SAN­DRA L BLOOD

April 18 will mark the 104th birth an­niver­sary of the late Ald­wyn “Lord Kitch­en­er” Roberts, and com­mem­o­rat­ing the grand lega­cy he left be­hind will be the trib­ute con­cert, The Kitch­en­er Lega­cy, set for 6 pm at the Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (NA­PA) in Port-of-Spain. The event is be­ing pro­duced by his son, Ker­nal Roberts.

Al­so known as the Grand Mas­ter, the icon­ic ca­lyp­son­ian set a bench­mark with 11 Road March ti­tles—a record that stood for decades un­til it was bro­ken this year by Machel Mon­tano.

Kitch­en­er is wide­ly re­gard­ed as a pi­o­neer in craft­ing mu­sic ide­al­ly suit­ed to the steel­pan.

He re­mains the on­ly ca­lyp­son­ian whose com­po­si­tions have so sig­nif­i­cant­ly shaped the suc­cess of lead­ing Na­tion­al Panora­ma large band cham­pi­ons bp Rene­gades, con­tribut­ing sev­en of their 13 ti­tles. He is al­so the on­ly ca­lyp­son­ian whose tune se­cured a joint Na­tion­al Panora­ma cham­pi­onship—achieved in 1985 by Des­per­a­does and Rene­gades. Of Des­per­a­does’ 12 ti­tles, four are based on his mu­sic.

The in­deli­ble lega­cy of the ca­lyp­so great—one of the na­tion’s most in­flu­en­tial cul­tur­al icons—will be brought to life through per­for­mances by sev­er­al of his pro­tégés and mu­si­cal de­scen­dants, in­clud­ing Anslem Dou­glas, Chuck Gor­don, reign­ing Ca­lyp­so Monarch Ter­ri Lyons, MOBO Awards 2026 nom­i­nee Yung Bred­da, Col­lege Boy Jesse, Pink Pan­ther and Win­ston “Gyp­sy” Pe­ters, along with Ker­nal Roberts. Spe­cial guests in­clude The Ly­di­an Singers and Dane Gul­ston.

Re­flect­ing on his mem­o­ries, Ma­yaro-born mul­ti-Ex­tem­po Monarch Gyp­sy re­called meet­ing Kitch­en­er at the age of 11 or 12 and re­gard­ing him as a big broth­er.

“Kitch­en­er was re­mark­able,” Gyp­sy said. “Every ca­lyp­so he sang, he wrote. He fre­quent­ly vis­it­ed me in Ma­yaro and was al­ways ac­com­mo­dat­ed at my home when he trav­elled to the Vir­gin Is­lands. We re­mained great friends un­til his pass­ing in 2000.”

For Rod­er­ick “Chuck” Gor­don, Kitch­en­er’s in­flu­ence was root­ed in his artistry.

“I was al­ways in­spired by his ex­tra­or­di­nary melodies and the sim­plic­i­ty with which he com­mu­ni­cat­ed his lyrics—telling sto­ries with brevi­ty while main­tain­ing beau­ty,” he said.

Anslem Dou­glas de­scribed Kitch­en­er as “a ge­nius be­yond com­pare.”

Kitch­en­er’s com­po­si­tions helped shape the gold­en era of ca­lyp­so and de­fined T&T’s mu­si­cal iden­ti­ty on the world stage. From wit­ty so­cial com­men­tary to in­fec­tious melodies and un­for­get­table sto­ry­telling, his work re­mains time­less and deeply rel­e­vant.

The con­cert will cel­e­brate his life, mu­sic and cul­tur­al im­pact in full. His clas­sic com­po­si­tions will be reimag­ined with re­spect, au­then­tic­i­ty and heart­felt rev­er­ence. Each per­for­mance will aim not on­ly to ho­n­our the songs, but al­so the man who men­tored gen­er­a­tions of ca­lyp­so­ni­ans and el­e­vat­ed the art­form through dis­ci­pline, ex­cel­lence and in­no­va­tion.

“This con­cert will be more than a per­for­mance,” Roberts said.

“It will be a cel­e­bra­tion of a mas­ter teacher, a cul­tur­al gi­ant, and a na­tion­al trea­sure. My fa­ther’s mu­sic taught us how to think, laugh, dance, and re­flect. Ho­n­our­ing him on his birth­day, through the voic­es of those he in­spired, is both fit­ting and pow­er­ful.”

Au­di­ences can ex­pect an evening rich with nos­tal­gia, pride, and mu­si­cal bril­liance, as beloved clas­sics are brought to life by artistes car­ry­ing Kitch­en­er’s lega­cy for­ward.

The con­cert promis­es to be a mov­ing re­minder that while leg­ends may pass, their mu­sic—and their in­flu­ence—en­dure.

For more in­fo For more in­for­ma­tion: 491-1802 or vis­it is­landet­ick­ets.com