Moko Somokow brings Heaven to Earth

By Klysha Best

There is something completely special, even ethereal when one sees a moko jumbie in movement. The ease and lightness with which they walk on stilts is mind-blowing and beautiful. Yet, there is a power and strength to it.

For Moko Somokow, the reigning miniband of the year, their performances are grounded in the story that the moko jumbies walked across the Atlantic as protective spirits for enslaved Africans as they were brought to the Caribbean.

In 2023, the band suffered a shift in their “grounding,” when two of their members were murdered in the ongoing crime spate that is scarring the fabric of our country.

They were moko jumbies Nicolas Brizan and Shervon Clarke. Brizan was the brother to the band’s Queen of Carnival, Shynel Brizan.

In a bid to make sense of it all and to pay homage to their fallen friends, Moko Somokow is presenting ‘In Heaven as it is on Earth’ this Carnival Monday and Tuesday.

Designer, art director and creator of the band, Allan Vaughan, admitted that he struggled with the idea of even presenting a band for 2024, but he said following discussions with the other members, they felt it was necessary to represent for their dearly departed comrades.

Vaughan said the band title was inspired, not only by the murders of his two moko jumbies, but partly by educator Roderick Sanatan, who died in 2015.

“Sanatan was a beautiful soul,” said Vaughan. “When we met, our friendship was instantaneous, and he inspired and taught me a lot, even when I didn’t have the confidence at times to do what I had set out to do, designing for moko jumbies.”

A few months after meeting Sanatan, Vaughan said he opened the newspapers to learn of Sanatan’s passing.

He said it was while reminiscing on their brief friendship and the deaths of Brizan and Clarke that it came to him to borrow the line “in Heaven as it is on Earth”, which was from the eulogy to Sanatan by Prof Gordon Rohlehr (since deceased).

Vaughan said: “Its story is that their souls are welcomed in the Afterlife because Heaven itself is blessed by the beauty of their lives on Earth.”

The birth of Moko Somokow

Moko Somokow, which means ‘Moko Family’, is meant to provide a space for moko jumbies to come together, be inspired and is open to anyone interested in walking stilts.

Vaughan lamented that traditional bands such as theirs have a challenging time getting sponsorship and they rely on good Samaritans, and fundraising events.

Irish by birth and residing currently in the UK, Vaughan said he fell in love with the traditional Carnival character some 30 odd years ago and has been making that trek back and forth since then.

In fact, he joked that they should give him dual citizenship for his time spent in T&T and his contributions.

He said he came to visit for Carnival with a friend and when he saw the moko jumbies, he was filled with wonder, and immediately fell in love with the art that is walking on stilts and credits Junior Bisnath of the San Fernando based Kaisoca Moko Jumbies.

Vaughan began stilt-walking soon after and then by a stroke of luck, was asked to showcase his designing skills for a south based moko jumbie band. From there, Vaughan and a few friends formed their own band, then called Touch the Sky. Vaughan said their moko jumbie family later morphed into Moko Somokow.

Embracing tradition and innovation

The band’s mas camp was first based at Granderson Lab, Belmont and is now housed in a room at the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, Newbold Street, St Clair. The band is in the mini category and consists of between 15 to 30 participants. Vaughan said that it is a manageable size and caters not only to those on stilts, but “ground-walkers” as well.

He admitted that costumes for moko jumbies are quite expensive due to their need for substantial amounts of fabric.

Since its inception, Moko Somokow has wowed audiences with its queen, Shynel Brizan, having won the Carnival Queen title on two occasions.

Brizan first won the title in 2019 when she portrayed ‘Mariella, Shadow of Consciousness’ and then in 2022 with the costume, ‘Olugbe-Rere Ko, The Spirit who brings Good Things’. In that year, she paraded on stilts while four months pregnant.

She will be back competing for the crown, as her portrayal, ‘Asase Asomando, Mother in Earth and Heaven’ advanced to the semi-finals of the Carnival Queen competition. Her costume represents the conduit between two domains, the physical and metaphysical.

She dances in grief for her murdered brother Nicolas, but in hope and light as she celebrates the goodness he created and left on Earth.

Moko Somokow’s two male representatives in the King’s competition also advanced to the semi-finals of the King of Carnival category.

They are Daniel Bascombe, who will be competing in the King’s semifinals as ‘The Magician of Zinguinchor’ and Russel Grant, the ‘BosonJumbie, the Moko Jumbie King’. (That competition was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 7, after our press time).

Vaughan said the art of stilt-walking can be performed by anyone willing and it assured that the art is alive and well in Trinidad and Tobago.

Vaughan pointed out that each costume has a significance and a story. “You’re representing hundreds and hundreds of years of history when you’ve got your costume on. It’s a very spiritual thing for us as moko jumbies; it’s something very powerful.”