An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba

Last updated

An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba
An Evening With Belafonte Makeba.jpg
Studio album by
Miriam Makeba and Harry Belafonte
Released1965
RecordedRCA Victor Studio A, New York City
Genre World music
Label RCA Victor
Producer Andy Wiswell
Harry Belafonte chronology
Ballads, Blues and Boasters
(1964)		An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba
(1965)		 An Evening with Belafonte/Mouskouri
(1966)
Miriam Makeba chronology
Makeba Sings!
(1965)		An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba
(1965)		 The Magic of Makeba
(1966)

An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba is a Grammy Award-winning 1965 album by Harry Belafonte and Miriam Makeba, released by RCA Victor. It was the second outcome of the long lasting collaboration between Belafonte and Makeba, the first being the appearance of Makeba in the song "One More Dance" on Belafonte's 1960 album, Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall .

Contents

Background

In the mid-1960s, Belafonte was very active in supporting emerging African artists as well as making African music known worldwide, and this album is an example of this activity. It includes classical African songs like Malaika (with the English title My Angel) as well as songs in African languages such as Zulu, Sotho and Swahili.

Overview

Despite the title, the album is not a collection of live duet performances by Harry Belafonte and Makeba. It is a studio album of 12 tracks, five by Belafonte, five by Makeba, and two duets. [1] The songs are all African traditional tunes sung in tribal languages like Xhosa and Zulu. [1]

Chart performance

The album debuted on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated July 10, 1965, peaking at No. 85 during an eleven-week run on the chart. [2] The album debuted on Cashbox magazine's Top 100 Albums chart in the issue also dated July 10, 1965, peaking at No. 87 during a six-week run on the chart. [3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]

The initial Billboard review said that "The artistry of two exciting performers is combined for the first time on record and the result is a remarkable meeting of the musical minds and outstanding musical entertainment." [5]

William Ruhlmann on AllMusic stated that "The real point of this album is to present a group of South African songs in more or less authentic fashion", adding "This is a powerful album of traditional South African music, and anyone buying it realizing that will be well satisfied." [1]

Track listing

  1. "Train Song" (Mbombela)– 3:08 (Harry + Miriam)
  2. "'In the Land of the Zulus" (Kwazulu) – 2:30 (sung by Miriam Makeba)
  3. "Hush, Hush" (Thula Thula) – 3:03 (sung by Harry Belafonte)
  4. "To Those We Love" (Nongqongqo)– 2:15 (sung by Miriam Makeba)
  5. "Give Us Our Land" – 2:27 (sung by Harry Belafonte)
  6. "Ndodemnyama Verwoerd!" – 2:05 (sung by Miriam Makeba)
  7. "Gone Are My Children" – 2:47 (sung by Harry Belafonte)
  8. "Hurry, Mama, Hurry!" – 3:25 (sung by Miriam Makeba)
  9. "My Angel" – 3:12 (Harry + Miriam)
  10. "Cannon" – 2:47 (sung by Miriam Makeba)
  11. "Lullaby" – 2:46 (sung by Harry Belafonte)
  12. "Show Me the Way, My Brother" – 3:10 (sung by Harry Belafonte)

Personnel

Production

Charts

Chart (1965)Peak
position
US Billboard Top LPs [2] 85
US Cashbox Top 100 Albums [3] 87

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 AllMusic review
  2. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (1973). Top LPs, 1945–1972. Record Research. p. 17. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  3. 1 2 Hoffmann, Frank W. (1975). The Cash Box Album Charts, 1955–1974. Scarecrow Press. p. 27. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  4. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN   9780857125958 . Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  5. ↑ Billboard magazine, "Album Reviews" page 56, June 12 1965
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.