“Mary Ann” (1958)
The album Belafonte Sings the Blues features a backup group of top jazz musicians and is loose, playful and playful. “Mary Ann” is a flirtatious rumba his blues, giving Belafonte room for slides, hoops and breaks for his notes.
“Cotton Fields (Live)” (1959)
On stage at Carnegie Hall, Belafonte gave a jazzy take on Reed Berry’s song about the encounter between farming and the law in this version of “Cotton Fields.” Resurrection of Creedence Clearwater version. A walking bass line and swinging jazz trio give Belafonte the backdrop for sassy, syncopated trumpet-like phrasing. He remembered his childhood, and suddenly he became nervous.
“Jump in the Line” (1961)
Calypso “Jump in the Line” with its charming upbeat groove is claimed by many different authors in various versions. Lord Kitchener via Lord FleaBelafonte adds grainy exuberance to his peppy horns and percussion, more or less Latin dance moves such as the “chacha, tango, waltz, de rumba” of his girl named “See-NOR-a.” praise the If she had been a “senora” with a tilde, she would have been married. On a frenzied dance floor, nobody probably cares. When Pitbull got an update in 2011, “Shake Senora” He pronounced the tilde.
“My Angel (Malaika)” With Miriam Makeba (1965)
Miriam Makeba discovered the heartrending East African love song “Malaika”, popularized it in Swahili and became an international hit. This version is from “An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba”, a split his studio album sung in African languages. It’s his one of two duets on the LP. Both singers tiptoe the melody with the most gentle shared respect.
“Turn the world upside down” (1977)
Belafonte’s voice became husky when he released “Turn the World Around,” a song he wrote with Robert Friedman, but his energy was undiminished. The lyrics are based on Guinean folklore and reflect water, fire and mountains. Lively and complex, the song has a hopping 5/4 beat, a variety of global percussion, and an interlocking group of celebratory voices.
“We are the world” (1985)
Belafonte was the little-known driving force behind the All-Star 1985 benefit single “We Are the World” for famine relief in Africa. To assemble a younger generation of performers, he enlisted Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson to write songs and enlisted music manager Ken Klagen, who had assembled dozens of other 1980s hitmakers. rice field. To say the least, Belafonte didn’t claim his one of Reid’s vocal spots. He just joined the backup chorus. He can be found singing enthusiastically at 4:20 and at 5:55 in the video.
“Paradise of Gazankul” (1988)
Behind the lilting beats and major-key, Shangaan-style accordion chords of “Gazancle’s Paradise,” the title track of Belafonte’s last studio album, there’s ridicule and contempt. He recorded part of it in Johannesburg. Under apartheid, which Belafonte was determined to end, Gazáncur was the so-called “homeland” created to segregate South African blacks. “I’m just trying not to control you,” he sang, and the woman said, “Oh yeah. live performance, outside South African restrictions, he added, “Free Mandela!” Belafonte’s faith never wavered.
