RIEP Harry Belafonte

Born March 1, 1927 – sadly passed away April 25, 2023. He was an American singer, actor and activist, who popularised calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s. Belafonte is one of the few performers to have received an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT), although he won the Oscar in a non-competitive category. He earned his career breakthrough with the album Calypso (1956), which was the first million-selling selling LP by a single artist.

Belafonte was best known for his recordings of “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)“, “Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)“, “Jamaica Farewell“, and “Mary’s Boy Child“. He made his final screen appearance in Spike Lee‘s BlacKkKlansman (2018).

Belafonte considered the actor, singer, and activist Paul Robeson a mentor, and he was a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He was a vocal critic of the policies of the George W. Bush and Donald Trump administrations. Belafonte acted as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador for juvenile justice issues.

Belafonte is said to have married politics and pop culture.

Robeson opposed not only racial prejudice in the United States but also western colonialism in Africa. Belafonte refused to perform in the American South from 1954 until 1961.

In 1960, Belafonte appeared in a campaign commercial for Democratic Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy later named Belafonte cultural advisor to the Peace Corps. Belafonte supported Lyndon B. Johnson for the 1964 United States presidential election.

Belafonte, Castro & Hip Hop:

Belafonte was a longtime critic of U.S. foreign policy. He began making controversial political statements on the subject in the early 1980s. At various times, he made statements opposing the U.S. embargo on Cuba; praising Soviet peace initiatives; attacking the U.S. invasion of Grenada; praising the Abraham Lincoln Brigade; honouring Ethel and Julius Rosenberg; and praising Fidel Castro. Belafonte is also known for his visit to Cuba that helped ensure hip-hop‘s place in Cuban society. According to Geoffrey Baker’s article “Hip hop, Revolucion! Nationalizing Rap in Cuba”, in 1999, Belafonte met with representatives of the rap community immediately before meeting with Castro. This meeting resulted in Castro’s personal approval of, and hence the government’s involvement in, the incorporation of rap into his country’s culture.