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06th
Feburary 2010
Remembering
Lord Kitchener
10th Anniversary
of his passing
 In
an edition of the VOICE Newspaper dated 12th
Feb. 2000, I perused, a short but very convincing
lead story pertaining to the passing of the
legendary calypso ICON ALDWYN (LORD KITCHENER)
ROBERTS under the headline: HIS LYRICAL SWEETNESS
WILL BE AN INSPIRATION. GRAND MASTER BOWS OUT.
It reads: Former calypsonian Lord Kitchener
has died at the age of 77 after succumbing yesterday
to a rare blood disorder; multiple myeloma,
for which there is no known cure.
Dr Lesley Ann Roberts, General Manager of Secondary
and Tertiary Health Care at Eric Williams Medical
Science Complex, said when Kitchener was admitted
to the hospital on January 30, he was anemic,
confused and had abnormal renal function. He
had been sick for more than a month.
 Lord
Kitchener, affectionately known as Kitch will
be sorely missed by his fans worldwide. Condolences
to the “Grand master’s” family.
As an ardent fan of Kitch, I took the initiative
to secure that story, in order to remind me
of the day when he succumbed to that dreaded
illness, and as I have reiterated, it is always
a pleasure for me via this medium since 2000
to endeavour to remind the populace of the Caribbean
at large of the great one’s passing on
11th Feb. 2000 during the Trinidad carnival
season.
The LORD KITCHENER, was a true Caribbean man,
who in his calypsos, championed the cause of
the ART FORM. As a result the image of calypso
was enhanced, locally, regionally and by extension
internationally. The grand master’s departure
from this world continues to be felt by all
those who took a keen interest in his music.
Even after his death calypsonians, in the various
islands of the Caribbean, just to keep Kitch’s
spirit alive and well usually took the initiative
to emulate his vocal styling to create on atmosphere
of KITCHENER MANIA which to me was a genuine
gesture. There are deliberate occasions when
certain calypsonians’ vocal styling is
so similar to that of KITCH, that in Lucian
talk people would say (garscon mate really singing
like de grand master). KITCHENER was born in
Trinidad in 1922. He began composing calypsos
at the tender age of 10. He was a child prodigy.
Some of his early hits were: (MY BROTHER, YOUR
SISTER), (NORA NORA), (THE HANDY MAN), (KITCHIE
YOU SO SWEET) and (IT AIN’T FAIR). I first
heard him sing over the radio in the late 1950’s
rendering a song that went like (BREE, BREE,
GEE DOE). I read about him for the first time
in an issue of the defunct Barbadian newspaper
called the CALYPSO in 1963.
That year Kitchener had just returned home from
England where he had resided for a number of
years. Whilst in England, he was what many West
Indians considered to be an Ambassador for them.
In those days migration from the Caribbean to
Europe was on a grand scale. KITCH was held
in high esteem by his fellow Caribbean comrades,
and with him residing in England, his presence
some how uplifted their spirits. Upon KITCHENERs’
return to Trinidad, he released a number of
45 R.P.M records that included. LAW AND ORDER.
Unlike Sparrow, the Grandmaster was not a recognized
ballad singer but he has a slow number, that
I enjoy listening to called (WHEN A MAN IS POOR)
, in which he explains the difference between
the underprivileged and the rich in his own
context. In his 1994 album (STILL ESCALATING)
KITCH showed his vocal chords could adapt to
the 1940’s style of swing music as he
rendered, (THAT BED TOO COLD FOR ME). In some
of their calypsos both Sparrow and Kitchener
cherished the idea of imitating and making fun
of the Barbadian way of speaking (SLANG). SPARROW
can be heard on at least two of his calypso
that I know of entitled (SMART BAJAN) and (BAJAN
DOLPHUS), whilst Kitchener does something that
goes like (CRAB AND CALLALOO IS SWEETER THAN
SALTFISH AND COO COO.) One of my favourite chorus
lines by Kitchener is found in a calypso of
his that tells a hilarious story about a hungry
Barbadian and Trinidadian. Some of the words
go like this.
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Trini
I’m a born Barbadian
Ah doh like to fight
But when it comes to the occasion
Ah fight for meh right
You putting a 9 cent meat bone
You worst than a louse
Ah go give you a word of advice
Tek your meat out meh rice.
Kitchener’s
calypsos inspires calypsoians and musicians
to render versions of his uptempo tunes. In
St. Lucia the MIGHTY DESPER in his calypsos
patterned his vocal styling in the mould of
Kitch. The one time extremely popular BOO
and THE TRU TONES COMBO, were among the Bands
from the Caribbean that rendered his tunes
like: BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE and SOCK
IT TO ME
Mighty Pelay is another local calypsonian
who made a contribution in an effort to keep
Kitchener’s spirit alive by singing
a calypso entitled LEGEND OF KITCHENER. Some
of the lyrics goes like this:
De Grand Master is no more, but of this I
am quite sure,
His legacy will always live on,
When it came to calypso, he’s a West
Indian hero
Kitchener was second to none
There was poetry in motion, in every composition
Specially when he wrote for de pan
From major to minor, each melody got sweeter
Dat’s de legend of Lord Kitchener.
In 1967 I was on the verge of seeing my school
years at the Anglican School come to a conclusion.
I had the privilege of doing little chores
for the school. One day it happened that the
Head Master Keith Weekes a former member of
the St. Lucia Arts Guild, had placed an order
at M&C Record Shop on Bridge Street for
a copy of Lord Kitchener’s latest album.
Due to Mr. Weekes Tight schedule at the school
he said to me “Tim how about going down
to M&C and let the gentlemen at the counter
know that I have sent you to collect the Kitchener’s
album for me?” Boy, was I anxious! The
reason for my anxiety was that for the first
time I would be laying hands on the record
of my favourite calypsonian at the time ALDWYN
ROBERTS.
My father was a soldier in the second world
war and whilst he was in Trinidad with the
West Indian Regiment he saw Kitchener perform.
Kitchener usually came to the camp to sing
tunes like ‘OLD LADY WALK A MILE AND
A HALF’ for the soldiers;
Other than calypso, Kitchener had the capabilities
to sing reggae, and dub. From his 1977 album
SHOOTING WITH KITCH, he sings THOSE WERE THE
DAYS. In that tune he moves away from his
usual calypso steel band up-tempo beat, and
ventures into the world of love, to sing about
nostalgic moments when he was in love with
his sweet heart Emily.
Steel band players around the Caribbean cherished
the idea of playing Lord Kitchener Road March
classics like (MISS TOURIST, THE ROAD ON CANIVAL
DAY, MY BROTHER YOUR SISTER, HOLD ON TO YOUR
MAN, MY PUSSIN, and TING TANG). Years ago,
in St. Lucia, revelers in carnival bands like
SECRA GIBSON‘s danced to the music of
Kitchener on carnival day.
This article would not be completed if I did
not bring into perspective an ardent fan of
KITCHENER. He is no other than one of the
top notch PAN players of yester-year DANNY
MARSHALL, a CARNIVAL costume designer par
excellence. MR. MARSHALL and CEPAS BRANFORD
were also on a grand scale committed to the
MAS CREATION carnival band to which they devoted
their expertise on matters that pertained
to carnival. Whilst I was plying the streets
of CASTRIES I came into contact with DANNY
in down town CASTRIES, I, in a haste, made
him aware that I was on the verge of paying
tribute to KITCHENER, his favourite calypsonian
on the 10th anniversary of his passing. I,
aware that even in this millennium DANNY still
hailed KITCHENER, I asked him whether he would
like to say some thing about the great one’s
untarnished contribution to the ART FORM.
In a jiffy DANNY, with a large smile on his
face said (I commence playing PAN, with LENNARD
(LORD SCRUBB) WELLING TON years ago and KITCH
at the time was very popular. So SCRUBB and
the Band played a number of KITCHENER calypsos
which we handled with consummate ease because
his tunes are simple, hence one reason why
steel band men cherish the idea of playing
KITCHENER calypsos which are ideally suited
for pan.
R.I.P. KITCHENER
ATTA BOY
Discuss
Story
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