Written and Sung by Lord Melody (Fitzroy Alexander) in 1956 however, fame came to the American Harry Belafonte who is seen in the video clip singing Mama Look ah Boo Boo with Nat King Cole. This was the period when America was in love with Calypso. They could not get enough. The situation today is different with most Americas only identifying the Caribbean region with Jamaica and are aware of Reggae and Bob Marley . Trinidad who, Trinidad what? ... What a Shame!
This second video clip (a segment from Calypso Dreams) is featured here in this post because of the reference to Lord Melody. Please pay attention but more so about five minutes into the video clip where Harry Belafonte speaks honestly about Calypso and Calypsonians. If you were upset with Mr. Belafonte because you thought he stole something from the calypsonians to make a name for himself then you must listen to him speak honestly about that period. I believe you will think differently of this man and realize that he did much to promote the art form. I also listened to Kitchener speaking about Belafonte and in that interview the grandmaster explained that it was because of Belafonte's American accent that he believed the North American audience took to Belafonte and not to the Caribbean singers/composers aka calypsonians.
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2 Responses to "Lord Melody's "Mama Look ah Boo Boo" sung by Harry Belafonte and Nat King Cole"how come they switched?
in sweden in the 70s-80s we had a lot of new reggae band who had calypso and reggea songs on their albums, if you look at a swedish reggae band now, they would never play a calypso/soca song...
what happen?
was it the switch from calypso to soca that confused ppl?
Well since you are on the ground in Sweden I believe that you would be better able to answer that question. On this side of the ocean Soca is now the driving force for Carnival and the fetes. With the exception of Groovy Soca, Power Soca is fast paced (about 160 beat as compared to 115 for Groovy Soca) and of course Reggae is even slower paced. Maybe they are not tuned in to the wining and grinding style of this fast paced music... I don't know what is the word on the ground on your side of the world?
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