L&B Soca City Unveils “Desire of the Hearts” for New York Carnival 2013
Brooklyn’s Carnival season continued to build in 2013 as L&B Soca City introduced its presentation, “Desire of the Hearts,” ahead of the West Indian American Day Carnival on Eastern Parkway.
The band launch gave masqueraders an early look at L&B Soca City’s costumes and the presentation it was preparing to bring to New York Carnival later that summer.
With months still remaining before Labor Day, “Desire of the Hearts” marked the beginning of L&B Soca City’s road toward one of Brooklyn’s biggest Caribbean celebrations.
Watch L&B Soca City’s 2013 Band Launch
Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson hosted the Julianspromos coverage, while Julian C. Hackett shot and edited the footage.
The video was uploaded on June 30, 2013.
“Desire of the Hearts”
For its 2013 New York Carnival presentation, L&B Soca City chose the theme “Desire of the Hearts.”
Band launches are where a Carnival theme begins to take physical form. Costumes that have spent months being designed and assembled finally appear on models, giving prospective masqueraders their first opportunity to decide how they want to experience Labor Day.
Color, feathers, stones, fabric and individual section designs all come together under one larger idea.
For L&B Soca City, that idea was “Desire of the Hearts.”
The launch introduced the visual direction of the band while giving its supporters an early taste of what would eventually move from the presentation stage onto Eastern Parkway.
Carnival Season Begins Long Before Labor Day
New York Carnival may reach its biggest audience on Labor Day, but the season begins months earlier across Brooklyn.
Spring and summer bring band launches, costume reveals, registrations and mas-camp activity as organizations prepare their presentations.
For masqueraders, these events are part of the excitement.
The question is not simply whether to play mas.
It becomes which band to join, which costume to choose and which group of friends will be together when the music trucks begin moving down Eastern Parkway.
By late June 2013, those decisions were already being made.
L&B Soca City’s launch placed “Desire of the Hearts” into that growing summer Carnival conversation.
Brooklyn’s Mas-Band Culture
New York Carnival has long depended on the work of mas bands operating throughout Brooklyn.
Behind every Labor Day presentation are months of costume construction, organization and preparation.
Band leaders and designers develop a concept.
Sections are created around that theme.
Models introduce the costumes.
Masqueraders register.
Then the work begins to produce enough costumes to transform individual designs into a full road presentation.
The band launch sits right at the point where all of those pieces begin coming together publicly.
For L&B Soca City, “Desire of the Hearts” was the presentation that would carry that process through the 2013 season.
The Road to Eastern Parkway
The months following the launch led toward Monday, September 2, 2013, when New York’s West Indian American Day Carnival returned to Eastern Parkway.
By Labor Day, the controlled environment of a band launch gives way to something completely different.
Costumes designed to be viewed individually become part of a moving band.
Music trucks replace presentation stages.
Hundreds of masqueraders bring sections to life at the same time.
And the designs finally meet the crowds lining the Parkway.
That transformation is what makes the early summer band-launch season such an important part of Carnival.
“Desire of the Hearts” began as a concept and costume presentation.
The destination was the road.
New York Carnival in 2013
L&B Soca City was one of several Brooklyn mas organizations preparing new presentations during the 2013 season.
Across the city, bands were unveiling different themes and competing for the attention of masqueraders ahead of Labor Day.
The result was a summer filled with costume showcases and Carnival events long before the main parade arrived.
Each presentation brought its own style to the season.
For L&B Soca City, 2013 belonged to “Desire of the Hearts.”
Julianspromos Coverage
Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson hosted the Julianspromos coverage of L&B Soca City’s 2013 presentation, with Julian C. Hackett shooting and editing the video.
The highlights were uploaded on June 30, 2013.
Together with the two photos from the launch, the video brings back an early moment from New York Carnival 2013 — when the costumes were newly revealed, summer was underway and L&B Soca City was preparing “Desire of the Hearts” for Eastern Parkway.
