Search - Harry Belafonte :: At Carnegie Hall

Buy the two CD import version from Amazon.com

Robert Swezey | San Diego | 01/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I wish to thank Reviewer Santiago Millan Caballero for his warning. I bought the two CD set from Amazon in Germany and it is complete and wonderful. Now Amazon.com sells this same 2 CD set as "Live at Carnegie Hall [IMPORT]" made by BMG number B000006SUU. This record is a strong emotional experience."

Classic Belafonte voice, wonderful to sing along with.

Jerry Nunn | 03/12/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"As mentioned previously, if you had ever heard the entire concert on album you will be disappointed with this recording. They have cut out the fun stuff that went on, and a few of the more touching and difficult songs. Get the entire recording instead of this."

5 stars for Belafonte, 2 stars for disappointing editing.

Mary Whipple | New England | 08/19/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Recorded on two nights in April, 1959, this CD contains only fifteen of the original nineteen songs, omitting "Take My Mother Home," "Man Piaba," "All My Trials," and "Merci Bon Dieu," songs that are included in another recording (Search Amazon for ASIN: B000006SUU). Though the editing is disappointing, the songs that remain are still some of Belafonte's finest work. Singing work songs and traditional folk songs for the first half of the concert, Belafonte switches, after the intermission, to novelty songs and some of the most famous of all his international folk songs before concluding, as he so often does, with "Matilda."



Opening with "Wake Up, Wake Up, Darlin' Cora," Belafonte stuns the audience with the impassioned song of a man who has a confrontation with his boss and must now take to the road, holding key notes for several extra beats to prolong the song's wailing sadness as he bids goodbye to "darlin' Cora." With his strong, slightly husky voice and ability to hold a note forever, he follows this with a Leadbelly song, "Sylvie," in which he changes the lyric from a work song to a jailhouse plea. The tempo increases throughout this set through "Saints" and "Day-O," and the audience participates.



The second set begins with the calypso novelty song, "Mama Look at Boo Boo," in which he plays the role of a man whose children say "My daddy can't be ugly so," a statement so ironic that even he chuckles. "Man Smart, Woman Smarter," continues the fun and the calypso beat, with hand-clapping, as he prepares the audience for several foreign folk songs--"Hava Nageela" (one of his most famous and most requested songs), "Danny Boy" (sung almost completely a capella), and "Cu Cu Ru Cu Cu Paloma," a charming Mexican song in which the orchestra makes bird sounds throughout.



Controlling his volume from a whisper to full-out wailing and the tempo from a slow ballad to wild calypso and street dance (in "Saints"), Belafonte is at his peak here, in total control of his audience. Though he usually sings with simple accompaniments, here he uses, on occasion, the full orchestra ("Saints," "Mama Look At Boo Boo"), incorporating trumpets ("Cu Cu Ru Cu"), strings, and flutes ("Come Back Liza). Though Belafonte was a star before this concert, this performance made him a superstar, a household name throughout the world. Though four great songs are missing from this edition, what remains still shows Belafonte at his peak, a landmark performance. Mary Whipple

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