![]() ![]() ![]() I must add that this Jamaican American has left a rich legacy because he used his fame and celebrity to help the oppressed. Musical audiences as far away as Japan in Asia and Germany and England in Europe were exposed to the great songs of this gentle giant. His good looks and ability to fraternise led to musical duets with giants such as Julie Andrews, Nat King Cole, Miriam Makeba, Danny Kaye, and Nana Mouskouri. From invisibility and marginalisation, countries such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago became known in tourism circles.īelafonte was not afraid to connect with singers of other hues and genres. One can construe that by singing lyrics pertaining to Caribbean society and way of life, Belafonte put Caribbean islands on the world map. Jamaica Farewell informed the musical audience that black people were not forgetful of their Caribbean roots. Song of the Banana Man tells the daily labouring of the workers in the banana industry controlled by large American conglomerates and capitalists organisations. From these songs, those who were not black and even those who were, such as Afro Americans, gained knowledge of the shared and lived experiences of the African Diaspora and the hybrid people who comprised the population of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Antigua, St Vincent, Puerto Rico, and other places watered by the Caribbean sea. The songs he belted out to large audiences and on vinyl were grounded in the way of life of Caribbean people, who were for the most part black working class. He was the first singer to get white people to listen to the music and lyrics of songs with the cultural, sociological, and economic perspectives of the Caribbean, although those who listened to his songs were mostly white folks. Who would have imagined that a boy who spent his formative years in Aboukir, St Ann, Jamaica, less than 15 miles from the birthplace of reggae icon Bob Marley and the same district in which my father grew up would have introduced calypso, this lovely Caribbean musical genre, to people living in the US, so much so that he sold the most records in 1956 from his album entitled Calypso.īelafonte was undisputably the most famous black singer and entertainer in the late 1950s. Movie lovers were exposed to his talent in the late 1950s. He was a trained actor whose peers were Marlon Brando, Sydney Poitier, and Rod Sieger, and he appeared in numerous American Negro Theater Productions. However, Belafonte rose to prominence long before the world was introduced to his repertoire. He was an icon who performed in numerous countries on various continents, such as North America, Europe, and Asia, and through him the masses were introduced to calypso. America's loss became Jamaica's and the Caribbean's.īelafonte touched the lives of many in the global village by singing the rhythmic call and response calypso songs which are rooted in Caribbean culture. ![]() Harry Belafonte, beloved popular music singer, entertainer, actor, human rights activist, and pan-African died Apin the US. Belafonte died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home. FILE - Actor and singer Harry Belafonte poses for a portrait at a New York recording studio, Nov. ![]()
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