Harry Belafonte

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Free to Be... You and Me: the 35 Anniversary Edition: the book every kid needs

Free To Be... You and Me was one of my favorite movie/record/books when I was growing up. Marlo Thomas's 1972 project brought together an all-star cast to perform songs, poems and sketches that challenged gender stereotypes and delivered a fundamentally humane, loving message about being who you are and not being constrained by society's expectations. When I was a teenager, a couple of my friends, Shona and Ted, got ahold of a print of the film and showed it at my school. It was an instant smash hit. The memories came roaring back for all of us, the wonderful songs, the humor, the nostalgia. Those songs became anthemic in my social circle, and not just as some ironic throwback -- there's some kick-ass music on that soundtrack. So in the early 1990s, I decided to put up a Free to Be... fan-site, and I went ahead and registered freetobeyouandme.com. Then life intervened. 15 years went by and I kept on paying for the domain. I'm not sure why -- I guess I thought I might get around to putting up that fan-site, and I didn't want the site getting into the hands of some pornographer or similar. Last spring, I got an email from a law-firm in New York that represents the Free to Be Foundation..., a charitable trust that oversees the Free to Be project and produces educational material about gender equality. The note said that the Foundation was interested in getting the domain for use in connection with the book, and would I be interested in discussing the matter. The note did not contain any threats, veiled or otherwise. It didn't call me a domain-squatter or mention WIPO's UDRP. It was polite, friendly -- just the sort of thing I'd expect from the people who gave us Free To Be...You and Me. So I called up the lawyer, Cris Criswell, and asked him to tell me more. It turned out that the Foundation was about to publish a 35th anniversary edition of the book, with new art and a bound-in CD, and they wanted to use the domain to promote it. He explained that the Foundation was a charitable 501(c)3, with a board of directors that included Marlo Thomas, Gloria Steinem, and other people I admired and trusted. "OK," I said, "it's yours." "Just like that?" "Sure. You didn't threaten me and you're doing good work. Of course you can have it." "Of course I didn't threaten you. I figure fans have rights too." See what I mean? I asked for one thing: would they send me a copy of the 35th Anniversary edition, signed and inscribed to my newborn daughter, who was already listening to the soundtrack with me? Of course they would. I'm holding it in my hands now. It's amazing. The new art is fabulous. And I've got the CD on now, and the music is just as great as I remembered. There's Rosie Greer singing, "It's All Right to Cry," Michael Jackson singing "I Don't Have to Change at All" (!), Alan Alda singing "William Wants a Doll," Harry Belafonte singing, "Parents are People,' the Smothers Brothers singing "Helping." There's Carol Channing reciting the cleaning poem, and Mel Brooks doing the convulsively funny "Boy Meets Girl" sketch. It is just brilliant. And wonderful. If you were to distill the messages that every kid needs to hear to grow up to be a confident, loving individual who does what's right even when society sneers, if you were to turn them into great songs, funny poems, without a hint of preachiness or condescension, it would be this book and CD. Every kid needs this book -- and the organization that publishes it is every bit as great as the book itself. Hi! Hi! I'm a baby! Well what do you think I am, a loaf of bread? You could be, what do I know, I'm just born, I'm a baby, I don't even know if I'm under a tree or in a hospital or what, I'm just so glad to be here. Well, I'm a baby too. Have it your own way, I don't want to fight about it. What, are you scared? Yes, I am, I'm a little scared. I'll tell you why. You see, I don't know if I'm a boy or a girl yet. What's that got to do with it? Well, if you're a boy and I'm a girl you can beat me up! You think I want to lose a tooth my first day alive? What's a tooth? Search me, I'm just born, I'm a baby, I don't know nothing yet! You think you're a girl? I don't know, I might be. I think I am. I 've never been anything before. Let me see, let me take a little look around. Hmm... cute feet, small, dainty, yup, yup, I'm a girl, that's it, girl time. Well, what do you think I am? You, that's easy, you're a boy. You sure? Of course I'm sure. I'm alive already four, five minutes, right? I haven't been wrong yet. Gee, I don't feel like a boy. That's because you can't see yourself. Why, what do I look like? Bald. You're bald, fellah. Bald, bald, bald, you're bald as a ping-pong ball, are you bald. So? So, boys are bald and girls have hair. Are you sure? Of course I'm sure. Who's bald, your mother or your father? My father. I rest my case. Hmm. You're bald too. You're kidding! No, I'm not. Don't look! Why? Ugghhh. A bald girl. Yuck. Disgusting. Free to Be...You and Me (The 35th Anniversary Edition), Free to Be Foundation (includes free MP3s from the CD)...

Miriam Makeba: 'I will sing until the last day of my life'

Miriam Makeba, the renowned South African singer and anti-apartheid campaigner who was forced into exile for more than three decades, died early this morning after collapsing at a performance in Italy. She was 76. Known as "Mama Africa" to her many fans worldwide, Makeba was at a protest concert against organised criminals when she suffered a heart attack as she was leaving the stage. She died soon afterwards at a clinic in the southern Italian town of Castel Volturno.As the first black South African to win international stardom, Makeba performed alongside the likes of Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie in the US. Fusing township melodies with jazz ballads, she sang for world leaders from President John F Kennedy to Nelson Mandela, who led the tributes today, describing Makeba as "South Africa's first lady of song". "She was a mother to our struggle and to the young nation of ours," Mandela said in a statement. "Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation which she felt for 31 long years. At the same time, her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us."It was "fitting", Mandela, said, that Makeba died supporting a good cause. Sunday night's concert was to support Robert Saviano, the Italian author who has lived in hiding since publishing Gomorrah, a best-selling expose of the Camorra mafia group who, among many other crimes, are blamed for killing six African immigrants in Castel Volturno in September.Makeba's family, who noted in a statement that she had performed one of greatest hits, Pata Pata - Xhosa for Touch, Touch - shortly before collapsing as the crowd called for an encore, said: "Whilst this great lady was alive she would say: 'I will sing until the last day of my life'."Born in a township in 1932, Makeba started performing in the fifties in Sophiatown, then the heart of black culture in Johannesburg, whose residents were soon to be evicted by the white government. She then collaborated with trumpeter Hugh Masakela, one of her four future husbands, in the hit musical King Kong, which went on to run in the West End for two years. An appearance in the anti-apartheid documentary Come Back, Africa, saw Makeba travel to the Venice Film Festival in 1959. But when she tried to return home for her mother's funeral she found that her passport had been revoked. In London, Makeba met Belafonte, who helped her gain entry to the US where she quickly recorded several of her biggest hits, including Malaika and The Click Song. She testified against apartheid at the United Nations in 1963 - losing her South African citizenship in the process - and won a Grammy with Belafonte three years later for an album describing black people's plight under minority rule. But marrying Black Panther leader Stokely Carmichael cost Makeba her record and touring deal. The pair moved to Guinea, where they became friendly with President Ahmed Sekou Toure. While she continued to perform in Africa and Europe, Makeba never had much money, having unwittingly signed away her royalty rights. In 1985 she could not afford to buy a coffin when her only daughter Bondi died. Makeba returned to South Africa in 1990 following a personal request from Nelson Mandela. She starred in the film Safafina, about the 1976 Soweto riots, and in 2000 her album Homeland was nominated for a Grammy. At home, she was revered both as a singer and hero of the struggle. Radio talkshows were today flooded with calls from fans wanting to pay tribute to her. But Makeba played down her activism, telling the Guardian in an interview last May that she was "not a political singer". "No! I was singing about my life, and in South Africa we always sang about what was happening to us - especially the things that hurt us."Makeba announced three years ago that she was retiring. But, despite suffering from osteoarthritis, she found it impossible to stop performing. In the interview she talked about being unable to breathe properly during a concert in April. "But I'd rather cancel a show than go on stage and sit in a chair, or walk on with a stick," she said.World musicSouth Africaguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Harry Belafonte's political ballad about the DNC -- footage from the lost Smothers Brothers season

Lumnifer sez, "This clip of Harry Belafonte singing an extended political song, 'Don't Stop The Carnival,' with a green screen backdrop of footage from the disastrous 1968 Democratic National Convention, was originally meant to air as part of the season 3 premiere of the 1968 Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Many people would be surprised to know that both Belafonte and the Smothers Brothers were very political - in fact, the Smothers Brothers series was cancelled that season for being too overtly political, even going so far as to insult the president and criticize the war! *gasp*" Doesn't surprise me in the least -- I think being political is what the Smothers Brothers are famous for, no? In any event, Belafonte and the Smothers are both gigantic personal favorites, and this (based, it seems on "Global Carnival?") is a great song. Harry Belafonte - Don't Stop The Carnival (Thanks, Luminifer!)...