Borokeete USA Celebrates “Caribbean Uniqueness” for New York Carnival 2012
For New York Carnival 2012, Borokeete International USA built its presentation around a simple message: “One Nation, One People, One Voice.”
The veteran Brooklyn mas band unveiled “Caribbean Uniqueness” on Friday, June 8, 2012, introducing 12 costume sections ahead of the West Indian American Day Carnival on Eastern Parkway. The grand launch took place at Tropical Paradise Ballroom, 1367 Utica Avenue in Brooklyn, beginning the band's countdown to Labor Day.
Julianspromos captured the launch in “2012 Borokeete USA Band Launch [2012 Presentation - CARIBBEAN UNIQUENESS],” preserving the costumes at the beginning of a season that would eventually bring Borokeete multiple honors in the 2012 Carnival results.
“One Nation, One People, One Voice”
Borokeete's theme was intentionally broader than any single Caribbean island.
The original 2012 launch announcement described Caribbean Uniqueness as a celebration of the region's people and culture under the message:
“One Nation, One People, One Voice.”
Organizers promised a mix of color, music, dance and other elements representing Caribbean identity, with 12 individual sections making up the complete presentation.
That gave Borokeete a lot of room creatively.
Rather than building the entire band around one mythology, country or visual idea, the presentation could draw from different parts of Caribbean culture while connecting everything through a regional identity.
Twelve Sections Take the Stage
One of the sections specifically documented ahead of the launch was Tropicalfete Volcanicity.
Tropicalfete promoted the section as part of Borokeete's larger 12-section presentation, with Paula Leake, Miss Caribbean United States, appearing among the models associated with Volcanicity at the launch.
The launch itself was designed as more than a costume reveal.
Music came from Hyper Active Sounds, Close Connections and Freeze International, while Giselle “The Wassi One” and Supa Roy hosted the evening. Costume registration also officially opened that night, turning the presentation into the point where spectators could go from simply looking at the costumes to actually signing up to play mas.
That is one of the things old band-launch footage can easily lose without context.
These weren't only fashion shows.
They were the beginning of the road.
New Designers Meet Borokeete Tradition
Borokeete entered 2012 as an established name in New York mas, but the organization was also trying to refresh itself.
Band president Anthony Pollydore said ahead of the launch that Borokeete had brought younger designers into the organization while keeping veteran designers involved to mentor them. He also described Borokeete as one of the staple bands of the West Indian American Day Carnival and emphasized rebuilding community and family involvement around the mas camp.
That combination is an interesting part of the 2012 story.
The band wasn't trying to erase its history.
It was trying to bring new creative energy into an organization that had already spent years participating in Brooklyn Carnival.
Borokeete's mas camp that season was located at 368 East 98th Street in Brooklyn, where the organization also planned additional community events throughout the Carnival season.
A Band with Deep Brooklyn Carnival Roots
Borokeete was already a familiar name on Eastern Parkway long before 2012.
Academic research on Caribbean Carnival in Brooklyn has used Borokeete USA itself as a case study of New York mas production, describing established bands like Borokeete as both social organizations and working costume spaces where designers, masqueraders and community members came together during the intense weeks before Labor Day.
The band had also represented New York outside the city.
In 2010, Borokeete USA was selected to participate in an international masquerade-band competition at Las Vegas Carnival, where it presented Festival of Colors.
So Caribbean Uniqueness came from a band with both local history and experience carrying New York mas beyond Brooklyn.
From the Launch to Eastern Parkway
By Labor Day, the 12 sections introduced at Tropical Paradise Ballroom had become a full Carnival presentation.
Archived WIADCA 2012 results identify Borokeete International with the portrayal “Caribbean Uniqueness” in the adult band competition. The same results also show Borokeete taking first place in Junior Medium Band of the Year with the presentation.
Borokeete also produced one of the year's major individual costume winners.
Kay Mason won Adult Queen portraying “The Winged Jewel of the Caribbean” for Borokeete USA.
That gives the launch footage a much better ending than simply saying the costumes eventually reached Eastern Parkway.
The presentation actually produced competitive results.
One Important 2012 Record Conflict
There is a strange inconsistency in the surviving pre-Carnival records.
A June 8 contemporary launch announcement clearly identifies Borokeete's presentation as Caribbean Uniqueness, gives the slogan, confirms the 12 sections and names the launch venue.
The final WIADCA results also identify Borokeete with Caribbean Uniqueness.
However, a July 2012 Carnival preview published by Caribbean Life lists U.S.A. Borokeete Inc. with “Elements of Life,” while other entries in that same preview contain overlapping or contradictory band information.
Because the original launch announcement and final competition results independently agree, Caribbean Uniqueness is the presentation name I would use for this archive article.
When Brooklyn Became One Caribbean
Looking back, the strongest part of Borokeete's 2012 presentation is probably its message.
New York Carnival brings people from Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the wider Caribbean together on the same streets.
Borokeete turned that reality into the concept itself.
One Nation. One People. One Voice.
Twelve sections began on a Brooklyn launch stage in June.
By Labor Day, Caribbean Uniqueness had reached Eastern Parkway, brought Borokeete competitive recognition and carried another chapter of one of Brooklyn Carnival's longstanding mas organizations onto the road.
Julianspromos was there when the story started.
