NP its the OG ;)

Thanks! Its all about the love of music.

Belafonte was a big FRAUD!!!!

@@sheldonlawrence521 exactly

@Sara B. Belafonte never took credit for this song or any of his other covers. He was not a fraud. He DID dumb down calypso music to make it acceptable to Americans, Belafonte’s “calypso” is closer to American folk music than to what’s on the record in this video. So I’m not a huge fan of his, but at least he gave credit where it was due, and paid royalties too...

@Sara B. Belafonte and his frequent composer Lord Burgess (Irving Burgie) did take credit for writing a lot of traditional songs that were around before either man was even born. Songs like Day O, Man Smart Woman Smarter, Jamaica Farewell, Jackass Jump and Bray, and others were not written by Belafonte or Burgess but they took the credit. However the actual authors of these song are not known, so they weren’t stealing credit from anybody. I find it questionable but it was pretty normal to do this with traditional songs in those days. Woody Guthrie and other folk singers did the same thing. He definitely deserves credit for introducing people to calypso music, as you said. It’s just a shame that more authentic calypso artists were not really able to break into the market even after he opened the doors for them. A lot of true calypsonians (like the Mighty Sparrow) gave Belafonte his praises, but they were also annoyed that he gave Americans the wrong idea of what calypso music was. In a way Belafonte brought calypso to the world, but he also killed it, after he came along worldwide audiences would not accept authentic calypso. And so it wasn’t until Arrow came in 1986 with Hot Hot Hot that calypso/soca music got another shot at mainstream fame. Sorry for the essay, this is a main interest of mine! Been a calypso fan for a long time :)

@Sara B. no problem!

Where you think mento and ska come from?? Calypso!! the mother of all!!