Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday May 9, 2023: Remembering Harry Belafonte

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU in Ottawa on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 5 pm (Eastern time) and is also available 24/7 for on-demand streaming.

CKCU can be heard live at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and https://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web. 

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/60382.html

Theme: Remembering Harry Belafonte (1927-2023).

Harry Belafonte – the inspiring African American singer, actor, and activist – passed away from congestive heart failure on April 25 at age 96. My parents had a copy of his 1959 album, Belafonte at Carnegie Hall and I listened to it many hundreds of times. It was my essential introduction to folk music.

Harry Belafonte- Day-O

Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Sylvie

Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Cotton Fields

Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- John Henry

Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- The Midnight Special

The Midnight Special (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Fare Thee Well

Belafonte Sings the Blues (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Angelina

Jump Up Calypso (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Jamaica Farewell

Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Suzanne

Belafonte (RCA)

Harry Belafonte & Odetta- A Hole in the Bucket

Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Man Piaba

Mark Twain and other Folk Favorites (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Michael Row the Boat Ashore

The Midnight Special (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Oh Freedom

My Lord What a Mornin’ (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- The Dog Song

Belafonte On Campus (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Merci Bon Dieu

An Evening with Belafonte (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Cu Cu Ru Cu Cu Paloma

Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (RCA)

Harry Belafonte & The Belafonte Folk Singers- Hené Ma Tov

Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall (RCA)

Harry Belafonte & Miriam Makeba- Bamotsweri

The Many Moods of Belafonte (RCA)

Harry Belafonte- Matilda

Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (RCA)

Next week: Remembering Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023).

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Sweet Honey in the Rock – A Tribute, Live! Jazz at Lincoln Centre

SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK
A Tribute, Live! Jazz at Lincoln Centre
Appleseed Recordings 
sweethoneyintherock.org

I well remember the first time I saw Sweet Honey in the Rock at the Mariposa Folk Festival, circa 1974. It was an electrifying performance of powerful songs made even more powerful by the stunning a cappella vocals of the group of African American women singers then led by the great Bernice Johnson Reagon who had been one of the Freedom Singers in the 1960s.

Over the years, I’ve seen them perform numerous other times and followed their recordings and evolution as various group members have come and gone over an almost four decade period. One folk festival performance I particularly remember – it was at either the Winnipeg or Vancouver Folk Festival sometime in the 1980s – because I was watching it from the backstage viewing area in the company of my friend Odetta, the legendary and highly influential folksinger. Odetta was exuding an infectious joyousness as she listened to them. Near the end of the set, they called her out on stage with them. Hearing Odetta sing with Sweet Honey in the Rock was nothing short of incredible.

I produced a bunch of concerts for Odetta in Montreal in the 1980s and something she always did at those concerts was what she called “honoring the ancestors.” By ancestors she meant the singers and songmakers who came before her such as Lead Belly, Paul Robeson, Josh White and many others. She did this by singing their songs, or songs associated with them, in her own distinctive way and letting us know that she, like the ancestors, like those who followed, and those of us listening and singing along, were all links in an ongoing chain.

A Tribute: Live! Jazz at Lincoln Center, a 2-CD set documenting two special concerts recorded in New York City in April 2011, is a different kind of Sweet Honey in the Rock album.

For one, it was a tribute concert honoring four of Sweet Honey’s “ancestors”: Miriam Makeba, the great South African singer; Nina Simone, who defied all categories blending jazz, soul, blues, folk and popular music in her distinctive style; Abbey Lincoln, the great jazz singer and songwriter; and, of course, Odetta.  

For another, for the first time (so far as I know) Sweet Honey was accompanied on most of the selections by a terrific jazz trio of pianist Stacey Wade, bassist Parker McAllister and drummer Jovol Bell. The three musicians and the five singers of Sweet Honey in the Rock – Ysaye Maria Barnwell, Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahill, Carol Maillard and Louise Robinson – blend wonderfully. They sound like they’ve been working together for years.

Most of the songs chosen for the concert were drawn from the repertoires of the four honorees and Sweet Honey’s interpretations both honor the versions of the ancestors and bring something new and distinctive. I’ve absolutely no doubt that all four – each of whom passed away sometime in the past decade – would have been very proud.

But even before introducing songs drawn from the repertoires of the honorees, Sweet Honey opened the concert in their traditional a cappella style with the very beautiful “Breaths,” a Sweet Honey classic they’ve been performing for three decades. The song itself honors the concept of ancestors and as this performance ends the names of several great musical ancestors – including Miriam Makeba, Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln and Odetta – are recited.

Among the many highlights on this album are amazing versions of “The Midnight Special,” a Lead Belly song that was one of Odetta’s signature pieces, the always infectious “Pata Pata,” Miriam Makeba’s big hit, a jazzy rendition of “Trouble in Mind,” performed by Sweet Honey’s Louise Robinson with the jazz trio, and a haunting interpretation of “Another Man Done Gone,” with both stunning vocals and violin playing by Ysaye Maria Barnwell.

As great as it is to hear Sweet Honey with the band, my very favorite piece on the album is performed a cappella. “Freedom Suite,” is an Odetta-style medley encompassing “Oh Freedom,” “Come and Go with Me to that Land,” I’m On My Way to Freedom Land” and “Glory, Glory Hallelujah.” The four songs are a great reminder of why Odetta was known as “the voice of the Civil Rights Movement.”

In its entirety, A Tribute is a beautiful and very powerful blending of various folk, jazz, blues and African musical styles.

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--Mike Regenstreif