Fonds F0753 - Kenneth Shah fonds

Kenneth Faiz Neamath Shah (ca. 1939-2002) was born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago as one of eight children. He spent his childhood in Trinidad, and at the age of 15, represented Trinidad and Tobago at the 1957 World Scout Jamboree held in England.

In 1965, he immigrated to Canada to pursue a degree in Petroleum Engineering at Carleton University. Upon his graduation, he was employed with Texaco Canada before leaving to follow his passion in carnival arts and costume design full time. In Canada, he married and began his family and had four sons.

Shah was one of the founding members of Caribana, and the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC). Formed in 1966, the CCC—originally named the Caribbean Centennial Committee—put on Carnival to represent the West Indian community and participate in the celebrations for Canada’s Centennial in 1967. After the success of the first Caribana Festival, the event became an annual occurrence, with the CCC operating year-round. Caribana remains the largest Carnival Festival in North America. Caribana was held over a weekend in August and culminated in the Caribana mas (masquerade) parade, where bands (groups of people), their band leader, and the King and Queen of the band, would “play mas” (walk the parade) often accompanied by music such as calypso or steel drums. There were also a series of prizes and competitions in order to determine the King and Queen of the Carnival, and the Band of the Year.

Over a period of thirty years, Shah was a carnival leader, assisting with the development of the vision and programming of Caribana; mas-producer and bandleader, project managing the design and manufacture of a mas band and its costumes each year; co-founder of Caribana’s Kiddies Carnival; and founder of the first J’Ouvert in 1995, a pre-dawn parade modeled after the traditional celebration in Trinidad. Additionally, Shah developed his own costume manufacturing business in Toronto under the name “Creative Costumes.” It became Canada’s second largest enterprise in dealings with parades, shows, operas, and other costume-based performance art.
Shah’s other roles and achievements include: President of Multi-Fest Canada, Inc.; editor of Canadian Caribbean Carnival Magazine; and contributing editor and circulating manager for the magazine So Yu Going to Carnival.

In May 2002, Shah died after complications from a surgery.