20A: Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte was born in 1927 in Harlem, New York. His mom was a housekeeper and his dad was a chef. Both were from Jamaica. (Question 1 — Can you find Jamaica on the map?) When he was a teenager and working as a janitor, someone gave him tickets to a Broadway musical. He fell in love with singing and became the biggest Jamaican-American star in history.
Harry was dubbed “the King of Calypso.” Calypso is a style of music that originated in Trinidad, which is in the Caribbean. Its rhythms can be traced back to the arrival of French planters in West Africa in the 18th century. Here’s an early calypso recording.
Harry Belafonte’s first album, Calypso, in 1956, was a smash. It was the first album to sell a million copies. It included one of his biggest hits, “The Banana Boat Song,” better known as “Day-O.” It’s written from the point of view of dock workers loading bananas onto ships. The lyrics describe how they’ve worked all night and they want to go home.
He was an actor, singer, and performer. But first and foremost, he claimed he was an activist. He was friends and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King. He raised money for people who were hungry. He spoke out against war. He stood up for gay and lesbian people. He claims he became an artist in order to give him a platform for speaking out. (Question 2 — What’s a “platform”?)
Here’s a 1957 television performance with Nat King Cole.
In 1985, Harry Belafonte decided to assemble an all-star list of singers to record a song to raise money for hunger relief in Africa. He called the biggest stars of the day — and they all said yes! The song was “We Are the World.” We’ll learn more about that in the next lesson. Meanwhile, here’s a cool outtake. (An “outtake” is part of a recording session that wasn’t meant to be recorded.) It was a spontaneous serenade to Harry Belafonte.
After that, at age 60, a new generation of fans discovered Harry Belafonte. Suddenly, it seemed his music was everywhere. His 1961 song “Jump In the Line (Shake Senora)” was used in the 1988 film Beetlejuice.
He’s still alive today — at 93. Here’s an interview he did a few years ago, shortly after publishing his memoir.
Answers:
1 — Jamaica is an island south of Cuba, which is south of Florida.
2 — In this context, Harry Belafonte’s “platform” is his celebrity. Since he’s famous, he can use his platform to talk about important things.
Bonus videos!
A few years ago, a documentary was made about Harry Belafonte. It was called Sing Your Song. Here’s the trailer.
One more bonus video! Did you like the Beetlejuice scene? Here’s another one, using “Day-O.”