Live in Concert at the Carnegie Hall

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2005-08-10 rating:
Contains the full songlist of the original LP, not edited.
Recorded at Carnegie Hall on two nights in April, 1959, this CD contains the full concert--all nineteen songs--unlike a previously released CD of this concert which omits four songs. 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."pOpening with "Wake Up, Wake Up, Darlin' Cora," Belafonte holds key notes for several extra beats, prolonging the song's wailing sadness and stunning the audience with the song of a man who has been treated like a "dirty dog" and who now leaves "Darlin' Cora" behind as he takes to the road after a confrontation with his boss. With his strong, slightly husky voice and ability to hold a note till tomorrow, 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," then calms down in "All My Trials," as he once again reflects the frustration of the unacknowledged worker.pIn the second set, he 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 role that is so ironic for someone as handsome as Belafonte that even he is giggling throughout. "Man Smart, Woman Smarter," continues the fun and the calypso beat, with hand-clapping preparing the audience for four foreign folk songs--"Hava Nageela" (one of his most famous and most requested songs), "Danny Boy" (sung almost completely a capella), "Merci Bon Dieu," and "Cu Cu Ru Cu Cu Paloma," a charming Mexican song in which the orchestra makes bird sounds throughout. pControlling 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 he was popular on campuses and with folkies before this concert, this is the performance which made "Belafonte" a household word throughout the U.S. Mary Whipple

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