In portraying “Royalty” in this year’s West Indian American Day Carnival Parade, Dingolay hopes to snatch the title in the Medium Band category.
“Last year, we came in second, the year before we came third, and this year, we’re going to win,” said Eddie Trotman, the Tobago-born band leader in a Caribbean Life interview at the mas camp on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn.
“The color is vibrant,” added Trotman, disclosing that this year’s color is purple. “Every year, we do one color, and we enhance it with different shades.”
He said the “total mixed band, with elders mixed with young ones, 16 and up,” comprises masqueraders from Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Haiti, Jamaica, Grenada and Barbados, among other places.
“Basically, as a Medium Band, we’re constantly trying to improve on the quality of the mas,” Trotman said. “Usually, we get nice vibes. The energy level is up there.”
He said he is getting sterling assistance from co-band leader Trinidadian Rachel Hall in the five-section band, with 250-300 masqueraders.
With an unidentified “outside section,” Trotman said the other sections are: Royal Empress, Passion Lavender, Purple Rain and Sovereign.
Trotman, also a DJ, who played in the past for other mas bands, such as Barokeete and Black Foot, said he will supply music to masqueraders under the DJ sobriquet New Wave Sounds, along with Press Play from Trinidad and Tobago and D Majestic from Toronto.
“I want a total mix,” he said. “I want the flavor to stay mixed, so the people get a nice vibe.”
The mas camp is located at 1169 Nostrand Ave., between Rutland Road and Fenimore Street.
Trotman can be reached at (347) 228-8952 and Hall at (347) 423-7918.
