Miami Carnival 2013: Freaks Mas on the Road at Sun Life Stadium
On Sunday, October 13, 2013, Julianspromos returned to the Miami Carnival road for Miami Broward One Carnival, joining Freaks Mas / FreaksNY Mas at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
More than 20 masquerade bands filled the stadium route with costumes, music and Caribbean culture as Miami Carnival brought thousands of masqueraders and spectators together for Carnival Sunday. Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson was featured throughout the original Julianspromos coverage as the team documented the celebration from inside the Freaks Mas experience.
Freaks Mas on the road during Miami Broward One Carnival 2013.
On the Road With Freaks Mas
Rather than watching Miami Carnival from the sidelines, Julianspromos moved through the celebration with Freaks Mas, capturing the experience from among the masqueraders.
The surviving footage follows the costumes, dancing, music trucks and nonstop movement surrounding the band as it made its way toward the judging point.
Sections appearing in the original coverage include Cypher, Red Army, Rebirth of Camo, Blue Camo & Mud, Dutty, Mud & Mas, White Out, Colors of the Earth, AOA, Rio and Future.
With Vivaa inside the action, the footage gives viewers the perspective of actually being on the road rather than simply watching the Carnival pass by.
The Sound of Miami Carnival 2013
The nearly 50-minute Julianspromos feature also preserves a snapshot of the Soca soundtrack surrounding Miami Carnival in 2013.
Artists heard throughout the original coverage include Bunji Garlin, Machel Montano, Kerwin Du Bois, Lil Rick, Nadia Batson, Edwin Yearwood, Lyrikal, Denise Belfon, Blaxx, Superblue, Patrice Roberts, Kes, Benjai and Fadda Fox, among others.
The soundtrack includes songs such as “Carnival Tabanca,” “Differentology,” “Fantastic Friday,” “Bruk It,” “A Little Wine,” “Where We From,” “Go Dung” and “Clear D Way.”
Freaks Mas also incorporated custom dub plates into its road presentation, adding another layer to the sound of the band's Carnival experience.
Mr Killa Live at Miami Carnival
The original footage also captured Mr Killa performing for the Carnival crowd.
Among the songs preserved in the coverage are “Rolly Polly” and “Sugar Pot,” adding live artist performance to a video otherwise centered around mas and the road experience.
Those moments help make the footage a broader time capsule of Miami Carnival 2013 — preserving not only the costumes and masqueraders, but some of the artists and music moving Caribbean audiences during the period.
Miami Broward One Carnival 2013
The 2013 Miami Broward One Carnival Parade of Bands began at noon at Sun Life Stadium, where more than 20 masquerade bands competed for Band of the Year.
Bands were judged on visual impact, creativity, authenticity, clarity of theme, use of color and presentation.
Gye Nyame won the 2013 Band of the Year title with “Return to Glory.” Ti Chapo placed second with “The Secret of Love,” while Euphoria finished third with “Genesis.”
After the Parade of Bands, Carnival continued with a major live concert headlined by Superblue, who had captured both the 2013 Trinidad and Tobago Soca Monarch and Road March titles. The announced entertainment also included Raymond Ramnarine, Ravi B, Shal Marshall and other Caribbean performers.
Miami Carnival 2013 in Photos
Alongside the original video, the Julianspromos archive preserves a collection of images from Miami Carnival 2013.
The photographs capture Freaks Mas, masqueraders, costumes and moments from throughout the road experience, adding another visual record to the surviving footage.
From the Julianspromos Archives
Miami Carnival 2013 marked Julianspromos’ second consecutive year documenting Carnival on the Miami road.
The year before, Julianspromos had traveled with Freaks NY / Natural Freaks and its “RIO” presentation for Miami Carnival 2012. That trip marked the company's first Carnival experience outside New York and its first time documenting Miami Carnival from the road.
Returning with Freaks in 2013 showed that Miami was becoming more than a one-time destination.
The wider 2013 trip also produced coverage from Rise Miami Meets Shine New York at Virginia Key Beach and Canboulay’s Savages of Dawn at Miami Carnival J’Ouvert, giving the Julianspromos archive several different views of the same Carnival weekend — from the fete, to J’Ouvert, to pretty mas on Carnival Sunday.
With Vivaa on the road and original video and photography preserving the experience, Miami Carnival 2013 represents another step in Julianspromos’ transition from a New York-based digital music platform into a Caribbean multimedia operation documenting Carnival culture across multiple markets.
That expansion continued through 2014 and eventually developed into Julianspromos’ first formal Multimedia Carnival Tour in 2015.
Related Miami Carnival Archives
Rise Miami Meets Shine New York 2013 — All White “In Yuh Shades”
https://julianspromos.com/archives/2013-rise-n-shine-miami-highlights
Canboulay Miami Carnival J’Ouvert 2013 — Savages of Dawn
https://julianspromos.com/archives/canboulay-miami-carnival-jouvert-2013
Freaks NY “RIO” at Miami Carnival 2012
https://julianspromos.com/archives/freaks-ny-rio-miami-carnival-2012
Event Details
Event: Miami Broward One Carnival 2013
Date: Sunday, October 13, 2013
Venue: Sun Life Stadium
Location: Miami Gardens, Florida
Mas Band: Freaks Mas / FreaksNY Mas
Julianspromos Host: Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson
Media: Video Highlights & Photo Gallery
