LORD KITCHENER & ST. VINCENT STREET SIX British Calypso; Lyragon; Rare [78 RPM]

	£		27
	$		36

Please note that combined shipping invoices will not be issued until the evening of Monday 7th May

LORD KITCHENER

St. Vincent Street Six

"CORONATION CALYPSO"

"WAR IN THE EAST"

LYRAGON J-707

"E" CONDITION

( a clean, glossy copy with some light rubs and a few very light scuffs; a small label sticker, side A; plays superbly )

Lord Kitchener and The St. Vincent Street Six, featuring Fitzroy Coleman & Mike McKenzie, recorded early 1953

This rare disc is a superb example of early British Calypso

"Coronation Calypso" celebrates the imminent Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and discusses the various arrangements being made........we're now making exactly the same plans in 2012 to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee! 

Please see below for further information on Lord Kitchener

Click the PLAY button below to hear an unprocessed, open transfer of "Coronation Calypso"; this excerpt is taken directly from the record on offer

PLEASE NOTE: This audio transfer is provided to give an indication of the musical content of the record. The transfer represents the very best sound that can be extracted from the grooves using the correct stylus size and high end audio equipment. There is no guarantee that the record will sound exactly the same on different audio equipment. Please refer to the stated grade, written condition report and grading notes below when deciding whether to place a bid on this record.

The grandmaster Lord Kitchener (Aldwin Roberts) is one of Trinidad's best-loved calypsonians. With a career spanning more than 60 years, he left an enormous legacy of recordings and original compositions: Before Kitchener died in 2000 he recorded more than 40 albums and hundreds of songs. He won Trinidad's annual Carnival Road March 10 times, and his songs were immensely popular with steel bands due to the catchy melodies and harmonic complexity of his compositions.

Born in 1923 in the town of Arima, Kitchener grew up the son of a blacksmith. He started composing and singing calypsos as a teenager when he joined a roving tent that performed at cinemas. In 1944, he moved to Port of Spain to become a professional calypsonian, playing in the tents during the season and supporting himself the rest of the year by various gigs including performing for American soldiers on the military base. His sobriquet Lord Kitchener was chosen for him by another calypsonian, Growling Tiger, and was the name of a 19th century British military hero. In the next few years he quickly became one of the best calypsonians in the country.
After the 1947 Carnival season, Kitchener traveled to Aruba, Curacao and Jamaica. He and Lord Beginner stayed in Jamaica for several months before Kitchener board the Empire Windrush, a ship that marked the beginning of large-scale Caribbean migration to Britain. As Kitchener was getting off the boat in England he was recorded by a newsreel company while singing the new song he had written in anticipation of his arrival: "London Is the Place for Me."

Kitchener remained in England for almost 15 years where he had an active career that included extensive recording for the Parlophone, Melodisc and Lyragon labels. His records were exported in large quantities to the Caribbean, where he remained popular. But Kitchener's rosy view of England and its place for Caribbean immigrants soon changed and he recorded many tunes that address the difficult life they faced. In "Sweet Jamaica" he sang that new immigrants are "Crying with regret / No sort of employment can they get," while other songs talked about the cold, the food, the nosy landladies. His records became popular in West Africa, and Kitchener sang a number of calypsos about the continent.

In 1953, Kitchener married and moved to Manchester where he managed a nightclub, but he continued to record calypsos in London, working with a regular circle of Caribbean musicians based there. When Harry Belafonte's million-selling album caused a calypso craze, Kitchener came to the United States with reports of a movie deal and more. While he played in and around New York City and was part of Geoffrey Holder's calypso Revue in Brooklyn, the show flopped and no movie work appeared and after a few months he returned to England. Ironically, Jamaican singer Lord Flea sang "Kitch's Be Bop Calypso" in the film Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957) and a number of his other songs were recorded on albums and issued as singles during the craze by other artists, though almost none of them were attributed to Kitchener.

Trinidad finally gained its independence from England in the summer of 1962 and Kitchener returned to Trinidad for the 1963 Carnival and soon formed the Calypso Revue, which continued as a major tent. He took the Road March prize for the most popular Carnival song for the first three years after his return. In 1973 his "Rainorama," a song about the rains during Carnival the year before, became a huge hit and he named his new home after it. When soca music came in Kitchener criticized it—but then had perhaps his biggest hit with the 1978 soca number "Sugar Bum Bum."

In the '80s and '90s, his calypso tent was at the top of its form each year featuring many of the top calypsonians in the country. Meanwhile his own compositions for steel pans continued to be immensely popular, especially "Pan in a Minor," "Iron Man," "Bee's Melody," "Mystery Band" and "Guitar Pan." His songs continue to have their allure and are regularly heard at Carnival time. Meanwhile, his son Kernal is gaining a name as a soca composer and performer and Kitchener's daughter Quewina was the lead star in Tony Hall and David Rudder's wonderful musical The Brand New Lucky Diamond Horseshoe Club. —Ray Funk

UK POSTAGE & PACKING RATES

Domestic Postage and Packing charges for 10" 78s are as follows:

1 Record = £4.00 (Royal Mail Second Class)

2 - 5 Records = £6.95 (Royal Mail Standard Parcels)

6 - 20 Records = £9.95 (Royal Mail Standard Parcels)

Please note that parcel tracking is not included with these Royal Mail services

Please ignore the automated Ebay invoice and wait to receive an invoice for the combined shipping costs, BEFORE sending payment

We are willing to hold records so that a larger parcel can be made up, but all records must be paid for at the time of purchase

INTERNATIONAL P&P RATES

International Postage and Packing charges for 10" 78s are as follows:

1 Record    EU = £ 9.00  /  USA & ROW = £14.00

2 Records  EU = £ 10.25 / USA & ROW = £17.00

3 Records  EU = £11.50  / USA & ROW = £20.00

4 Reocrds  EU = £12.75 /  USA & ROW = £23.00

5 Records  EU = £14.00 /  USA & ROW = £26.00

Please ignore the automated Ebay invoice and wait to receive an invoice for the combined shipping costs, BEFORE sending payment

All international postage rates quoted are Royal Mail Airmail (Small Packets); please note that parcel tracking is not included with this service. We are willing to hold records so that a larger parcel can be made up, but all records must be paid for at the time of purchase

We can also offer bulk courier rates for all international customers; we regularly ship 20 record parcels all over the world with no reported damages - please ask for further details

COMBINED 78 SOURCE PARCELS

We are happy to combine your Ebay winnings in the same parcel as records purchased from the 78 Source website.

We will adjust the P&P charge on your Ebay invoice to reflect the cost of combined shipping. Where this is not possible, any excess P&P charges will be refunded to you (via PayPal) when you advise that your parcel is complete and ready for despatch.

COMPENSATION

All of the above UK and International P&P rates include basic insurance cover for loss or damage. The Royal Mail compensation limit is £41.00 per parcel and courier compensation limits are generally £50.00 per parcel. Additional compensation is available on request at extra cost; please ask for further details. We will not be held responsible for loss or damage to inadequately insured parcels.

All records are shipped in brand new, custom sized cardboard boxes. Records are sandwiched between cardboard squares, securely packed in bubble wrap and surrounded by foam pellets. We have shipped many hundreds of parcels all over the world with no reported breakages.

GRADING

We want you to be pleased with your records so we strive to make out grading as accurate and as consistent as possible.

We grade visually using the following system and we also provide additional description and comments as required.

On the rare occasion that a record is graded incorrectly, a full money back guarantee (or credit, if preferred) will always be provided.

NEW  Only used for records that are guaranteed to be new and unplayed

N-  Looks as NEW with no evidence of play; this is the highest grade that we generally use

E+  Full gloss surface; looks as NEW but with a few very light handling marks

E  Very clean, glossy surface with no visible signs of wear; may have some superficial or very light surface scratches or some minor surface marks which should be inaudible

E-  Clean, reasonably glossy surface, but may have some minor surface scratches and first signs of visible wear

V+  Surface will have some gloss but the record will have moderate wear and may also have some moderate surface scratches and light to moderate scuffs

V  Not much gloss remaining with moderate to heavy wear and may also have significant scratches and scuffs

V-  Dull surface and likely to have significant surface noise from heavy wear, scratches and scuffs

G  Completely dull surface and likely to have considerable surface noise from heavy wear, scratches and scuffs

Unless otherwise agreed with the seller, all payments to be made within 7 days of the closing date and all International payments must be sent via PayPal. Thank You

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