Isaac Blackman

Not too long ago Isaac Blackman  launched his new website in gala fashion. The venue was the Veni Mange Restaurant in Woodbrook. Isaac is the youngest son of the late great Ras Shorty I. Isaac had the monster hit ‘To the Ceiling’, one of my favorite songs, that carries a message of hope and triumph. Our music will triumph with the likes of Isaac Blackman and the Love Circle churning out music of hope with soul searching lyrics that are not only uplifting but really sweet to groove to - I just love listening to them and you will also.

The website address 'is/was' http://www.isaacblackman.com/; however that site is not available at this time and appears to have a broken link.  I was curious and wanted to see the young man’s site. The web page loaded quickly and has a full page photo of Isaac with a menu to the right side of the page. The website/page is well done and looks very good. However, nothing opens up as if there is no content to link to. Maybe the initial page was meant to be used as an advertisement for the movie "Shanty" that features Isaac’s song “Old School Love”. Hopefully content will be added and the buttons will link to additional information. Some of Isaac's videos and 'most played songs' are available for viewing and listening at URL provided beneath, go and take a look; I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

http://www.ilike.com/artist/Isaac+Blackman.

I really do enjoy the music of the Love Circle and wish the Blackman family all the best in their future endeavors. I have attached two videos/songs that I really like for you enjoyment... Enjoy!

Lord Kitchener Speaks

De Grandmaster 'Lord Kitchener' talks about his childhood, musical influence, life in London, Calypso in the US and Harry Belafonte's contribution to the art form. The Lord Kitchener, Aldwyn Roberts aka the Grandmaster died February 11, 2000!

The Road March King 

1946: Lai Fook Lee

1954: Mama Look Ah Band Passing

1963: The Road Kitchener Forever Vol. 2

1964: Mama Dis is Mas

1965: My Pussin' Kitchener Forever Vol. 2

1967: Sixty-seven Kitchener Forever Vol. 2

1968: Miss Tourist Kitchener Forever Vol. 2

1970: Margie

1971: Mas in Madison Square Garden

1973: Rain-o-rama Kitchener Forever Vol. 1

1975: Tribute to Spree Kitchener Forever Vol. 2

1976: Flag Woman Golden Hitz Calypso & Soca Vol. 1

List: http://www.ecaroh.com/kitchs_korner.htm

Kitchener - Love in the Cemetary

This Calypso is one of my Kids favorite songs. They came to know it after listening to the "University of Calypso" compact disc by Andy Narell with Relator on Vocals. Now my triplet crew (2 girls and one boy) will be five years old in June 2010. However, to see them sing and move to the music in the car is funny as hell. Here is the Grandmaster with the 'original version' of this classic calypso (a much older Kitchener doing his thing).

Honoring the Memory of the Grand Master - Lord Kitchener

Lord Kitchener - Pan In A Minor

"Mama Look A Boo Boo”

Written and Sung by Lord Melody (Fitzroy Alexander) in 1956 but fame came to the Americans Harry Belafonte and Nat King Cole. This was the period when America was in love with Calypso. They could not get enough. The situation today is different with most American only identifying the Caribbean region with Jamaica and are aware of Reggae and Bob Marley . Trinidad who, Trinidad what ... What a Shame!

Lord Melody "Melo" the man and his Music

From Calypso Dreams...comments from Gypsy, Sparrow, Lord Superior, Harry Belafonte and David Rudder...insightful and thought provoking. Please listen to Harry Belafonte's honesty and his reverence for calypsonians five minutes into this excerpt from "Calypso Dreams"

Calypso Curator

Who or what is a Calypso Curator? Now that is an interesting question because I am sure there are many institutions and persons around the world that have a collection of Calypso music. As a matter of fact many of the radio stations back home should have an invaluable collection of Calypso’s stack away somewhere. Most of the old classical stuff is on vinyl records and may have been put away in preference to that which is available on compact discs. Now we have Mr. Kenny Phillips of WACK radio and his WACK foundation which plans to document the history of the art form with a new website. His goal is to present discographies and biographies of the calypso world. This is an interesting development since this gentleman is considered to be the 'culture krazy' driving force of the south land and maybe of the the country presently.  We wish him only success in this endeavor. You can link to the site here:
 http://www.wackfoundation.org/

I remember listening to Sprangalang's discourse on WACK radio 90.1 FM that broadcasts out of San Fernando; he was speaking about the vast volume of music that he possesses. Wack radio had a show that talked about all aspects of the Calypso culture; the show was wonderful since it was conducted like a casual Trini Lime but with serious issues discussed - 'calypso collections' was a topic of discussion for part of a show - they need to bring back that show. He also mentioned losing music that was saved on hard drives that went bad. However, I am certain that he too has a collection of vinyl and compact discs. So is Sprangalang a Calypso Curator? Who knows, that is a question that only Sprang could answer.

The discussion now turns to Mr. George Maharaj, a collector of Calypso music of our beloved land. Mr. Maharaj has written two books, Volumes 1 and 2 carrying the name “The Roots of Calypso”. Mr. Maharaj also has his own website that can be accessed at
 http://www.rootsofcalypso.com/ww.rootsofcalypso.com.
As a continuation of the discussion, he created two study groups, “Calypso College” and another one called “The Kaiso Breakfast Lime”. I am unaware of when these groups met/still meet or the topics of discussion and what was/is done with the information derived from those discussions.

Anyone can tell that Mr. Maharaj is very fond of the calypso culture of Trinidad and Tobago and as a result one would be curious in knowing what kind of collection he possesses. He claims to have a collection that is over 5,000 strong with a large segment of 78 rpm vinyl records. Whom do you know with such a vast collection of music and more importantly a collection of vinyl records similar to Mr. Maharaj’s? I don’t know of anyone but I do remember visiting the University of Upsala radio station that was located in Orange NJ, USA and was surprised to see the collection of Calypso records there. I saw records by Sparrow and Kitchener that I never knew existed. So yes, there are many people with a vast collection of Calypso music but how many persons with a similar collection in Trinidad and Tobago do you know? Maybe no one.

I don’t know of any entity in Trinidad and Tobago that is preserving the music and culture. Maybe Mr. Maharaj’s collection could be a good start. This collection should be digitized and the original vinyl recording put away. By the way, what about the recording companies that put out the original music? The master recordings must be stored some and probably that place is in the US. The government should act now and compile a national archive of our music. Mr. Maharaj is willing to deal with the government to ensure that his collection is protected and saved for future generations.