Black Stalin, the reigning Trinidad Calypso Monarch winner from 1986, was seeking to retain his title by defeating Duke and David Rudder, two up-and-coming artists. The participants are followed as they get ready to perform in One Hand Don’t Clap, a stunning documentary that documented the event. However, director Kavery Kaul doesn’t appear overly concerned with the outcome.
Her recently repaired and redistributed footage places a lot more emphasis on two fabled calypso giants who are present at the competition. They consider their own life, their successes, and failures, as well as their passion for their music, while watching from the sidelines. The undisputed stars of the movie are Lord Kitchener and Calypso Rose, his protégé.
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Aldwyn Roberts’ stage name, Lord Kitchener, may be best known in Britain for his moving impromptu performance of London Is the Place for Me on June 22, 1948, when a Pathé reporter stopped him as he and about 500 other Caribbean passengers were getting off the Empire Windrush ship. “I am told you are the king of calypso singers. Will you sing for us?” the journalist stated, raising a microphone in front of Lord Kitchener awaiting a response.
Tobago-born Rose, on the other hand, became the first woman to triumph in Trinidad’s annual singing competition, leading organizers to change the Calypso King award to Calypso Monarch. She was encouraged by Kitchener to perform on stage more freely. She was “skinny, real skinny like macaroni” at the beginning of her career and was still discouraged by the advice of her Baptist preacher father that Calypso music is the devil’s work. Rose made the remark that “one hand don’t clap”—a play on the phrase “it takes two to tango”—in reference to Kitchener’s encouragement as she started to perform.
Tobago-born Rose, on the other hand, became the first woman to triumph in Trinidad’s annual singing competition, leading organizers to change the Calypso King award to Calypso Monarch. She was encouraged by Kitchener to perform on stage more freely. She was “skinny, real skinny like macaroni” at the beginning of her career and was still discouraged by the advice of her Baptist preacher father that Calypso music is the devil’s work. Rose made the remark that “one hand don’t clap”—a play on the phrase “it takes two to tango”—in reference to Kitchener’s encouragement as she started to perform.
“Calypso was the music of African slaves who weren’t allowed to speak to each other. They shared their opinions in the song”
Kaul, a native New Yorker and the child of Indian immigrants convinced Kitchener to collaborate with her on a film after seeing him perform in a Brooklyn nightclub in the early 1980s. She claims, “When I heard Kitchener, I realized this was a musical genius.” Kaul also captures Kitchener conversing and singing with Lord Pretender as they watch a horse being groomed at a racetrack in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Tobago’s capital, with beautiful scenery highlighting the tropical treasure the twin Ilands beholds. This scene traces the impacts of one generation on the next. The vocalists who influenced him include “Tiger, Growler, Attila the Hun, Invader, and, Caresser” Kitchener referred to the musicians as the “cream of the crop”.
Calypso, according to Kaul, is “the opinion pages of music,” She noted that it frequently addresses topics like terrorism, domestic violence, male-female relationships, and insights concerning life as a whole. She added that it’s also the music of dancing, parties, politics, and culture, and it all intersects. Calypso, according to Rose, who is now 83 and resides in New York, is “about what happened to your neighbor or to the government or to your life”. She expresses anger in some of her songs directed at men (“Get out of my house / You’re a stinking louse”) and in others toward Middle Eastern politics.
Before the competition’s big finale, several songs are played that are obviously political. The centerpiece of Black Stalin’s essay on the 400 years of bloody, unsuccessful attempts by superpowers to dominate Africa. He sings, “The more Africans they kill, the more they’ll see coming,” to applause from the crowd. “The more warriors they gun down, the more warriors they come.” This side of the genre doesn’t go in hand with the version that sells as vibrant, joyful, exciting carnival music you hear in Caribbean travel agency commercials.
Kaul remarked, “Calypso started as the music of African slaves who weren’t allowed to speak to each other.” She added, “Obviously, they had opinions to share and they shared them through their songs. It’s a music of resistance – calypso has always been very political.”The opening line of a song by Lord Invader that appears in Kaul’s movie is “If you are a negro, you can plainly see / That you’re bound to suffer misery and tyranny.”
Later songs by Kitchener tend to be a little more comic; before the 1986 competition’s grand finale, he plays Pillow Fight and Sugar Bum Bum to enthusiastic crowds. Despite his personal popularity, he is contemplating his future at the age of 64, debating whether to switch to singing the quicker, more mainstream Soca or soul calypso, which he observes that people appear to like to dance to. He laughs, “I’m not going to stay on the other side of the river.” He added, “I’m going to follow the change even though I don’t agree with it because I’ve got to eat.”
Both vocalists have had setbacks. Rose’s adoptive mother, who is still dubious about her career choice, is present for the interview. “I didn’t take to it at all,” she admits, scarcely making an effort to hide her sorrow. “I would have liked you to grow up a nice young lady, religious, following the footsteps of Jesus Christ. I would have liked that very much.”
“And now, mummy? You still don’t like me singing calypso?” Rose inquires while seated next to her mother on a sofa. They are both wearing elegant, gauzy gowns in pink and blue. Her mother responds sadly, “It’s not the best, but I have to cope with it.”
Kaul noted, “It was a struggle.” She continued, “Nobody in her family really supported her. It was not a very respectable thing to do.”
Kitchener, who passed away in 2000, was remembered by Kaul as a very straightforward and modest interviewee who frequently burst into song as he sought to convey the meaning behind his songs. He regretted how “people looked down on calypso and steel bands” at the beginning of his career. He plays a sophisticated calypso rhythm on his guitar while claiming that although foreigners may enjoy calypso, they are unable to truly comprehend it since they were raised to four-four times. He also imitates a tediously monotonous marching beat.
When Kitchener arrived in Britain and was seen on camera at Tilbury Docks, he seemed optimistic, but that optimism did not last. He immediately established a career playing in clubs, especially the Churchill, which Princess Margaret frequently frequented, despite claiming to like the cold. However, after ten years, it became clear that London was no longer the right place for him.
Kaul stated, “He was a West Indian, from a British colony, who went there with hopes and dreams, thinking that good things would be shared with him.” She added, “And he found very quickly that he was an immigrant who wasn’t looked upon with as much welcome as one would think. He quickly discovered how difficult it was – the alienation, the displacement. But he persisted. He was very determined. He made Calypso a big hit in the clubs there. And then eventually, he wanted to go home, back to Trinidad.”
In one of the movie’s deleted scenes, Kitchener performs a different rendition of London Is the Place for Me to show his disappointment and sadness. “That version didn’t sell. The wonderful thing about Kitch was that whenever I had a conversation with him, he would immediately start to sing or strum his guitar. So he played a little bit of it for me.” He thus played a brief passage of it for me. She still hasn’t located the footage. She noted, “I will continue to look because the two songs side by side would say a lot.”
“Whenever I spoke to Kitchener, he would immediately start to sing or strum his guitar”
Rose, who went on tour with Bob Marley in the 1970s, is still active as a performer. In 2019, she will participate at Coachella and release music with the French-Spanish artist Manu Chao. She claims that she debuted on stage at the age of 15 in 1955 and has continued to perform up to this point.
Kaul expects that Kitchener and Rose will gain fresh notoriety as a result of the reissue of One Hand Don’t Clap. “I want people to have a sense of, ‘Oh my goodness, why haven’t I heard this music before? I better go out and listen to it more.'”
