Calypso Concert, NYC, 1946

Various Artists - Calypso Concert,

Town Hall, NYC 21 Dec 1946 

From the historic Alan Lomax recordings at the Association for Cultural Equity:

A live recording of Calypso At Midnight, a concert held at Town Hall, New York City, on December 21, 1946. Learning that Town Hall could be rented cheaply after regular theater hours, Alan Lomax produced a late-night concert series called The Midnight Special, which was thematically organized as Blues At Midnight, Ballads At Midnight, etc., and sponsored by the People’s Songs Collective.

The calypso concert recordings, made at Lomax’s request and later found by chance in a closet by Bess Lomax Hawes, may be the only extant record of this series.

“This concert is a fascinating document of an American presentation of Trinidadian calypso at a time when interest in the genre was spreading from New York City into the mainstream of popular music in the United States”

-- Donald R. Hill and John H. Cowley,

liner notes of Calypso At Midnight [Rounder 1840]

Music License: © All Rights Reserved
Image: improvised from flag of Trinidad and 1946 David S. Martin poster of the event
Artist Location: Trinidad, Caribbean

Carib and Afro-Pop From Soundway

On April 1st, 2013, Amazon UK will be showcasing the British-based Soundway Records with a free 14-track label sampler download featuring some of the label's best artists from Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and beyond.

Soundway Records was formed in 2002 to celebrate and revive interest in music from Ghana and the Gold Coast. In the last 11 years, the label has expanded to release music from a number of artists from the tropical belt around the world.

Although initially a label that focused on re-releasing old material, Soundway are now releasing material from a carefully selected handful of contemporary recording artists. And the album covers on Soundway Records are noted for being wild!

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-- Pitchfork

Note: Amazon freebies are now all done through the Amazon Cloud Player or mp3 downloader software.

license: all rights reserved



Two free tracks at Soundcloud