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The Melody Connection - Kernal Roberts Newsday News, Saturday, January 20th 2007 |
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"Sometimes I feel like I am living in my father's body." This sentiment speaks volumes of the spiritual connection Kernal Roberts has with his legendary father, the late Aldwyn "Kitchener" Roberts, whom history will remember as the grandmaster of calypso. It seems Kernal is possessed by the musical spirit of his father, and it is this vibe which the 26-year-old has begun to mould and fashion into his own. One cannot help but class Kernal in the same melodic range as his father and one cannot listen to the radio without hearing hit after hit of the most sort after soca tunes which he has written for top soca stars. Like his father, Kernal is a prolific songwriter. Like his father, Kernal has a keen ear for melody which he intentionally injects in his songs, not bowing down to the formulaic beats that seem to be drowning soca in mediocrity. Kernal first tried his hand at singing, hitting the soca scene in 1999 with a tune called "Boom Boom Fly." Next was a remake of his father's classic hit, "Pan in A Minor." At that time, Kernal realised he couldn't make it as a soca star because of his other commitments. He decided not to waste his other natural talent which was writing. "I realised very early, I had an ability to write and I always had lyrics flowing out of me like a river. I wanted soca to be about melody. My father was the melody king, so I grew up around it. I didn't like the 'ra-ra' type of music that some of the soca artistes were singing, so I decided to invent melody in soca, to make music sound like music." It is a argument which one could hear Kitchener himself make. Kernal's career is that of a merry-go-round, which started at an early age playing drums for his father's band Kenny Stevens Revue Orchestra. Soon after he joined the French band Flabej, then practised with a small ban called Race before moving on to the big band Traffik, after finally making Machel Montano and Xtatik his home as musical director. Montano, in his 25th year has gone through another reinvention this year, billing his act as Machel Montano HD. Kernal continues to have an influence on the soca star's inner drive to always attain the perfect song, to stay current, to take his performance to the next best level. Kernal describes Montano as a perfectionist. "Machel is my brother. The band is my family, it's a place I can call home." This year, Kernal continues to turn his mastery towards penning songs for not only Montano, but Patrice Roberts and Lil Bits. "When I write a song, I concentrate on melody. I don't write a song for an artiste without giving them a melody." The "ra-ra" which he speaks about, hasn't left Kernal in despair, although he admits that the standard of this year's soca offerings has dropped. "We have to find ways for people to accept soca. Don't feel soca dying because it's still an infant. We have to start to write with more international appeal. We need to stop writing dialect. Start writing proper English because foreigners cannot understand dialect," he said. Again, one can hear Kitchener's echo. One can almost call it the melody connection, for Kernal seeks out talent that shares this focus. He admires artistes such as Nadia Batson, Blazer and Roberts because of their desire for melody. "You can see these people love music. When you have a love for music, writing becomes easier," he said. Like his father, who dominated the Road March circuit for decades, Kernal too searches for that special song that sets the pace for masqueraders on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. He did it last year with "Band of the Year," sung by Machel and Roberts. He hopes to do it again with "Jumbie," this time around working only with Machel. "I don't write to win Road March. It just happens because of the melody. "My main objective is helping people to appreciate melody in soca. This is what will take soca to its international status," he said. Hear it. Kitchener's melody in his son. |