Daylight come and we want to go… to Winnipeg River City frequent stop for Belafonte By: Alan Small Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 26, 2023

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/04/2023 (905 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Harry Belafonte, the civil rights activist, singer and actor who died Tuesday, was an international superstar who had connections around the globe, including several in Winnipeg.

The most notable link to the province happened in 1977 when Belafonte was inducted into the Order of the Buffalo Hunt for his artistic contributions to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, with whom he performed for a series of shows at the Centennial Concert Hall, conducted by Piero Gamba.

The singer — whose last live performance was a benefit for the Atlanta Opera in 2003 — also served on the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s board of directors from 1979 to 1989, visiting Winnipeg from his home in New York on several occasions to attend meetings and performances.

The Centennial Concert Hall would become a regular stop over three decades for Belafonte, who rose to fame in the 1950s by popularizing calypso music with Caribbean-inspired hits such as 1953’s Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) and what became his signature song, Matilda.

In 1974, he performed seven shows at the concert hall, with one of them with Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden in attendance while they were on a royal visit.

Belafonte’s connection with the concert hall lives on for all to see, thanks to YouTube.

In 1985, Belafonte, along with a 16-piece backing orchestra, taped a one-hour HBO special, Don’t Stop the Carnival, before a packed house at the downtown venue, which included many of his most famous songs.

He also recorded in Winnipeg in 1968, specifically at the Century 21 Studios, a North End business that at the time was one of the first multi-track recording studios in Western Canada, working with longtime city radio engineer Harry Taylor on the sessions.

His connections to the city were likely owing to a lifelong friendship with Winnipeg music promoter Jerry Shore, who would become his tour manager in 1968 after Belafonte’s shows at the concert hall.

Shore, who was 91 when he died last July, had managed many performers — including Greek singer Nana Mouskouri (whom Belafonte introduced to North American audiences in the ’60s), and pianist Liberace — with Belafonte being one of the most prominent.

“We became really good friends. He came back for a second show 18 months later,” Shore said in a July, 26, 2020, story by Jewish Post and News, marking Shore’s seven decades in showbusiness.

“Harry was very meticulous. He had hired a new manager just before his second Winnipeg appearance. He moved on to Regina after the Winnipeg show. A couple of days later, I get a call from him. He had fired his new manager and wanted me to take over as his tour manager.”

Shore would continue to be part of Belafonte’s touring team for years, including when the singer visited Cuba in 1979, a rarity for an American performing artist, a trip that included several meetings with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Belanfonte died of congestive heart failure at his home in New York’s Upper West Side at age 96.

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @AlanDSmall