Celebrate 50 years of carnival at Hackney Museum

Hackney Museum is celebrating the story of carnival in Hackney with its latest exhibition Making Carnival: 50 Years of Mas, Music and Movement in Hackney.

The free exhibition, opening on Tuesday 10 September, uncovers the history of carnival in Hackney across a 50 year period. It looks at the emergence of the Caribbean carnival, the influence of the Windrush generations and the introduction of their carnival traditions.

Visitors will be able to explore the stories of carnival groups in Hackney through Mas (short for masquerade) costumes, masks, films, photographs, a Mas camp recreation, plus music and dance interactives.

Making Carnival: 50 Years of Mas, Music and Movement in Hackney runs until 31 December. The exhibition supports a schools programme hosted by carnival group Tropical Isles to help share the story of Hackney Carnival with over 2800 local children. Across September to November, Tropical Isles will deliver over 95 interactive sessions at Hackney Museum for local primary school classes.

Hackney Carnival 2024 takes place on Sunday 22 September. Get all the information you need on Love Hackney.

Carnival stories

The Last Lap 

For many years, Hackney was known as ‘The Last Lap’ of Notting Hill Carnival.

By 1975, the famous West London event had grown into a huge annual celebration attracting 200,000 people from across the country. Some Hackney residents established local carnival groups to take part in the procession every year.

The carnival groups found workshops around the borough or in their own homes. Working in small spaces, they made inventive and professional quality costumes, musical equipment and instruments.

Arriving back in Hackney, some bands would continue to parade down Stoke Newington High Street. They called this unofficial parade the ‘Last Lap’, and it marked the end of the summer carnival season.

In this rare photograph of a Last Lap taking place (pictured above), Yvonne Straughn and her son Leon masquerade with local carnival group Perpetual Beauty. Leon's wheelchair has been transformed into a Magic Carpet.

Mas costumes

'The Sky at Night' costume (pictured above) is an unusual example of a Mas costume that is almost 35 years old. Mas designer Lincoln Rahamut created the costume for his 7 year old daughter  Sarah-Jane to wear to Notting Hill in 1990. 

Mas costumes are not made to last. Carnival costume designers are innovative, inventive and resourceful, making imaginative creations out of the materials they have available to them. The materials of most costumes are recycled to make new costumes for the following year.

Consisting of a metal structure balanced around a backpack, this costume was designed to allow her to move and dance. Perpetual Beauty’s theme for the year was ‘From the Heavens Came’.

Born in Trinidad and moving to London in 1970, Lincoln founded the Perpetual Beauty Carnival Club in 1979, one of the first carnival groups to introduce Mas to Hackney. He made this costume at the Mas Band’s workshop in the old fire station on Leswin Road, Stoke Newington.

Carnival masks

The masks (pictured above) were donated by Jun Mo Generation, a Far East Asian carnival arts organisation established in Hackney in the 1980's and officially formed in 1991.

The group has participated in the Notting Hill Carnival since 1990 and Hackney parades and festivals since 1980's. On the road, they showcase East Asian culture combined with African and Caribbean arts through vibrant costumes and performances. On the road, they dance to Soca.

The organisation collaborates with many communities, engaging families and members at the Borough's local events and celebrating East Asian heritage.

Soca Saga Boys 

Soca Saga Boys started as a sound system in the 1990s that performed at Hackney carnivals. Since 2005, the group has introduced Mas to their processions.

Anthony ‘Tony’ Cumberbatch, whose parents were from Trinidad, founded Soca Saga Boys from his record shop, Tan Tan Records on Northwold Road in Stoke Newington. From 1997, Tony organised the sound systems and organised the trucks that provided Mare de Gras (an early version of Hackney Carnival), with music on the road. 

Still playing in Hackney today, the group has a loyal following who join events as a T-shirt section, wearing shirts such as the one featured. After Tony’s passing in 2005, the group honours him each year at Hackney and Notting Hill Carnivals.

In 2019 members of Soca Saga Boys and fellow Hackney community creatives, artists and activists formed Windrush19 with the aim of preserving and representing traditional Caribbean Mas characters. In 2024, the group masqueraded as Shortknee, a traditional character originating from Grenada. 

Hackney Museum is located at 1 Reading Lane, E8 1GQ .

Hackney has been the home of carnival groups since the 1970s when Caribbean communities settled in the borough. Since then, Hackney Carnival has evolved into a bigger inclusive celebration featuring a parade of bands, steel pans and soca music. With Hackney’s family-friendly carnival returning to the borough’s streets this month, now is the perfect time to discover the fascinating history of this community celebration and the important role it has played in bringing residents together.

Cllr Chris Kennedy, Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care, Leisure and Culture

Carnival is a place I call home. It's a vibrant celebration of where culture, art, music and dance come alive, creating a tapestry of stories and experiences that unite us all. Let's celebrate this historical event and make unforgettable memories told at the heart of the Hackney Museum.

Stephanie Antoine of Tropical Isles, one of the carnival groups who contributed to the exhibition