and Puppet and represents years of hard work and determination after all, he has been toying with the idea of bringing a Mas Band for some time now.

“Seeing it manifest from two dimensional to three dimensional, that’s magical,” Dyer told SEARCHLIGHT.

His interest in Mas started as a boy growing up in Rose Place (Bottom Town) in close proximity to a Mas tent.

“It was like sneaking away into a secret cave,” Dyer said.

Seeing Mas come to life and on parade on Back Street also impacted on Dyer as a youth.

“From there I knew I wanted to be involved and be a part of that.”

But above everything else, Dyer says that he is determined to succeed in his quest to catapult this country’s creativity to the top and to disprove the notion that there is no money to be made in Mas.

“I want to dump that,” he asserted adding that the time has come for local designers and artists to earn a living.

“We want to see the design element be pushed to the limit,” he said, as he pointed to the accomplishments of top Trinidadian Mas Band designer Peter Minshall.

“We have the capabilities to do that, too,” he said.

As for what the future holds, Dyer says that he is looking to be on the local scene for a while and becoming a force to be reckoned with. (DD)