Notting Hill Carnival: day one

A tiny carnival sound: the tinkling of a miniature laughing gas canister being flicked into the gutter by the tyre of a police van going up Portobello Road.

Visitor numbers are clearly down this year. The capitalists around the corner, who sell loo visits in their stucco villa for £2 a time, confirm this. The house is not well signposted, unfortunately for the woman who has to squat between two cars parked in the next road while as usual men are relieving themselves openly.

My carnival split personality cross-examines itself every year. Like all residents I obsess about the lavatory arrangements, but I also sketch the carnival. This year I go to see Elimu Mas Band getting ready in mas camp on day one, the children's day.

The still centre of calm is artist and carnival costume designer Helen Davenport, whirring away at the sewing machine to make one last skirt and deftly threading synthetic boning through the hem. She reminds me of Leonardo's Vitruvian Man. I am blown away by the ingenuity of her fresh monochrome designs for the children, eye-catching among the traditional brights, skirts swaying at a sharp angle (for photos see @heluvartist on Instagram).

Matchy matchy

At 6pm the police are issued with high-vis jackets. I wander around with a friend. 'We are an unhealthy nation,' she remarks, looking at the round proportions of some of the riot police. A beautiful police horsewoman rides by like a mediaeval princess. We walk through the knife-scanner arches without attracting attention.






There is a sea of single-use plastic. I point out the spent toy balloons, lethal for wildlife, used with the laughing-gas canisters. 'Waste of time,' she says. 'You feel good for five seconds then it's over.'

Moko Jumbies walk again

A pre-carnival event at Emslie Horniman's Pleasance in West London has a visitation from moko jumbies, the stilt-dancing African spirits who followed the slave routes by walking across the oceans.  

The Windrush-themed costumes are designed and made by Alan Vaughan for #OriginMokoJumbies. Today's performers - Alan, Blessing, Igor (Sphyfro) and Marshal - are attached to Elimu Mas Academy. For more information please see the Moko Somõkõw Facebook page.

At the beginning of the first day of the Notting Hill Carnival 2019, I glimpse Alan and Shynel Brizan, Carnival Queen of Trinidad and Tobago, walking out to join the band. I miss out on seeing the full costumes which they wear the next day.

Knit your own moko jumbies

Moko jumbies dance on stilts, possessed by legends of benign spirits who followed the slave routes.

Alan Vaughan's costume designs are bold and other-worldly. Today he and his team are part man, part tea-cosy in knit-and-crochet patchwork with trailing scarlet fabric fronds.

Something as safe and familiar as a granny-made baby blanket becomes a mysterious wool mask for mas, the eerie figures raised above human height to pace across the oceans from Africa, garments made of single stitches, dances made of single steps.

Today the most gruelling part is the passage from courtyard to interior, staying on stilts while squirming through doors. I'm reminded of the ordeal in 2001: A Space Odyssey when Dave Bowman has to go through the airlock without his space helmet.

Costumes designed and made by Alan Vaughan for #OriginMokoJumbies. Performing with Alan today are Blessing, Igor (Sphyfro) and Marshal, at the costume launch held at Paddington Arts, organised by Carnival Village Trust and Elimu Mas Band. For more information please see the Moko Somõkõw Facebook page.

Beginner moko jumbies find their balance

Moko jumbies - healing spirits of legend striding over the seas to follow the slave routes from Africa - are portrayed by stilt-walkers. Some of their most stupefying costumes are designed by Alan Vaughan, prize-winning artist, moko jumbie performer and coach. With his teams he is a carnival regular at Notting Hill and Port of Spain.

Performance on sticks takes bravery. Skidding on wet ground, dust or a scrap of paper can make you fall. In just a light breeze, vast sail-like costumes and complex head-dresses give unwelcome resistance and the long sticks are hard to manoeuvre.

This training weekend is for beginners on short starter sticks. The crump and clack of a body on wooden stilts hitting the tarmac is mercifully rare.

I listen to Alan gently coaxing a nervous pupil. I want him to record his soft, fluent words of reassurance, for his tone of voice as much as the content. He could get people to stop smoking with a tape like that.

'It's kind of easy but very scary at the same time.'

'Slow down!'
'He can't - he's learning to walk.'

'Rita, guess what, I'm exploring the world.'

The moko jumbie instruction, at the Yaa Centre in Notting Hill, was organised by Carnival Village Trust and Elimu Mas Academy. Alan was assisted by Blessing and Marshal of #OriginMokoJumbies. More information is on the Moko Somõkõw Facebook page.

A drawing maps time so someone can be in two places at once

 

The real thing