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What Is Calypso Music?
What Is Calypso Music?
Calypso is an Afro-Caribbean music genre that began in the nation of Trinidad and Tobago and spread throughout the West Indies. A close relative of West African kaiso, calypso music is an upbeat genre based on call-and-response singing and a syncopated 2/4 beat known as the calypso rhythm.
Calypso has spawned many subgenres, including soca music, mento, benna, spouge, ska, chutney, and extempo. A central figure in these styles is a griot, a lead singer who functions as a sage and a storyteller. Today's griots frequently sing in English, documenting the travails of daily life and advocating for righteous justice.
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, songwriter, activist, and actor. One of the most successful Jamaican American pop stars in history, he was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Trinidadian Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s.
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.[1] Belafonte is known for his recording of "The Banana Boat Song", with its signature lyric "Day-O". He has recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards. He has also starred in several films, including Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).
Belafonte has won three Grammy Awards (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), an Emmy Award,[4] and a Tony Award. In 1989, he received the Kennedy Center Honors. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994. In 2014, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy's 6th Annual Governors Awards.[5]
Belafonte was an early supporter of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s and was a confidant of Martin Luther King Jr.. Throughout his career, he has been an advocate for political and humanitarian causes. Belafonte acts as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador for juvenile justice issues.[3
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