Belafonte At Carnegie Hall

In an earlier post on my personal musical moments, I mentioned the live recording of Belafonte at Carnegie Hall. This triggered a huge response from many Belafonte fans who mentioned that reading the post gave them a chance to walk down Memory Lane after years. Let me share some of my special memories of this wonderful album.

The last song of the concert, is Mathilda with which Belafonte brings the curtain (and the house) down. There's one bit, the part where the audience sing-along, doesn't sync with the orchestra...so Belafonte tells the orchestra not to play. 

It's hard to pick favourites on this album. Every song is rendered brilliantly. In particular, I love the opening... the low, steady rhythm of the kettle drums... Belafonte comes onstage setting off a ripple of applause... and goes straight in Darling Cora.

I also love the Carnegie Hall versions of Mama Look A Boo Boo, Hava Nagilah and Cu Cu Ru Cu Cu Paloma.

Another aspect that I marvel at is the fact that back in those days, the music was all that mattered. No flamboyance, no posturing, no skimpily clad dancing babes, no special lighting effects...Belafonte is so simply dressed, wearing a pale pink shirt and black trousers. Like I said, the music was all that mattered...