Aldwyn Roberts
HBM DA (18 April 1922 – 11 February 2000), better known by the stage name Lord Kitchener (or "Kitch"), was a Trinidadian
calypsonian
A calypsonian, originally known as a ''chantwell'', is a musician from the anglophone Caribbean who sings songs of the Calypso music, calypso genre. Calypsos are musical renditions having their origins in the West African griot tradition. Origin ...
. He has been described as "the grand master of calypso" and "the greatest calypsonian of the post-war age".
[Thompson, Dave (2002), ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , pp. 149–154][Talevski, Nick (2010) ''Knocking on Heaven's Door: Rock Obituaries'', Omnibus Press, , p. 343.]
Early life
Roberts was born in
Arima, Trinidad and Tobago, the son of a blacksmith, Stephen, and housewife, Albertha.
He was educated at the Arima Boys Government School until he was 14, when his father died, leaving him orphaned.
His father had encouraged him to sing and taught him to play the guitar,
and he became a full-time musician.
Music career
He moved to
Port of Spain
Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...
, the capital of Trinidad in 1943 where he joined the Roving Brigade. He was spotted singing "Mary I Am Tired and Disgusted" (aka "Green Fig") with the group by Johnny Khan, who invited him to perform in his Victory Tent, where he met fellow calypsonian Growling Tiger, who decided Roberts should from that point be known as Lord Kitchener. He became known as an innovator, introducing musical and lyrical changes, including frequent criticism of the British government's control of the island. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Kitchener became popular with US troops based on the island, leading to performances in New York. After the end of World War II, the
Trinidad and Tobago Carnival took place in early March 1946, during which Kitchener won his very first official Road March title with a catchy calypso leggo called "
Jump In The Line".
He toured
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
for six months in 1947–48 with
Lord Beginner (Egbert Moore) and
Lord Woodbine (Harold Phillips) before they took passage on the ''
Empire Windrush'' to England in 1948.
Upon his arrival at
Tilbury Docks, Kitchener performed the specially-written song "
London Is the Place for Me", which he sang live on a report for
Pathé News.
[Spencer, Neil (2011)]
"Lord Kitchener steps off the Empire Windrush"
''The Guardian'', 16 June 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
Within two years he was a regular performer on
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
radio, and was much in demand for live performances.
He found further success in the UK in the 1950s, building a large following in the expatriate communities of the West Indian islands, and having hits with "Kitch", "Food from the West Indies", "Tie Tongue Mopsy", and "Alec Bedser Calypso", while remaining popular in Trinidad and Tobago.
His prominence continued throughout the 1950s, when
calypso achieved international success. Kitchener became a very important figure to those first 5,000 West Indian migrants to the UK. His music spoke of home and a life that they all longed for but in many cases could not or would not return to. He immortalised the defining moment for many of the migrants in writing the "
Victory Calypso" with its lyrics "Cricket, Lovely Cricket" to celebrate
West Indies cricket team's first victory over
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
in England, in the Second
Test at
Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...
in June 1950.
[Lord Kitchener, Calypso Ignite Test Cricket]
, ''Jamaica Gleaner
''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica.
It is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the Western Hemisphere. Original ...
'', 17 April 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016 This was one of the first widely known West Indian songs, and epitomised an event that historian and cricket enthusiast
C. L. R. James defined as crucial to West Indian post-colonial societies.
Kitchener opened a nightclub in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
and also had a successful residency at The Sunset in London.
[Pareles, Jon (14 February 2000)]
"Lord Kitchener, 77, Calypso Songwriter Who Mixed Party Tunes With Deeper Messages"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. Retrieved 2 May 2016. Further US performances followed in the mid-1950s.
In the 1950s, he also composed "Bebop Calypso".
In 1962, he returned to Trinidad, where he and the
Mighty Sparrow
Slinger Francisco Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, ORTT Chaconia Medal, CM Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 9 July 1935), better known as Mighty Sparrow, is a Trinidadian Calypso music, calypso vocalist, songwriter, and guitar ...
proceeded to dominate the calypso competitions of the 1960s and 1970s. Lord Kitchener won the road march competition 10 times between 1963 and 1976, more often than any other calypsonian. For 30 years, he ran his own calypso tent, Calypso Revue, within which he nurtured the talent of many calypsonians.
Calypso Rose,
David Rudder,
Black Stalin and
Denyse Plummer are among the many artists who got their start under Kitchener's tutelage.
[Harris, Craig,]
Aldwyn Robert Biography
, Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
. Retrieved 2 May 2016. Later he moved towards
soca, a related style, and continued recording until his death. Kitchener's compositions were enormously popular as the chosen selections for steel bands to perform at the annual National Panorama competition during Trinidad Carnival.
He won his only Calypso King title in 1975 with "Tribute to Spree Simon".
He stopped competing in 1976.
[Lord Kitchener]
, ''Encyclopædia Britannica
The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
''. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
Kitchener saw the potential of the new
soca phenomenon of the late 1970s and adopted the genre on a string of albums over the years that followed.
In 1977 he recorded his most commercially successful song, and one of the earliest major soca hits, "Sugar Bum Bum", which became a big hit for the 1978 Trinidad Carnival season.
In 1993 a campaign was launched for Kitchener to receive the island's highest civilian honour, the
Trinity Cross.
The government declined but offered him a lesser honour, which he turned down.
Having been diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, Kitchener retired in 1999 after delivering a final album, ''Vintage Kitch''.
He died on 11 February 2000 of a blood infection and kidney failure at the Mount Hope Hospital in
Port of Spain
Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...
.
He is buried in the Santa Rosa Cemetery in Arima.
It was always important to Kitchener throughout his career to gain new experiences that could be woven into his material. This led him to performances in
Curaçao
Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela.
Curaçao includ ...
,
Aruba
Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...
and Jamaica in the early days, and finally to London, when he was already flying high in Trinidad. Kitchener once said: "I have reached the height of my popularity in Trinidad. What am I doing here? I should make a move."
Kitchener is honoured with a statue in
Port of Spain
Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...
.
A bust is also on display on Hollis Avenue, Arima, not far from the
Arima Stadium.
Family
In 1952, he met his wife Elsie Lines. They married in 1953, and lived for a period in Manchester where Kitchener ran a nightclub. Together, they adopted a baby, to be named Tyrone Roberts, and the three of them moved back to Trinidad. They divorced in 1968. He later married and had four children (Christian, Kernel, Quweina and Kirnister Roberts) with Valerie Green, and also had a relationship with Betsy Pollard.
[Philip Carter]
"Roberts, Aldwyn (1922–2000)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, September 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
Kitchener's son
Kernal Roberts is also a performer, playing drums for a soca band Traffik in the 90's and then in the early 2000s,
Xtatik. He was also their musical director and is a composer of multiple Soca Monarch and Road March titles.
Merits
Discography
* ''Birth of Ghana Birth''(1957)
*''Calypso Kitch'' (1960), RCA Victor
*''Lord Kitchener'' (1964), RCA Victor
*''Mr. Kitch'' (1965), RCA Victor
*''King of Calypso'' (1965), Melodisc
*''Kitch 67'' (1966) RCA Victor
*''King of the Road'' (1969), Tropico
*''Sock It to Me Kitch'' (1970), Tropico
*''Curfew Time'' (1971), Trinidad
*''Hot Pants'' (1972), Trinidad/Straker's
*''We Walk 100 Miles with 'Kitch'' (1973), Trinidad
*''Tourist in Trinidad with Kitch'' (1974), Trinidad
*''Carnival Fever'' (1975), Trinidad
*''Sings Calypsos (With And Without Social Significance)'' (1975), Sounds of the Caribbean
*''Home for Carnival'' (1976), Kalinda
*''Hot and Sweet'' (1976), Charlie's
*''Melody Of The 21st Century'' (1977), Charlie's
*''Spirit of Carnival'' (1978), Trinidad
*''Shooting with Kitch'' (1980), Charlie's
*''Kitch Goes Soca - Soca Jean'' (1980), Charlie's
*''Authenticity'' (1981), Charlie's
*''200 Years Of Mass'' (1982), Charlie's
*''Simply Wonderful'' (1983), Trinidad
*''The Master At Work'' (1984), Kalico
*''The Grand Master'' (1986), B's
*''Kitch On The Equator'' (1986), Benmac
*'' TrinGhana "Haunting Melodies"'' (1987), Trinighana - with Little Joe Ayesu
*''100% Kitch'' (1987), B's
*''A Musical Excursion'' (1989), JW Productions
*''The Honey In Kitch'' (1991), MC Productions
*''Roadmarch & Panorama King Still #1'' (1991), JW Productions
*''Longevity'' (1993), JW Productions
*''Still Escalating'' (1994), JW Productions
*'' Ah Have It Cork'' (1995), JW Productions
*''Incredible Kitch'' (1996), JW Productions
*''Symphony On The Street'' (1997), JW Productions
*''Classic Kitch'' (1999), JW Productions
Bibliography
The first biographical work on Lord Kitchener, ''Kitch: A Fictional Biography of A Calypso Icon'', by UK-based Trinidadian author
Anthony Joseph, was published in June 2018. The book was shortlisted for The 2019 Republic of Consciousness Prize, the
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...
's Encore Award and the
Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. In 2015 Joseph also presented a 30-minute radio documentary ''Kitch!'' for
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
, which is available via the BBC Radio 4 website.
See also
*
Jump in the Line (Shake, Señora)
References
External links
"Calypso Showcase Lord Kitchener 120391" 5-minute video interview of Lord Kitchener by Alvin Daniell in 1991.
*
''Kitch'' BBC Radio 4 half-hour programme about Lord Kitchener, first broadcast 13 January 2015.
( )
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord Kitchener
1922 births
2000 deaths
20th-century Trinidad and Tobago male singers
Deaths from multiple myeloma
Trinidad and Tobago calypsonians
Trinidad and Tobago soca musicians
People from Arima
Recipients of the Hummingbird Medal
Trinidad and Tobago expatriates in the United Kingdom