BACOLOD City – The Silver MassKara Festival Organization (SMFO) will launch on Sept. 8 the 40th edition of the festivity.
The “Ruby” MassKara Festival officially opens on Oct.7 and wraps up on the 28th.
During the launching, said SMFO festival director Eli Tajanlangit, a major art installation will be unveiled.
It is a memorial to the festival, he said.
“We will also unveil the festival logo. It captures 40 years of MassKara,” said Tajanlangit.
The first festival logo done by artist Ely Santiago of the Art Association of Bacolod will be integrated to the new logo.
“We want to level up the festival this year,” said Tajanlangit.
The Masskara Queen (MQ) beauty pageant will be unlike past editions, he said.
“We are putting a lot of work in the production design, including the training of the 10 candidates,” said Tajanlangit.
The coronation night is on Oct. 23 at the Ayala Event Center.
The theme of this year’s MassKara Festival is “Bacolod, City of Smiles.”
The word “MassKara” is a portmanteau, coined by Santiago from “mass” (a multitude of people), and the Spanish word “cara” (face). Thus MassKara means “a multitude of faces.
The word is also a pun on “maskara”, Filipino for “mask” (itself from Spanish “mascara”), since it is a prominent feature of the festival and are always adorned with smiling faces, giving rise to Bacolod being called the “City of Smiles.”
MassKara Festival features a street dance competition where people from all walks of life troop to the streets to see masked dancers gyrating to the rhythm of Latin musical beats in a display of mastery, gaiety, coordination and stamina.
Major activities include (aside from the MQ beauty pageant) carnivals; drum and bugle corps competitions; food festivals; sports events; musical concerts; agriculture-trade fairs; garden shows; and other special events organized every year./PN
