Recently the Lead Belly Archives and Filmhouse Inc. sat down with the internationally known Harry Belafonte who spoke about Lead Belly's influence on his performing career. The interview was the very next morning after the historic Presidential election night when Barack Obama accepted his victory as the newly President-elect of the United States of America.
Mr. Belafonte has many titles and he enjoys all of them including singer, actor, activist and musicologist. He spoke with Alvin Singh from the Lead Belly Archives about the time he first met Lead Belly and what sort of impact it had on his confidence as a performer on stage. He heard Lead Belly sing songs like "Sylvie", " Goodnight Irene" and " John Henry" live in the Village Vanguard when he was a young man looking for a career in show business.
The most compelling story he mentioned in the interview was about a recent visit to the infamous South African prison Robben Island that held Nelson Mandela for over 25 years. When Belafonte arrived at the prison one of the ex-prisoners told him that they sang the song "Sylvie" for many years without any interruptions from the prison guards because they enjoyed Belafonte songs as well. Belafonte then proceeded to inform the men who are know South African freedom heroes that he learned "Sylvie" from a man who spent many years in the southern prison farms of America....Mr. Huddie Ledbetter.
To catch more of this interview you can see it on the Lead Belly documentary that will be released in 2009.
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