SAN­DRA L BLOOD

For Ker­nal Roberts, son of leg­endary ca­lyp­son­ian Lord Kitch­en­er (Ald­wyn Roberts), grow­ing up in the shad­ow of a mu­si­cal ti­tan was as over­whelm­ing as it was in­spir­ing.

“It was al­ways over­whelm­ing for me as a lit­tle child, re­al­is­ing that my dad was fa­mous. It was very spe­cial for me,” Roberts re­called.

“I start­ed to ob­serve him clos­er—how he works, how he cre­ates, how he deals with his fel­low ca­lyp­so­ni­ans, and how he dis­trib­utes his mu­sic and mu­si­cal wis­dom through the fra­ter­ni­ty.”

Roberts de­scribed his fa­ther as not just a na­tion­al icon of Trinidad and To­ba­go, but a revered fig­ure across the Caribbean and the world.

“My dad of­ten had many ca­lyp­so­ni­ans at the house on Sun­days, eat­ing food. My moth­er would be cook­ing for all the ca­lyp­so­ni­ans com­ing over and prac­tis­ing ca­lyp­sos, get­ting as­sis­tance from the great Grand­mas­ter. That was re­al­ly ful­fill­ing and eye-open­ing for me, as a kid grow­ing up.”

The el­der Roberts’ ex­tra­or­di­nary tal­ent ex­tend­ed be­yond his cel­e­brat­ed voice. He could write and com­pose on com­mand, play vir­tu­al­ly any in­stru­ment, and cut a strik­ing fig­ure in his sig­na­ture suits and hats. His ac­co­lades spanned vinyl records, tro­phies, crowns, and in­ter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion, in­clud­ing per­for­mances broad­cast on the BBC. His achieve­ments in­clude 11 Road March ti­tles and the cov­et­ed Ca­lyp­so King ti­tle in 1975, along­side a sto­ried per­son­al life with no­table mus­es in­clud­ing the “flag woman” and Au­drey.

One his­toric mo­ment stands out: in June 1950, when the West In­dies se­cured its first-ever vic­to­ry over Eng­land at Lord’s dur­ing the sec­ond Test, Kitch­en­er im­mor­talised the tri­umph in the Vic­to­ry Ca­lyp­so, for­ev­er link­ing sport and song in the Caribbean psy­che.

To­day, Ker­nal Roberts car­ries for­ward this rich lega­cy through Rain-O-Ra­ma, the fam­i­ly res­i­dence at 610 Diego Mar­tin Main Road, which hous­es The Kitch­en­er Mu­se­um.

“De­spite the fam­i­ly still work­ing to­wards el­e­vat­ing it to a state-of-the-art fa­cil­i­ty, the pub­lic is in­vit­ed to vis­it and grasp the true depth of him. Ad­mis­sion is free, open dai­ly, and to book a reser­va­tion, call (868) 337-2939. On April 18, the pub­lic is al­so in­vit­ed to ex­pe­ri­ence my dad’s lega­cy through mu­sic.”

That evening, at NA­PA from 6–10 pm, pa­trons can ex­pect The Kitch­en­er Lega­cy to show­case not just his clas­sics but al­so rare gems from his ex­ten­sive mu­si­cal vault.

“Some of my dad’s im­por­tant ca­lyp­sos that were not as pop­u­lar will be belt­ed out, along­side per­for­mances by artistes he in­spired,” Roberts said.

The show promis­es a star-stud­ded line­up: the Ly­di­an Singers with a sev­en-piece set, Vince Rivers and the So­ca Unit ac­com­pa­ny­ing the cast, and reign­ing ca­lyp­so monarch Ter­ri Lyons open­ing with Old La­dy Walk a Mile and a Half.

Fan favourites Anslem Dou­glas (Cock­roach in Meh Pet­ti­coat, No Wuk Fuh Car­ni­val), Chuck Gor­don (The Road, My Pussin’), ris­ing star Yung Bred­da (Bees Melody), Col­lege Boy Jessie (Gimme De Ting, Car­ni­val Ba­by), Pink Pan­ther (Mar­jorie’s Flir­ta­tion, 12 Bar Joan), and Gyp­sy (Miss Tourist, Trinidad Time) will al­so per­form.

Roberts him­self will head­line, de­liv­er­ing un­for­get­table ren­di­tions of Sug­ar Bum, Iron Man, Love in D’ Ceme­tery, and Pan in A Mi­nor, ac­com­pa­nied by pan­nist Dane Gul­ston. The evening will be mas­ter­ful­ly guid­ed by MC Al­lan d En­ter­tain­er, en­sur­ing a seam­less cel­e­bra­tion of ca­lyp­so bril­liance.

The show promis­es an evening of live mu­si­cal ex­cel­lence, nos­tal­gia, and cul­tur­al pride, ho­n­our­ing the ge­nius of a man who shaped the sound of a na­tion and the Caribbean at large.

For tick­ets or more in­for­ma­tion, call (868) 491-1802.