Artist Bio:
The grandmaster Lord Kitchener (Aldwin Roberts) is one of Trinidad's best-loved calypsonians. With a career spanning more than 60 years, he left an enormous legacy of recordings and original compositions: Before Kitchener died in 2000 he recorded more than 40 albums and hundreds of songs. He won Trinidad's annual Carnival Road March 10 times, and
his songs were immensely popular with steel bands due to the catchy melodies and harmonic complexity of his compositions.
Born in 1923 in the town of Arima, Kitchener grew up the son of a blacksmith. He started composing and singing calypsos as a teenager when he joined a roving tent that performed at cinemas. In 1944, he moved to Port of Spain to become a professional calypsonian, playing in the tents during the season and supporting himself the rest of the year by various gigs including performing for American soldiers on the military base. His sobriquet Lord Kitchener was chosen for him by another calypsonian, Growling Tiger, and was the name of a 19th century British military hero. In the next few years he quickly became one of the best calypsonians in the country.
After the 1947 Carnival season, Kitchener traveled to Aruba, Curacao and Jamaica. He and Lord Beginner stayed in Jamaica for several months before Kitchener board the Empire Windrush, a ship that marked the beginning of large-scale Caribbean migration to Britain. As Kitchener was getting off the boat in England he was recorded by a newsreel company while singing the new song he had written in anticipation of his arrival: "London Is the Place for Me."
Kitchener remained in England for almost 15 years where he had an active career that included extensive recording for the Parlophone, Melodisc and Lyragon labels. His records were exported in large quantities to the Caribbean, where he remained popular. But Kitchener's rosy view of England and its place for Caribbean immigrants soon changed and he recorded many tunes that address the difficult life they faced. In "Sweet Jamaica" he sang that new immigrants are "Crying with regret / No sort of employment can they get," while other songs talked about the cold, the food, the nosy landladies. His records became popular in West Africa, and Kitchener sang a number of calypsos about the continent.
In 1953, Kitchener married and moved to Manchester where he managed a nightclub, but he continued to record calypsos in London, working with a regular circle of Caribbean musicians based there. When Harry Belafonte's million-selling album caused a calypso craze, Kitchener came to the United States with reports of a movie deal and more. While he played in and around New York City and was part of Geoffrey Holder's calypso Revue in Brooklyn, the show flopped and no movie work appeared and after a few months he returned to England. Ironically, Jamaican singer Lord Flea sang "Kitch's Be Bop Calypso" in the film Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957) and a number of his other songs were recorded on albums and issued as singles during the craze by other artists, though almost none of them were attributed to Kitchener.
Trinidad finally gained its independence from England in the summer of 1962 and Kitchener returned to Trinidad for the 1963 Carnival and soon formed the Calypso Revue, which continued as a major tent. He took the Road March prize for the most popular Carnival song for the first three years after his return. In 1973 his "Rainorama," a song about the rains during Carnival the year before, became a huge hit and he named his new home after it. When soca music came in Kitchener criticized it—but then had perhaps his biggest hit with the 1978 soca number "Sugar Bum Bum."
In the '80s and '90s, his calypso tent was at the top of its form each year featuring many of the top calypsonians in the country. Meanwhile his own compositions for steel pans continued to be immensely popular, especially "Pan in a Minor," "Iron Man," "Bee's Melody," "Mystery Band" and "Guitar Pan." His songs continue to have their allure and are regularly heard at Carnival time. Meanwhile, his son Kernal is gaining a name as a soca composer and performer and Kitchener's daughter Quewina was the lead star in Tony Hall and David Rudder's wonderful musical The Brand New Lucky Diamond Horseshoe Club. —Ray Funk
