Posts tagged: Montserrat

Fashion Fridays: Dpipertwins from Montserrat

March 29, 2013

Words by LargeUp Crew—

Models-turned-designers Danielle and Chantelle Dwomoh-Piper of Montserrat have relaunched their clothing brand, formerly known as Kastle Designs and Treasure Chest, as Dpiperwtins. The twins, whose designs have been featured in WWD, the New York Daily News, the Rachael Ray Show and NBC’s Today Show as well as on Miss Universe 2011 Leila Lopes, recently debuted Dpipertwins’ spring line, which you can check out in full here. Or just sample some styles below. Visit Dpiperwins.com or their Facebook page for info on stockists and more.

Tags:Dpipertwins, Montserrat

Coming Home: 50 Years of Montserrat Festival

December 5, 2012

1 Comment

Words by Jesse Serwer—

This month, thousands of Montserratians living abroad will return home, many for the first time in decades. The number of people on the island during the 50th annual Montserrat Festival, Dec. 14 through Jan. 1, is expected to double, a result of the greatest effort to bring back displaced expatriates since the 1995 eruption of the Soufriere Hills volcano spurred more than half of the population to leave.

Tags:De Bear, Herman "Cupid" Francis, Masqquerade, Mighty Arrow, Montserrat, Montserrat Festival, Montserrat Jump Up Day, Sir Howard Fergus, Soufriere Hills volcano

Throwback Thursdays: Boney M’s “Rivers of Babylon”

November 29, 2012

0 Comment(s)

Words by Jesse Serwer—

Boney M Rivers of Babylon

In the late 1970s, few musical acts in Europe were bigger than Boney M. While the brains behind the outfit was German producer Frank Farian, the group itself was 100% Caribbean, consisting of vocalists Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett from Jamaica, Bobby Farrell from Aruba and Maizie Williams from Montserrat.

Tags:aruba, Bobby Farrell, Boney M., Frank Farian, Jamaica, Jamaicans, Liz Mitchell, Maizie Williams, Marcia Barrett, Montserrat, Rasputin, The Harder They Come, The Melodians

Mas Appeal: Reviving Montserrat Festival

July 16, 2012

0 Comment(s)

Words by Jesse Serwer—

Montserrat-Festival

The Soufriere Hills volcano eruption that devastated Montserrat 17 years ago left its capital city, Plymouth, uninhabitable, and ultimately (along with Hurricane Hugo) contributed to the shrinking in half of the island’s population. Naturally, the aftereffects on Montserrat’s carnival, known locally as Montserrat Festival, have not been positive. But, as the country gets set to celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence at this year’s festival, things are looking up. Led by U.S.-based bandleader Dudley Skerritt, the Waka Waka Mas Band aims to restore the Festival (Dec. 14-Jan. 1) to its pre-eruption glory, with a presentation called “The Treasures of Alliouagana” (Alliouagana is the Carib name for Montserrat, while waka waka means “do it” in Africa’s Fang language).

Tags:Feting, Montserrat, Montserrat Festival, Soufriere Hills volcano, Waka Waka Mas Band

MontserrART: Jason “Gazoo” Allen’s Black Sand Art

July 9, 2012

0 Comment(s)

Words by Jesse Serwer—

It’s not often that we get to celebrate sparsely populated Montserrat on LargeUp, nor is it frequent that someone we know as a party-rocking MC turns out to be a talented visual artist. Well, Montserrat-born Jason “Gazoo” Allen, who can be found livening up NYC nightspots like Greenhouse as a house-music MC, specializes in art made from the black sand and soil abundant on his home island since the eruption of the Soufriere Hills volcano (a 1995 catastrophe which has since cut the country’s population in half). And damn, if he isn’t doing some pretty cool things.

Tags:Black Sand Art, Gazoo, Jason Allen, Montserrat, New York City, Spur Tree Lounge

Mighty Arrow, 1949-2010

September 16, 2010

0 Comment(s)

Words by Jesse Serwer

As the Jamaica Observer and other outlets have reported, the great Montserrat calypsonian Alphonsus “Arrow” Cassell, a/k/a Mighty Arrow, passed away Wednesday following a battle with brain cancer. Arrow is of course most often mentioned as the creator of “Hot, Hot, Hot,” a chune that, in a later form, would become the only soca song that people who don’t know what soca is know (Until this.) A long-time Byron Lee collaborator, he was the writer of Lee’s signature “Tiny Winey.” And, as Montserrat’s most famous resident, he also apparently had the honor of having his face plastered on the British territory’s phone cards.

Tags:Byron Lee And The Dragonaires, calypso, Mighty Arrow, Montserrat, soca