HBO Documentary films on Monday aired Sing Your Song which tells the inspirational life story of Harry Belafonte that coincides with his new autobiography, My Song: A Memoir, which was released last week.. For those of us that missed it, underneath the interview below, please see dates and times for alternate showings.
Recently Joshua Jelly-Schapiro of New York Magazine sat down with Mr. Belafonte. Below is the interview courtesy of NYMAG.com
In 1956, a Harlem-bred child of Caribbean immigrants released the first million-selling LP in history—Harry Belafonte was bigger than Elvis. But where Elvis built Graceland, Belafonte used the proceeds from Calypso to bankroll his friend Martin Luther King Jr.’s movement for civil rights. In an absorbing new memoir, My Song, as well as an HBO documentary, “Sing Your Song,” Belafonte recounts a life that took him from an impoverished childhood in Harlem and Jamaica to studying theater, as an angry young man in the postwar Village, with his close friend Marlon Brando; to finding pop success, in the fifties, as a smiling folksinger and America’s first black matinee idol; to becoming, in the years surrounding John Kennedy’s assassination and the March on Washington, perhaps the key go-between for King’s movement and the federal government. The only man to speak to both King and Bobby Kennedy on a daily basis through those years, Belafonte also persuaded JFK to approve airlifting a planeload of Kenyan students to America in 1961. That a certain Barack Obama Sr. was on that plane, one feels, isn’t the sole link to draw between his son and a figure whom the future president’s mother grew up adoring as “the handsomest man in the world,” according to one account. West Indian–American, angry charmer, elder radical, critic of a president who would not have been possible without him—Belafonte is a man of many conflicting identities, all of which he’s needed to help change the world.
You were born in Harlem, but your mother who raised you was a Jamaican immigrant. How do you think your Caribbean roots shaped your experience growing up?
Harry Belafonte: People from the Caribbean did not respond to America’s oppressions in the same way that black Americans did. We were constantly in a state of rebellion, constantly in a state of thinking way above that which we were given. My people were gangsters and lived in the underworld. And I don’t mean major American crime; I mean, as an immigrant, if you can’t find work inside the law, you find work outside the law. Running numbers and so on. Which is, of course, a characteristic of the poor, who find ways to break the rules, since the rules are always stacked against them.
You moved back and forth often between Jamaica and Harlem, sailing on the banana boats your father worked on as a cook. How do you think that movement, going between New York and the islands, shaped your understanding of race?
I had no particular crisis with white people. Because I never really saw them as in any way superior. Americans—black Americans—had crises, because not only were they forced to believe that white people were superior, but in many instances they bought it. And they made peace with it; we didn’t.
When you began singing folk songs in the early fifties, you were really coming out of the theater.
That’s right. I had come out of the dramatic theater, where the great writers of the day—Clifford Odets, Sean O’Casey—were concerned with politics, with working people. And those were the concerns I heard in Lead Belly, Seeger, when I was first hearing that music. Being involved in a lot of campaigns, helping people unionize, at rallies, helping them organize, picking up a picket sign, and walking in a picket line. And you sang songs on the picket line. So my engagement with the politics of music, and music as a political force, and using it specifically for that, came very early.
When you hit with Calypso in 1956, you gained fame very quickly. But just as quickly you sought to use that platform for other ends: in your work with Martin Luther King and then in your friendship with Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Bobby especially. In the beginning, though, you and Martin were quite suspicious of them; Bobby had been an ally of McCarthy, the blacklist.
We knew [before the 1960 election] that we must deal with reality. Somewhere down the line, we knew, we’re going to have to make the federal government yield to us. And I suspect that somewhere in this young man lies … good. So let’s put aside all his transgressions—the House Un-American Activities Committee, etc.—our task is to find his moral center and win him to our cause. Up until the day he died, we had a strong bond. But it wasn’t that way in the beginning. We circled one another for a long time; we kept a distance, even if we found reasons to use one another.
Having recently celebrated its second century as an independent nation, the republic of Haiti finds itself both at its lowest point, as an economically struggling entity, and at its most advantageous position politically, given the international aid committed to its future. In a Kafkaesque way this paradox symbolizes the existential truth of the first black independent nation in the western hemisphere.
However, the golden opportunity to exploit this dichotomy will be wasted if Haiti and its various internal sectors fail to take advantage of the $11.5 Billion of aid the International community has pledged over the next ten years. The various actors in the process, be they political, economic, labour and/or societe civile, must engage in an honest appraisal of their historical shortcomings and seek to create a road map for short term and long term development. The task is extremely difficult, but they must realize that the primary mechanism to achieve such an objective must rest on the planning and construction of the physical infrastructure of Haiti at both the urban and rural levels. This infrastructure would not only address the transport sector, but the tourism, education, health and industrial sectors as well.
The( re) building of the physical infrastructure of Haiti remains the most effective, if not the unique, mechanism through which the vast majority of Haitians will be able to remove themselves from the abject poverty they find themselves in. That physical (re)construction, which reflects the idea of past and current presidents to convert Haiti into a large chantier (a big construction site) will have greater impacts on both the short term and long term aspirations of the nation. Indeed, while it can be convincingly argued that investments in other critical sectors, such as education, health, justice and agriculture, are absolutely necessary, what is difficult to deny is the advantages of prioritizing the investments in physical infrastructure. By and large, the economic multiplier effect of construction far outweigh the ones for the other sectors of the economy. That is why for example, the Obama administration in the United States is banking its political future on public investments in physical infrastructure and green energy.
Tim Peck: For a Sustainable Tourism Model, Look to Antigua
By Tim Peck
The Caribbean tourism industry waits with bated breath for the announcement of the OECS Common Tourism Policy on October 1. As the first policy of its kind for our region, a tourism blueprint will be established to guide the industry’s future development and allow tourism to continue playing a proportionally-stronger role in both GDP and employment creation than in any other comparable region across the globe.
Being the essential driver of the region’s growth, the tourism industry is the primary stimulus for many of the local economies within the Caribbean region, and thereby, the principal provider of taxes that support social and physical infrastructure in the islands.
In the past 20 years, the Caribbean economy has undergone a radical transformation, from one that is agriculture-dependent to now significantly relying on private sector tourism.
To have a true understanding of the tourism industry’s impact, we must review some statistics:
In 2010, the travel and tourism economy accounted for over 12 percent of the region’s GDP, more than any other region in the world, with an expectation that the industry will expand by 4.2 percent per year in real terms over the next 10 years.
Oxford Economics forecasts that tourism-related industries will be contributing $76.5 billion per year by the year 2020. The industry contributed 1.85 million jobs (1 in 9 of the regions’ jobs) in 2010, increasing to over 2.4 million in 2020. The investment in travel and tourism represents over 20 percent of the total investment in the region, and generates $23.6 billion in export revenues (15.8 percent of the region’s exports), with an anticipated average growth of 4.1 percent per year for the next 10 years.Read the rest of this entry »
So we noticed a few folks came looking for the official statement from the promoters responsible for VI Summer Splash 2011 as to why Jeezy didn’t show up to last weekend’s event. Below is the official statement from Paid 4 Entertainment.
Nationally acclaimed rap artist Young Jeezy aka Jay Jenkins, Smith Entertainment and Caribbean Entertainment.Com failed to appear as contractually agreed with Paid 4 Entertainment at the annual Summer Splash event in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands this past weekend. Young Jeezy was contracted for the main performance at Summer Splash 2011 in March, 2011 with a line up which also featured Bunji Garlin, Fay-Ann Lyons, Cocoa Tea, Bar Gyal Cecile, Hero and many others.
Major sponsors such as Bellows International, Coca Cola, Heineken Beer, Hennessey, Alize, and VI Lottery joined with Paid 4 Entertainment to make this event possible. Days before Summer Splash Jermaine Saunders, founder of Paid 4 was first informed of Young Jeezy’s unwillingness to perform as scheduled on June 18, 2011. After many discussions with Young Jeezy and his agents the contract was modified to allow the artist to appear on June 19, 2011 at 8:00pm at the Lionel Roberts Stadium. Based on the representations of Young Jeezy and his agents, Paid 4 Entertainment chartered and paid for a private jet to bring Young Jeezy and his crew to St. Thomas on the morning of June 19, 2011. Young Jeezy went as far to twitter his receipt of the jet on June 16 on his Twitter account.
On Sunday June 19 at 2:45 P.M. Paid 4 representatives were notified by the by the airline company that the artist did not board the prepaid flight. It was not until 4:30 P.M. that representatives of the artist officially advised Paid 4 Entertainment that the artist was not coming. It was also learned that Young Jeezy in spite of his prepaid contract in the Virgin Islands had also contracted to do performances in the Atlanta area. Paid 4 Entertainment extends it apologies to the fans and sponsors of the Virgin Islands Summer Splash 2011 and requests that you direct any inquiries or claims concerning this matter in writing to Paid 4 Entertainment, LLC, in care of its attorney Robert L. King, at P.O. Box 9768, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 00801.
The overwhelming rise in criminal activities is making us afraid of our own shadows. There is so much suffering, sadness, loss of life, and sheer brutality, that we must redouble our commitment to address their root causes.
How, then, do governments all over the world tackle a more sophisticated criminal mind especially in an age of terrorism and high-tech crimes?
Minister of National Security Dr Errol Cort recently gave his blessings in support of wiretapping after Deputy Police Commissioner Neal Parker suggested that this technology is necessary to fight crime in the Caribbean. Two weekends ago, Antigua hosted the commissioners of police conference, which focused on the theme: “Harnessing Technology for the Advancement of Law Enforcement.” Dr Cort is considering legislation to help law enforcement implement wiretapping.
I do not believe that the introduction of wiretapping eavesdropping will increase national security or lead to peace and security in Antigua and Barbuda. Most fundamentally, wiretapping should not be the prerogative of the state. Politicians’ tendencies for subtle gamesmanship and power-hoarding have caused too many wrongdoings, all committed in the name of national security.
Carnival’s Louder Commercial Beat Adds Dissonance
To some people here, Dean Ackin, 38, with his boyish face, is an inspiration of entrepreneurship, a bearer of this country’s evolving culture. To others, he is a threat to this nation’s most beloved social and cultural treasure: Carnival.
Editor’s note: Wyclef Jean is a Grammy-winning musician and record producer. He started the Yéle Haitifoundation in 2005 to build global awareness of Haiti while helping to transform the country.
(CNN) — It’s been almost six months since the January 12 earthquake that devastated my beloved Haiti. Speaking for myself — not for my organization Yéle Haiti — I will say it: Speed is of the essence. I feel that progress is being made at the speed of a turtle.
With the amount of money that has been raised to help our country, I was expecting to see construction projects. I was expecting to see thousands of heavy tractors and loaders lifting up rubble. I was expecting to see people relocated from tents and starting to get into temporary housing. And yet, during my last visit, just a few weeks ago, I saw very few, or none, of these.
We need to work together — no one organization or government can succeed without the help and cooperation of others. We need to work together for the people there who so badly need our help. The country needs to grow in all areas, from agriculture to health care.
Many people have been working very hard with the recovery efforts since that terrible day. Many of us were there the day after thequake, and we’ve gone back many times since, to deliver much-needed supplies and plan ways to rebuild — and really just to try to help the people. Unless you’ve been there yourself, you can’t imagine the terrible conditions that still exist for so many.
At last count, about 1.6 million Haitians are still living in the tent camps, without enough food, or a sufficient supply of water, and certainly without any feeling of safety or security. All of these refugees are dependent on donations and have no means to support or sustain themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
It is hardly debatable that the variations in copyright laws across the Caribbean are the result of the peculiarities of our various jurisdictions, compounded by the lack of a regional regulatory scheme. It is also trite knowledge that Caribbean musicians often struggle to obtain adequate protection of their productions and, where they do, it is localised within specific countries.
This means that while a Jamaican musician may have protected rights in Jamaica, this will not necessarily apply to the same work in Guyana or Antigua, and so on; though section 3 of the Jamaican Copyright Act no 5 of 1993, specifies that where a work has been first published in a specified country it shall be an offence in Jamaica to republish it without permission.
A January 2010 report of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) revealed that royalties accruing to Caribbean music and art in 2009 had dipped by 27 percent to Euros 3.3 million. CISAC reported that it had been some three years since such a marked decline had occurred in the Caribbean and suggested that, apart from the worldwide economic decline, the inability of some Caribbean governments to deal with their intellectual property issues had contributed significantly to these problems.
Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Barbados and St Lucia are members of CISAC, which is an international organisation promoting the rights of authors and composers, while others are less than interested.
While CISAC may be a useful organization, it is striking that Caribbean nationals have yet to establish a region-wide focus group that will serve to examine and promote the rights of producers of intellectual property and press CARICOM into the establishment of a region-wide regulation scheme.
This column has previously proposed and continues to insist that the Caribbean Court of Justice be given jurisdiction as a Court of First instance for intellectual property matters; a development that would see greater enforcement of copyright laws and a thrust towards the modernisation of others. The regional jurisprudence in this area would also have a significant catalyst for its advancement with the offshoot of specialisation and developing expertise among intellectuals, jurists and practitioners.
Caribbean musicians are faced with the dilemma of the artist’s urgency of creative expression, the need for just recompense and the assurance that their work will be recognised and respected. These aspirations are often compounded by lack of enforcement or outmoded laws, or both in some jurisdictions. While modern copyright laws, where they exist , go some way towards protecting copyright, as in the case of Jamaica, there is the view (supported by some evidence) that the copyright laws afford the producers greater rights than the creative minds who originated the music. Read the rest of this entry »
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — Provocative Barbadian artist Annalee Davis is on a mission to use her talents and abilities to help promote the region’s culture – its values and environment – at home and abroad.
An independent visual artist and Bimventures entrepreneur, Annalee Davis has created murals and decorative art for individuals and businesses to help Caribbean people define who they are and to determine their roles in society.
To advance her mission, she has created two socially engaging and creative brands that complement each other.
The Annalee Davis brand promotes self-awareness among Barbadian and wider Caribbean societies, whereas the Manipura brand presents to world audiences beautiful and intelligent creations that are culturally representative of the Caribbean.
As a locally raised visual artist, Davis recognises the need to promote a local consciousness that supports the region’s cultural ambassadors and their work in the international marketplace. “At a national and regional level, we are aiming to promote the creative genius of our artisans, while globally, our brands entice the international market to become acquainted with and acquire works which will contribute to a richer understanding of the Caribbean’s identity,” Davis explained.
By supporting a local and regional creative environment, we will bolster our identity and develop a culture that is truly representative of the West Indian experience and less reliant on foreign influences, she argues. “Instead of adopting foreign expressions, local and regional cultural producers ought to be supported and acknowledged. Our work will quench our own thirst for self-awareness, and in turn we will show the world what we have to offer.”
The artistic ambassador believes that supporting the cultural industries is a great way to contribute to socioeconomic development. “Barbados and the wider Caribbean need to continue thinking creatively and critically about a sustainable way forward for our societies. The development of the cultural industries is crucial to our growth.”
When I moved to the Falls, I embraced the ‘non-islandism,’ one Caribbean mentality that was being indoctrinated by the Caribbean Student Organization. Don’t get me wrong, I learnt that even though we may have our differences, as a region, we have a lot more in common than we actually think.
Whilst doing this, however, I realized that I was also losing pieces of me. I had become a melting pot of various things and for someone who had never set foot in Grenada or St Lucia I could give you plenty details about the Carenage, St David’s, St Patrick’s, Gros Islet, Dennery and Castries. I could give you the Grenadian Revolution play for play and instead of going ‘around the bend,’ I would be going ‘aroung the bend.” Somebody was always, ‘kicksing.’ There were the injections of the ‘Oui,’ and ‘Garcon.’ And to add insult to injury, a little bit of Texan got filtered in, because there were times, I would be ‘fixin’ to do something or go somewhere.
My accent and language had become so coloured that there was hardly an essence of the ‘Kitti-St Paulian’ to be found in me and although I knew and shared my history just as my friends shared theirs, I was out numbered and eventually without truly realizing it at the time I assimilated into a mix these varied and rich cultures.
I decided that I had to redefine myself, define me for me, however try with all my mite not to lose that rich ‘Kitti-St Paulianess’ that was indoctrinated in me and I when I returned home I decided to re-cultivate it.
A few years later I found myself at a cross roads when I migrated and not only reunited with my circle of friends, but also added a new dimension of African friends to the melee. By the end of my stint in Irving I could give you both sides of the Mugabe argument, had attended several brie’s, and knew the ‘Zim’ and Nigerian culture inside out and again the vocabulary had become tainted.
These were great experiences and I have many great and lasting friendships as a result but they have also left me with a longing to hold on to what is true, that need to not lose my culture, that need to not lose my heritage, that need to bottle the uniqueness of my upbringing and carry it with me wherever I go and never let it get drowned out by anyone or anything There was that need to hold on to my language, although some may consider my native dialect to be ‘backward.’ Read the rest of this entry »
