Epic’s band launch

 Reaching out to the Freudian Id

Photos By Anthony Berot and Gilbert Medina

By Stephen Weir

If Sigmund Freud had attended Saturday night’s Epic Carnival costume launch, he’d probably would have said that it was an event that reached out not to his Ego, but to his Id.  The Id is that part of the mind’s psyche, where innate instinctive impulses reside. Epic’s moniker was Persona and the 500 people who attended were asked to choose the costumes they liked based on their own impulses.
“We asked people to think about what their Persona is,” explained Epic’s Jerrol (Stretch), Augustine. What they saw on stage was our EPIC Carnival models portraying many different concepts of Persona. We wanted unique themes that captured the energy, passion, imagination and culture of our masqueraders. This year’s focal point is image and self-expression. “

EPIC put a list together of possible persona and matched them with a suitable section ” to jump up with.”

“ Are you the Artist?” asked Stretch. “Then you should see the costumes of the Carnival Dollz.”

If you think of yourself as a Misfit, then a costume from the Gems Of Spice Section could be your ticket to the annual parade. All in all, eleven  Ids were paired with 11 different sections – all have been posted on the mas’ band’s busy Instagram account.

The costume reveal began with a first. Soca violinist Christian Williams performed solo on stage to open the evening. After putting down her bow she went backstage, donned a costume and came back out to model her Persona.

For almost 90-minutes there was a riot of colour, feathers, beads and metal inside  JC Banquet Hall on Ellesmere Road in Scarborough. As it had been with the three band launches, Saturday night ‘s event was a bit of bare-as-your-dare, but there were also costumes for all shapes and sizes.

Epic plans to  open its mas’ camp in May. It has not yet announced its location.

COMING UP ON SATURDAY – April 20^th.
Toronto’s “most winning” band, Saldenah Carnival,  will be launched at the

the Grand Cinnamon Banquet Hall on McNicoll Avenue in Scarborough.

It’s theme: Heart Beat, The Thrill of Life