Brian Mac Farlane, who has won Large Carnival Band of the Year for the past three years, is known for some of the country's most spectacular band launches. This year he seeks to up the ante even further when he takes a plane load of journalists and international event specialists to the revered Buccoo Reef in Tobago for the launch of his 2010 mas presentation.
The band, whose name the award-winning designer declined to reveal ahead of the launch, will see the re-emergence of traditional mas characters to the streets of Port of Spain on Carnival Monday and Tuesday.

"I think that over the years the Art Factory has proven that Carnival is so much more than just pretty feathers, beads and the use of flamboyant colours. This year we wanted to go a bit deeper and interpret the story of the origins of mas and the period where the beginning of Carnival has been rooted."

In 2010, Mac Farlane's Carnival presentation will go as far back as the late 1800's, to a time when blacks and coloureds took to the streets.
" They celebrated in their own way, by mimicking the pomp and ceremony practiced by the white elite. We are going back to that celebration and our mas will speak to the original costuming of that period."
The designer said that the Buccoo Reef was crucial to the staging of the band launch.

"We wanted to include Tobago and we wanted to have the ole' time mas characters emerge from a place that symbolizes life, rejuvenation and beauty.
The concept and philosophy of our 2010 mas presentation is based on the rebirth of true, traditional mas characters in their purest form. The Reef is always magical but it is specially so at the time we have chosen to stage our presentation, early in the morning. It is a perfect backdrop for what we want the world to know about the origins of our Carnival, " concluded Mac Farlane.