Source:?Delancyplace.com
At the end of 1956, generally conceded to be the cultural birth year of rock ‘n’ roll, the best-selling album in America was not?Elvis Presley?or?Elvis, it was Harry Belafonte’s?Calypso. Belafonte was one of America’s most popular entertainers of the mid-twentieth century and parlayed his commercial success into civil rights activism. Calypso music had come from Trinidad and Tobago, with roots in West African Kaiso music and the migration of French planters and their slaves from Martinique and Dominica:
Continue reading “Harry Belafonte – "Banana Boat Song (Day O)" – 1956”