Calypso Music Documentary ONE HAND DON’T CLAP (1988) 4K Restoration Opens at BAM

[Brooklyn, NY — February 21, 2024] Kavery Kaul’s award-winning 1988 documentary OneHand Don’t Clap chronicling the titans of calypso and soca music will enjoy its one week run opening March 8th, 2024, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Get swept away by the infectious rhythms and exhilarating irreverence of calypso and soca music in this wonderful documentary from filmmaker Kavery Kaul. Legendary artists Grandmaster Lord Kitchener who made calypso a hit in London and Calypso Rose the first woman to break through in this traditionally male sphere lead audiences from New York recording studios, and the streets of Brooklyn, to the magic of Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. There, the festivities culminate with the fiercely contested annual competition between top calypso singers for the title Monarch of the Year.

Digitally restored by the Academy Film Archive and the Women’s Film Preservation Fund of New York Women in Film & Television and distributed by Kino Lorber, One Hand Don’t Clap reflects the legacy of a vast West Indian-American population, the incredible entrepreneurial growth of their music industry in the US, and their ongoing ties to the traditions that flourish in the Caribbean.

Historically acting as an avenue for political expression, lyrics frequently illuminate topical themes that continue to resonate.

Additional performer appearances include David Rudder (b. 1953), Black Stalin (1941–2022), Growling Tiger (1916–1993), Lord Pretender (1917–2002), The Mighty Duke (1932–2009) and Natasha Wilson (b.1975). With the deaths of Kitchener, and the even older Growling Tiger and Lord Pretender, the many generations in Kaul’s film trace the evolution of a musical style.

We interviewed Kavery Kaul last year when the film was first restored and premiered at the To Save and Project film festival at the Museum of Modern Art (link above). Recently we interviewed filmmaker Mirra Bank about her newly restored documentary, Spirit to Spirit: Nikki Giovanii which also premiered at To Save and Project. You can watch that interview here.

On March 8th the screening will be preceded by an introduction by Consul General of Trinidad & Tobago, J. Andre Laveau. You can catch a post Q&A with filmmaker Kavery Kaul, and on March 8th and 9th at the 7 pm screenings as well.

For ticket information visit the BAM website.

Originally published at http://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on February 21, 2024.