11 March 2011

Harry Belafonte "Belafonte at Carnegie Hall" 1959 performance

Harry Belefonte became so well known for calypso music that it is often overlooked that he was, and always remained, primarily a folk singer albeit one who often adopted a populist approach to all his music for general concert goers.
On the 19th and 20th April 1959, he gave two performances at Carnegie Hall both with an identical program. Both concerts were recorded in full and tracks taken from each to produce a two LP set featuring all the concert numbers - a total of 19 tracks.  This LP set was issued the same year. It was sub-titled "The Complete Concert"
In 1989, a "Belafonte at Carnegie Hall" CD was issued but four original tracks were omitted presumbaly because they would not all fit on the one CD.  One of those tracks was"All my Trials"(described as a West Indies lullaby but it's also very much a lament) which seems a strange exclusion as it was quite a popular track in the 1960s receiving a lot of air play.
I stumbled over both the CD and the two LP set recently and I've used them both to again present the "complete concert".  Also included are images of the LP and CD covers and of the original LP liner notes.  There are also notes on the CD contents  Tracks are in the original LP order as follows:

"ACT I-MOODS OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO"
   1. "Introduction/Darlin' Cora"
   2. "Sylvie"
   3. "Cotton Fields"
   4. "John Henry"
   5. "Take My Mother Home" (omitted on CD)
   6. "The Marching Saints"
 "ACT II-IN THE CARIBBEAN"
   7. "The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)"
   8. "Jamaica Farewell"
   9. "Man Piaba"  (Omitted on CD)
   10. "All My Trials" (Omitted on CD)
   11. "Mama Look a Boo Boo"
   12. "Come Back Liza"
   13. "Man Smart (Woman Smarter)"
"ACT III-ROUND THE WORLD"
   14. "Hava Nagila"
   15. "Danny Boy"
   16. "Merci Bon Dieu" (Omitted on CD)
   17. "Cucurrucucu Paloma"
   18. "Shenandoah"
   19. "Matilda"

Download MP3 192-224VBR 140Mb
From Mega NZ

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