More than a decade after deciding there wasn`t a place for him in the pop music world, Harry Belafonte is at the dawn of a new day-o.
The 60-year-old singer`s past and present endeavors are responsible for his current surge in activity. His 1957 single ”Banana Boat Song”-with its
”Day-O!” refrain-is a hit again, thanks to its inclusion in the film
”Beetlejuice.”
And he recently released ”Paradise in Gazankulu,” a musical exploration of South African styles that marks his first U.S. release in 11 years. Though it`s been out only a few weeks, EMI-Manhattan, his record label, has approved a second, similar project.
”I`m very much inclined to continue to develop music from South African sources,” Belafonte explained. ”We learned a lot doing this album. I think we`re on to something very rich here.”
It`s hard to believe that ”Paradise in Gazankulu” marks the end of a lengthy rest from recording for Belafonte. He was a dominant artist during the `50s and early `60s, introducing calypso and other Caribbean styles to American audiences. He also sponsored the careers of such African artists as Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela.
But as rock `n` roll blanketed the record racks, Belafonte opted to step aside rather than be trampled. ”I had set some standards for myself,” he said. ”When the rock era ushered itself in with the kind of vengeance and power that it did, it moved everything else-including me-aside.”
He remained a powerful figure on the entertainment scene, however, immersed in a variety of social, political and humanitarian concerns. It was his involvement in ”We Are the World,” the 1985 anti-famine superstar song, that led to his new recording contract.
”They said to me, `Everybody loves you, and you`re not dead and you`re not old and you`re not gone. Why aren`t you recording?` ” he remembered.
Making ”Paradise in Gazankulu,” however, turned out to be more adventurous than EMI or Belafonte planned. An outspoken opponent of apartheid, Belafonte has not been permitted in South Africa since the `60s. So to get the instrumental tracks for his album, he dispatched two of his aides, plus lyricist Jake Holmes, who wanted to get the flavor of the country.
”They were watched, a couple of times they were followed, and once they were interrogated,” Belafonte said. ”But we were most concerned that they`d confiscate the tapes.” After each day`s sessions, in fact, the tapes were smuggled out of South Africa to EMI`s London offices, then shipped to Belafonte in California, where he added his vocal performances.
The next album will probably be done in a similar way, Belafonte said, but he also has more on his mind than music. He`s producing three films: a Sydney Pollack-directed mini-series for ABC about imprisoned South African activist Nelson Mandela, starring Sidney Poitier, Jane Fonda and Marlon Brando; an NBC movie about a San Francisco police officer, starring Lou Gossett Jr.; and a feature film starring Whoopi Goldberg about a rebellious nun named Sister Thea.
”That`s the one I`m really excited about,” Belafonte said. ”I`ve always loved Whoopi, and I think she`s had enough of these cops and robbers things. She hasn`t had a meaty role since `The Color Purple,` and she has so much more to offer.”
Belafonte said the same about himself during his recording hiatus, of course, and now he`s enjoying the chance to show the world he was right.
”When you look at it all,” he said, ”the bottom line is that I`ve really had the best of it. I`m still here, and my presence in the world is still important enough that people take notice of the things I do.”
