Love this ✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾 Kaiso Kaiso

Thank you, thank you, thank you... #cultureliveshere

Beautiful renditions

Wonderful and refreshing.

Blessings 💥💥💥💥💥

🧡EDDIE 🧡🧡CHARLIE 🧡🧡🧡YOU 🧡🧡🧡🧡GOT 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡THIS *NO WOK FOR CARNIVAL*

It's sad to know that the only time you will hear Lord Kitchener is either during Carnival, his birthday in April, or during Calypso Heritage Month in October. If you are smart, play his music 🎶 🎵 at all times. In this way, future generations - Gen Z and beyond could hear what Calypso/Kaiso is all about. To quote Brigo, a Calypso is a poor man's newspaper 📰. According to Sparrow, a Calypsonian is a man of straw, and he has nothing to lose. He can attack anyone & anything. Lord Kitchener (1922-2000) was a pupil of Arima Boys Government School. He left school around the age of 14 when his blacksmith father & mother died. According to The Grandmaster himself, during an interview with Alvin Daniell- Calypso Showcase (1991/1992), he started singing Calypso as a sixteen year old (circa 1937-1938). He would go on to win the Arima Borough Competition for four (4) years straight (1938-1942). One of his earliest songs was "Mary I Am Tired And Disgusted." For me, the first song of his that comes to mind is 'London Is The Place For Me"- Melodisc (1951). Some popular hits from the 1950s include "Kitch Come Go To Bed"- "Small Comb"- Melodisc (1951), "Nora"- Parlaphone (1954) & "Birth of Ghana" (1957). Lord Kitchener left Trinidad 🇹🇹 in 1948 on the Empire Windbrush visiting Curacao, Aruba & Jamaica 🇯🇲. Eventually, he ended up in England. He lived in London for a while before settling in Manchester in 1953. As I mentioned earlier, he recorded for the labels Lyragon, Melodisc & Parlaphone labels. It is said he ran a nightclub (in another interview, he denied this). The Calypso became a craze in the 1940s - 1950s with the Andrew Sisters reworking Rupert Grint's ( Lord Invader's) "Rum & Coca Cola" 🥃. Later on Lord Melody's "Mama Look A Boo Boo" (1955) & the MIghty Sparrow's Jean & Dinah was covered by Harry Belafonte (1927-2023). Lord Kitchener returned from his sojourn in London, England, in 1963 as the Mighty Sparrow was looking for a new partner. His friend Fitzroy Alexander- Lord Melody was under contract to perform with Harry Belafonte in the (1960s-1970s). When Kitch returns to Trinidad 🇹🇹 in 1963, he opens The Revue Calypso Tent w/ his manager Jazzy Pantin. From Independence in 1962 until Rebublicanism in 1976, he produced a Road March 🏆- the most popular tune heard on Carnival Monday & Tuesday. Some of his winning selections include "The Road"- 1963 Road March "Mama Dis Is Mas"- Road March '64, "My Pussin"- 1965 Road March, '67, "Miss Tourist"- 1968 Road March. By the 1970s' the culture was changing. Jamaica had gone from Ska to Reggae- Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop" (1964) to Bob Marley & The Wailers under the direction of Chris Blackwell. Calypso was considered a dying artform & the new emerging sound was "Sokah"- Soca. Garfield Blackman- Lord Shorty (1941-2000) started experimenting with the East Indian rhythms from the Indian diaspora (community) in San Fernando South Trinidad 🇹🇹. Some of his recordings include "Indrani" (1973) & "The Art Of Making Love" (1973), "Endless Vibrations (1974) & "Sweet Music" (1976). Cecil Hume- Maestro (1939-1977) had material like "Rampage, "Savage". Lord Kitchener's first attempt at Soca turned out to be his biggest seller to date "Sugar Bum Bum" (1978) from the album Kitch Melodies of The 21st Century (1978). He embraced this new musical form of expression. Another popular tune was "Gimme D Ting." Lord Kitchener continued creating melodies right until the end. On the Eve of Carnival 2000, Aldwyn Roberts- Lord Kitchener succumbed to myeloma (blood cancer, bone marrow cancer) in Mount Hope.