Civil engineer and mas designer Keon Chow Cop has died.

Lost Tribe director Valmiki Maharaj and Chow Cop’s brother Keston confirmed he died on Saturday at 34.

Maharaj said the band was still coming to terms with it.

“He was a core member of our team, a part of very part of the fabric that is Lost Tribe. He was not only a designer or masquerader, he was a friend – a member of the family.”

Maharaj said even saying those things was not enough to describe what Chow Cop meant to the band.

“It is even more hurtful that it is coming at a time that we are now preparing for this grand moment of coming out of this season of loss. This season is not leaving us without more from us.

“I don’t even know how to feel about this situation, to be honest with you,” he said.

Maharaj said he could not think of a grand enough way to honour CHow Cop other than the band’s work.

“He was someone who believed in Carnival, and as his friend, creative director and mentor – as he would sometimes call me – he would have been a great designer and contributor to the world of Carnival. I think he already has been in his few short years with us.”

Maharaj said Chow Cop was working on designs for the band’s 2023 presentation but became ill.

A 2020 Facebook post from Queen’s Hall about Chow Cop said he was a mas designer and producer from Belmont. He was known for having designed for local, regional and international Carnival bands.

The post said Chow Cop started playing mas at seven and fell in love with it. At 22, he was drawn to the design and production of Carnival costumes and started producing individual costumes. In 2011, he began work on children’s Carnival costumes. It said Chow Cop would often use his engineering background in his mas designs.

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