The Machel Montano Foundation for Greatness
presents:
ON STAGE: Machel Montano's 33-year archive
An Exhibition of a heritage collection at a heritage building:
The Boissiere's House, 12 Queen's Park West, POS.
Opens 16 Dec 2014 - 9 Feb 2015.
Viewing hours: Mon - Sat 11 am - 7pm
Entrance fee $20.00
In 2015 Machel Montano celebrates 33 years as a professional Calypso/Soca artist. ON STAGE presents his archive in a selection of his performance costumes, trophies, vinyl records, 2" tapes, cassette albums, handwritten lyric sheets, ticket stubs, photography, drum-machines, analog mixing boards, film, music video and other memorabilia. It is divided in four main sections: 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and the last 4 years. The Exhibition is also accompanied by an 80-pg printed publication/Exhibition Catalogue.
"Visitors to Haiti’s National Museum and Pantheon can view the bejewelled gold crown belonging to General Faustin-Élie Soulouque of the mid 1800s. On exhibit there is also the iconic black hat and stethoscope belonging to President Francois Duvalier aka Papa Doc, who ruled in the mid 1900s. At the Tower Bridge in London, crowns and other regalia belonging to the British monarchy are on permanent exhibit at the Crown Jewels exhibition. At the Cairo Museum in Egypt King Tutankhamun’s golden mask, among thousands of other artefacts is on exhibit. All of these artefacts are well preserved and made available for viewing by its country’s citizens and visitors, and moreover, they continue to be widely studied.
In Trinidad, at the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community there is the feathered headdress belonging to the Carib King and the headband belonging to the Carib Queen. Our crowns are neither made of gold nor laid with precious stones, nor do they belong to someone who has ruled over a kingdom. On Stage begins with two paper-crowns dated 1983 and 1984, belonging to a ‘reigning’ Calypso Monarch: Machel Montano. As with the artefacts in Haiti, The United Kingdom and Egypt, Montano’s are being presented in a similar context in ways that might inform an aspect of our collective memory. The collection, which spans 33-years and continues to grow, relates to a specific place and time, and more importantly, to a national festival. As an archival exhibition it features a selection of his iconic performance costumes and other related artefacts which trace his junior into adult ‘monarchy’ in the music business."
Curated by Kwynn Johnson
info -
onstage@machelmontano.com
