SOURCE: FROM ATTILA TO THE SEVENTIES CD #8, TAPE #8. NARRATED BY PROFESSOR GORDON ROHLEHR
The calypsonian from the period of the late 40s to the mid 50s emerged as a professional figure. He was a man who was trying to make a living from his art, from his job, to get paid for his skill. This is a very important point to emphasize because the stereotype of the calypsonian was a man who wasted time and hung around as a professional pot-hound. During the 1940s – 1950s, calypsonians left Trinidad in an effort to better themselves. This trend started with Lord Kitchener who left at the height of his popularity in the late 40s to go first to Aruba, then to Jamaica and finally to England where his calypsoes provided background music for the loneliness of those early batches of West Indian migrants. After Lord Kitchener’s success, Lord Beginner, Roaring Lion, Young Kitchener, Mighty Spitfire and Mighty Terror also left to go to England.
