Panjumbie

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These are photographs taken during the Jouvert celebration in Brooklyn, NY during the 2014 Labor Day weekend.

Jouvert, Patois for "Break of Day", begins before dawn and continues into the morning hours. The Brooklyn Jouvert is held on Labor Day Monday morning, before the large Caribbean American Day parade on Eastern Parkway starts. It follows a different route, coming down Flatbush Avenue from Grand Army Plaza, turning onto Empire Boulevard, proceeding to Nostrand Avenue where it turns right, going down Nostrand Avenue for some blocks before ending.

Jouvert in Brooklyn is restricted to non-amplified music, i.e. Steelbands and Rhythm sections. Much of the mas (costumed parade participants) is old traditional mas where participants in informal dress cover themselves and their fellow mas players in grease, mud, and now-days paint.

Many of these photographs are of the Adlib Steel Orchestra from Uniondale NY, a band I have been associated with for many years. There are also photographs of Steel Explosion USA (another steelband, from Brooklyn, led by my friends Freddy Harris III and Tameeka Garcia), and pictures of a number of my friends.

Adlib was to provide music for mas created by Roy Pierre Associates, a band of "pretty" old mas players. Their theme was the running of the bulls in Spain. Their paper-mache bull and a number of their mas players dressed in red costumes are visible in these photographs.

Adlib's participation in 2014 was cut short when the U-Haul truck towing its float broke down. Fluids ran out into the road and the transmission seized up. A replacement truck to tow the float was not available until Monday afternoon, hours after Jouvert had ended. Adlib never made it to any of the judging points.

In past years, Adlib has won several of the Jouvert steelband competitions.

To view as a slideshow on a desktop/laptop (the best way to see all the pictures full sized), click on the small logo which looks like an old-fashioned movie camera with tripod legs above this text.