Celebrating Lord Kitchener

On April 18, it would have been the 101st Birthday of the Grandmaster of Calypso and Road March King, Lord Kitchener!
Born Aldwyn Roberts, he won the National Road March competition eleven times, as well as the 1975 National Calypso Monarch with his calypso, “Tribute to Spree Simon.”
Both a composer and performer, Kitchener was at the forefront of Trinidad’s music scene for several decades, taking both local and international audiences by storm with his performances of songs like “Cricket, Lovely Cricket” (1950), “Mama This is Mas” (1964), “Miss Tourist” (1968), “Rain-o-rama” (1973), “Sugar Bum Bum” (1978) and “Bee’s Melody” (1992).
Over the course of his career, he wrote over 350 songs, ran his own calypso tent called The Calypso Revue, and composed the music for 18 Panorama victories.
Kitchener was posthumously honoured and recognized as a national icon by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.
This 1945 photo showing Lord Kitchener (left) alongside Lord Pretender is courtesy of the Newsday newspaper, March 10th 2000. This newspaper is part of the National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago’s Newspaper Collection. (Source: National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago, April 18, 2023)

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