Karneval der Kulturen (Carnival of Cultures) in Berlin, Germany

It’s almost summer and the world is in Carnival mode. In Berlin, Germany from today the 17th – 20th of May 2013 it is Carnival Weekend. In its 18th year, Karneval der Kulturen which means Carnival of Cultures hosts a large street parade with parties, music, food, drinks and activities for both the young and the old. The city of Berlin estimates about 1.4 million guests from around the world to come and experience their huge summer festival. One event contains four stages of music from various world regions with performers and DJs, while culinary delights and handmade arts and crafts are offered in the approximately 400 stands. Whitsunday, is the final day of the event which celebrates Berlin’s cultural diversity with traditional costumes and ritual dances.

Check out this video for a peek of what to expect:

For details on events check here:

Also looks like Trinidad has made it’s way as always into the foray!

Spice Carnival Band off the road for 2014

Dear Spicequeraders,
It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that after months of careful consideration, we have decided that we will not be bringing out a presentation for Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2014.
The Spice Management Team, as part of both our professional and personal growth and development, have embarked on some new projects for the upcoming year and we have realised that this will hamper greatly our ability to provide you with the level of quality product and service that you have become used to.
We have always believed in giving you, our masqueraders, 100 per cent dedication at all times and our new endeavours will not allow us to maintain this standard that we have set for ourselves and we would never want to short-change you in anyway.
While we are very excited to begin this new chapter in our lives, we are deeply saddened that there will be no Spice Carnival Band in C2K14. The last five years have been an incredible jour…ney and the happiest times in the lives of the entire Spice Team.
To you our masqueraders we say thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you to all our one time masqueraders and special thank you to our returning masquerades for making Spice your choice for Carnival. Thank you for your support… you all made us a success!
To our loyal masqueraders who have been with us since year one… what can we say, you are like family to us and we love you all and will miss you terribly.
However, this is not a ‘goodbye’ Spicequeraders, this is merely a ‘see you later’ as Spice Carnival Band will be back soon, even better than before! We started this band because of our love for Trinidad and Tobago Carnival and it will be very hard for us to stay out of the industry for too long.
We hope that you all have a great Carnival 2014 and see you on the road for C2K1…!
Best Regards,
The Spice Team

Major Lazer gives ‘Differentology’ & ‘Palance’ “major” exposure at Coachella 2013

Happy and excited to see big things for Soca in the form of a huge debut for Bunji Garlin’s Differentology and JW & Blaze’s Palance at Coachella.

Coachella is a three day music and arts festival held annually at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California in the Inland Empire’s Coachella Valley. The festival hosts many music genres, which include rock, indie, hip hop, and electronic music.

This weekend at Cochella Major Lazer debuted the mega hit Differentlogy and 2010 Road March and Soca Monarch winning Palance to great crowd response. Chris Leacock aka Jillionaire who was born and raised in Chaguanas, Trinidad has been instrumental in Major Lazer bringing soca music to the forefront on the world stage.

(Differentology starts at 6:42; you can go to 29:53 to hear Palance or listen through because the entire set is pretty amazing)

You can listen to the Major Lazer Differentology Remix here

Like the page Major Lazer and The Jillionaire on facebook
Follow them on Twitter @MAJORLAZER @jillionaire

Machel Montano Signs Deal with Universal Music France Affiliate AZ

On March 27th,2013 Soca Superstar and reigning Power and Groovy Soca Monarch Machel Montano moved closer to fulfilling his goal of being internationally recognized for his talents by signing a licensing/publishing contract with Universal Music France affiliate AZ and an agreement with the company’s management arm the Olympia Agency.

His mega hit “Mr Fete” was said to have caught the attention of affiliates of Universal Music France.

See article with full detailsHERE

What do you #LIV for?

On 8th March 2013 there will be a fundraiser held at 51 Degrees in support of Cancer Awareness that was brought about by the story of an amazing 19 year old young warrior by the name of Cherise Couri that resides in Trinidad.
Local celebrities, artistes and everyday citizens that have been touched by this story are taking part and helping to bring awareness through social media.

Please take a look at her very touching video and do your part to #LIV.

A Message from Vale Vibe

For Release:

We deeply regret the inconvenience and disappointment caused by the cancellation of D’Original Vale Breakfast Party 2013. We appreciate all the positive and kind sentiments from everyone in support of our movement. Know that we put up a valiant effort in pulling out all resources to be able to execute on the event, however the committee decided that the high quality execution that you have become acquainted with, would have been compromised due to a events beyond our control. Hence our decision to forgo 2013.

ValeVibe is committed to continuing on with tradition of representing the culture. The culture of good will through our philanthropy activities over the past 18 years which has eclipsed over $200,000 funneled back into the Diamond Vale Community. And of course spreading the Vale Vibe’s’ globally!

The beauty of the ValeVibe experience manifest itself in the gathering & comradary of friends & family which is why the Vibe can never be extinguished. D Original Vale Breakfast Party will be back for 2014 with the Vibe that has kept it going for 18 years. As communicated previously, we have already refunded back ticket monies sold by committee members and will be honoring the bar-coded tickets that patrons decided to hold on to for 2014. Please be advise that refunds are only being honored that were purchased directly from a committee member. Please return your ticket(s) to the person whom you purchased from for a full refund. Please note that we do not use nor are affiliated with any ticket distribution outlet claiming to have information regarding vale vibe ticket purchases or refunds. Failure to do so will expose you to the potential of fraudulent activities often associated with these outfits.

Please insure that you are signed up on our mailing list through http://www.valevibe.com for the latest news on ValeVibe and our upcoming activities. See you in New York Laborday Weekend 2013 for TANTANA and at back at Jungle Island for Miami Carnival and the kick off for D Original Vale Breakfast Party 2014…

VALEVIBE Committee

Fantasy Carnival to their Loyal Masqueraders

There has been much chatter both on social media and off about Fantasy Carnival’s 2013 road experience. Some have professed it to be more of a nightmare than a fantasy, while others seemed to be quite satisfied.  Fantasy received many posts all of which were removed from their facebook wall, which was also closed for comments shortly after the barrage.  A young lady in London made a YouTube video expressing her unhappiness which has been circulating (see video here )

 

Below is Fantasy’s address to their masqueraders:

Dear Loyal Masqueraders,

We appreciate your feedback and all constructive criticism as we
strive to improve the Fantasy Carnival experience.

… Admittedly, we faced a number of logistical challenges on the road in
2013 and were forced to make some tough decisions, which affected your experience in different ways.

We hereby apologize sincerely to those masqueraders who did NOT enjoy the experience with us and vow to make the necessary adjustments in the areas deemed unsatisfactory.

We thank you for your patience and support, as we utilize ALL your
feedback (positive and negative) to assess our performance as your chosen Carnival mas band.

Carnival is both of and for the people, so we humbly acknowledge that without you we are nothing.

Thus, whenever you are hurt, unsatisfied, upset, hungry, thirsty and/or tired, we acknowledge our responsibility to share this pain – and to do whatever is necessary to alleviate its recurrence in the future. All our registered masqueraders will receive an email shortly confirming our commitment to serving your needs and apologizing once again to those who did not enjoy the experience.

We thank you for choosing Fantasy Carnival and embrace this opportunity to learn from you with the aim of improving on our organization and the quality of service your receive, so as to make all your greatest fantasies come true in the future.

Sincerely,

Fantasy Carnival