18 April 2011

Bacchanalia Presents Alter-Ego for Notting Hill Carnival

Saturday saw the launch of new mas band Bacchanalia, this new addition to Notting Hill Carnival presents Alter-Ego Through the looking glass. A theme which encourages you to delve into your Alter-Ego.

Bacchanalia was formed in 2005 as a fun mas band, we then saw them re-enter into Notting hill carnival alongside Bachanal Mas. Kelly and Andrew Rajpaulsingh are dedicated to keeping carnival culture alive here in the UK.

"We want to raise the profile of carnival and all the elements associated with it- from what carnival is to making the mas, the history of carnival and the true mas men of our generation, costumes and more"

We arrived at the venue after 11 and was please to see that the show had not started yet, the crowd was friendly and not clicky. The 4 front line sections had us in ore from the moment we stepped in. The oversize feather head pieces, back packs and jewelled bikini lived up to the teases they had been feeding us through Facebook.


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The show started with a poetic introduction dissecting the historical elements and creativity to carnival which was a nice personal touch.

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This band captured a new vibe and energy which we had not felt in a while, this is essential to creating a great carnival road experience. As long time Notting Hill masqueraders for over 14 years we liked that the band is medium with a capacity of 200, and focuses on good customer service.

On a negative side we felt that the costumes did not have any literal relation to the theme and therefore we could not make any connection to costume and section name (however this is true off so many carnival bands). The biggest deal breaker for us is the price, with Premium Leaders coming in at £295 and £350, Premium section Female £225.00 and males £195.00, which so far makes this band the most expensive for Notting Hill Carnival.

Overall the band gives you stunning costumes and looks very promising for the coming years.

We would like to say thank you to Kelly and Andrew for making us feel welcome.

Check out their Facebook and website for more pics and hype.