|
Belafonte
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. His breakthrough album '' Calypso'' (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist. Belafonte is best known for his recordings of "The Banana Boat Song", with its signature "Day-O" lyric, " Jump in the Line", and "Jamaica Farewell". He has recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards. He has also starred in several films, including ''Carmen Jones'' (1954), '' Island in the Sun'' (1957), and ''Odds Against Tomorrow'' (1959). Belafonte considered the actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson a mentor, and was a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. As he later recalled, "Paul Robeson ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shari Belafonte
Shari Lynn Belafonte (born September 22, 1954) is an American actress, model, writer and singer. The daughter of singer Harry Belafonte, she began her career as a fashion model before making her big screen debut appearing in the 1982 drama film '' If You Could See What I Hear''. She is best known for her role as Julie Gillette in the ABC drama series ''Hotel'' from 1983 to 1988. She later went to star in the Canadian science fiction series '' Beyond Reality'' (1991–93). Belafonte also released two studio albums in the 1980s, and acted on stage in later years. Early life Shari Belafonte is the second daughter of Marguerite (née Byrd), a psychologist, and New York-born Harry Belafonte, a singer and actor. Her parents separated when her mother was pregnant with her. She attended Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC, Windsor Mountain School in Lenox, Massachusetts and Buxton School in Williamstown, Massachusetts, then Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts before trans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Banana Boat Song
"Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" is a traditional Jamaican folk song. The song has mento influences, but it is commonly classified as an example of the better known calypso music. It is a call and response work song, from the point of view of dock workers working the night shift loading bananas onto ships. The lyrics describe how daylight has come, their shift is over, and they want their work to be counted up so that they can go home. The best-known version was released by Jamaican singer Harry Belafonte in 1956 (originally titled "Banana Boat (Day-O)") and later became one of his signature songs. That same year the Tarriers released an alternative version that incorporated the chorus of another Jamaican call and response folk song, "Hill and Gully Rider". Both versions became simultaneously popular the following year, placing 5th and 6th on the 20 February, 1957, US Top 40 Singles chart. The Tarriers version was covered multiple times in 1956 and 1957, including by the Fonta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calypso (album)
''Calypso'' is the third studio album by recording artist Harry Belafonte, released by RCA Victor (LPM-1248) in 1956. The album became his second consecutive number-one album on the ''Billboard'' Top Pop Albums chart, where it peaked for 31 weeks. ''Calypso'' was the first Long Play record album to sell over one million copies. In 2018, ''Calypso'' was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant." Album information The first track " Day-O (Banana Boat Song)" largely contributed to the success of the album and has long been Belafonte's signature song, the single reaching number five on ''Billboards Pop chart. "Star-O", the sixth track on the album (and B side of the "Day-O" single), is essentially a short reprise of "Day-O", with slightly different lyrics. It is sung from the point of view of dock workers working the night shift loading bananas onto ships. Daylight has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odds Against Tomorrow
''Odds Against Tomorrow'' is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise and starring Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel of the same name by William P. McGivern. Blacklisted in those years, Polonsky had to use a front and John O. Killens was credited. Polonsky's screenwriting credit was restored in 1996 in his own name. Plot David Burke is a former policeman who was ruined when he refused to cooperate with state crime investigators. He asks Earle Slater, a tough ex-con and racist, to help him rob a bank, promising him $50,000 if the robbery is successful. Burke also recruits Johnny Ingram, a nightclub entertainer, who doesn't want the job but who is addicted to gambling and deeply in debt. Slater, who is supported by his girlfriend Lorry, learns that Ingram is black and refuses the job. Later, he realizes that he needs the money, and joins Ingram and Burke in the enterprise. Tensions between Ingram a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carmen Jones (film)
''Carmen Jones'' is a 1954 American musical film featuring an all-black cast starring Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey and Harry Belafonte, produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Harry Kleiner is based on the lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein II, from the 1943 stage musical of the same name, set to the music of Georges Bizet's 1875 opera '' Carmen.'' The opera was an adaptation of the 1845 Prosper Mérimée novella '' Carmen'' by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. ''Carmen Jones'' was a CinemaScope and DeLuxe Color motion picture that had begun shooting within the first 12 months of Twentieth Century Fox's venture in 1953 to the widescreen format as its main production mode. ''Carmen Jones'' was released in October 1954, exactly one year and one month after Fox's first CinemaScope venture, the Biblical epic ''The Robe'', had opened in theatres. In 1992, ''Carmen Jones'' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jump In The Line (Shake, Senora)
"Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)" is a calypso song composed by Lord Kitchener and best known from a version recorded by vocalist Harry Belafonte in 1961. Later renditions Woody Herman and his Third Herd recorded Kitchener's song in 1952 for Mars Records; Herman's band recorded it live that same year with the title "Jump in Line." Lord Invader released a cover of the song on the Folkways Label in 1955, titled "Labor Day (Jump in the Line)". His rendition reached mento star Lord Flea, who in turn recorded a version based on Lord Invader's interpretation. It was released on August 1, 1958, by Capitol Records. Flea's version inspired Harry Belafonte, who released his own take on November 17, 1961 (credited to his pseudonym Raymond Bell on the disc label). It was included on the album ''Jump Up Calypso'', and was later recorded by Lord Fly and Joseph Spence in 1958. Perhaps its most memorable appearance is in the 1988 Tim Burton comedy horror film ''Beetlejuice'' during the mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Island In The Sun (film)
''Island in the Sun'' is a 1957 drama film produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and directed by Robert Rossen. It features an ensemble cast including James Mason, Harry Belafonte, Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins, Dorothy Dandridge, Michael Rennie, Stephen Boyd, Patricia Owens, John Justin, Diana Wynyard, John Williams, and Basil Sydney. The film is about race relations and interracial romance set in the fictitious island of Santa Marta. Barbados and Grenada were selected as the sites for the movie based on the 1955 novel by Alec Waugh. The film was controversial at the time of its release for its on-screen portrayal of interracial romance. Plot During one spring in the 1950s the complex relationships of four couples, of black, white and mixed race, play out against the pronounced social inequality dividing the ruling British elite and the slave-descended native population of a small (fictitious) West Indian island. Maxwell Fleury ( James Mason) is a white plantation owner's son who s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jamaica Farewell
"Jamaica Farewell" is a Jamaican-style folk song (mento). The lyrics for the song were written by Lord Burgess (Irving Burgie), an American-born, half- Barbadian songwriter. It is about the beauties of the West Indian Islands. Harry Belafonte recording The song appeared on Harry Belafonte's 1956 album '' Calypso''. It reached number 14 on the '' Billboard'' Pop chart. Background Many, including Belafonte himself, have said that the song was popular in the West Indies since long before Burgess. It is believed that Burgess compiled and modified the song from many folk pieces to make a new song. Burgess acknowledged his use of the tune of another mento, "Iron Bar". The line "ackee, rice, saltfish are nice" refers to the Jamaican national dish. Covers Artists who have covered "Jamaica Farewell" include: * Chuck Berry (feat. The Five Dimensions) * Sir Lancelot * Don Williams * Jimmy Buffett * Sam Cooke * Nina & Frederik * Carly Simon * Laura Veirs, on her 2011 album ''Tumble ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calypso Music
Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to the mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to West African Kaiso and the arrival of French planters and their slaves from the French Antilles in the 18th century. It is characterized by highly rhythmic and harmonic vocals, and was historically most often sung in a French creole and led by a griot. As calypso developed, the role of the griot became known as a ''chantuelle'' and eventually, '' calypsonian''. As English replaced "patois" ( Antillean creole) as the dominant language, calypso migrated into English, and in so doing it attracted more attention from the government. It allowed the masses to challenge the doings of the unelected Governor and Legislative Council, and the elected town councils of Port of Spain and San Fernando. Calypso continued to play an important role in pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jamaican-American
Jamaican Americans are an ethnic group of Caribbean Americans who have full or partial Jamaican ancestry. The largest proportions of Jamaican Americans live in South Florida and New York City, both of which have been home to large Jamaican communities since the 1950s and 60s. There are also communities of Jamaican Americans residing in Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, and California. The vast majority of Jamaican Americans are of black African-Caribbean descent, and many are also some of full or partial Indian Jamaican, Chinese Jamaican, European and Lebanese descent. Historical immigration After 1838, European colonies in the Caribbean with expanding sugar industries imported large numbers of immigrants to meet their acute labor shortage. Large numbers of Jamaicans were recruited to work in Panama and Costa Rica in the 1850s. After slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, American planters imported temporary workers, ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USA For Africa
United Support of Artists for Africa (USA for Africa) was the name under which 47 predominantly U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ... artists, led by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, recorded the hit single "We Are the World" in 1985. The song was a U.S. and UK number one for the collective in April of that year. The idea started when Harry Belafonte was inspired by Band Aid (band), Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Belafonte then contacted Ken Kragen to recruit participants. Soon after, Quincy Jones was hired to conduct and co-produce the album. The considerable profits from the enterprise went to the USA for Africa Foundation, which used them for the relief of famine and disease in Africa and specifically to 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. USA for A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mento
Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box — a large mbira in the shape of a box that can be sat on while played. The rhumba box carries the bass part of the music. Mento is often confused with calypso, a musical form from Trinidad and Tobago. Although the two share many similarities, they are separate and distinct musical forms. During the mid-20th century, mento was conflated with calypso, and mento was frequently referred to as ''calypso'', ''kalypso'' and ''mento calypso.'' Mento singers frequently used calypso songs and techniques. As in calypso, mento uses topical lyrics with a humorous slant, commenting on poverty and other social issues. Sexual innuendo is also common. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
