Turn the World Around
Studio album by
Harry Belafonte
Released1977
GenreFolk
LabelColumbia
ProducerHarry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte chronology
Belafonte Concert in Japan
(1974)		 Turn the World Around
(1977)		 Loving You Is Where I Belong
(1981)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Turn the World Around is an album by American singer Harry Belafonte, released in 1977.[2]

After recording exclusively for the RCA Victor label since 1953, Belafonte signed with Columbia Records in the mid 1970s. After a series of pop-oriented albums, Turn the World Around was a return to interpreting folk songs of other cultures. Gary Ginell stated in his AllMusic review: "It is an absolute triumph and one of the finest albums of his career." Although recorded in the US, it was only released overseas.

The title track became the focus of one of the most acclaimed performances on the successful television series, The Muppet Show, where Belafonte explained the artistic theme of the song before performing it with specially designed Muppets that resembled African tribal masks:

I discovered that song in Africa. I was in a country called Guinea, and I went deep into the interior of the country. In a little village, I met with a story-teller. That story-teller went way back into African tradition—into African mythology. He began to tell a story about the fire—which means the Sun—about the water, about the Earth. And he pointed out that all of these things put together turn the world around. And that all of us are here for a very, very short time. And in that time that we are here, there really isn't any difference in any of us IF we take time out to understand each other. And the question is, Do I know who you are? Do you know who I am? Do we care about each other? Because, if we do, together we can turn the world around.

— Harry Belafonte on The Muppet Show, 1979

Series producer Jim Henson considered this production to be his best work on the series, and featured it in numerous retrospectives of his art; Belafonte performed the song again at Henson's memorial service in 1990.[3]

Track listing

  1. "Marching to the Fair" (Morris Goldberg, Shunmugan Pillay) – 5:44
  2. "Auntie Mary" (Count Bernadino) – 4:32
  3. "Olga" (Fitzroy Alexander) – 3:48
  4. "Goin' Down Jordan" (Theophilus Woods, Irving Burgie) – 5:34
  5. "Sunbird" (Pat Rosalia, Robert McKinnon) – 4:05
  6. "New York Taxi" (Fitzroy Alexander) – 5:38
  7. "Can't Cross Over" (Irving Burgie) – 4:44
  8. "A Hole in the Bucket" (Harry Belafonte, Odetta) – 8:46
  9. "Turn The World Around" (Belafonte, Robert Freedman) – 4:28

Personnel

  • Harry Belafonte – vocals
  • Falumi Prince – percussion, vocals on "A Hole in the Bucket & Auntie Mary"
  • Dom Salvador – keyboards, musical director
  • Keith Loving – guitar
  • Scott Kuney – guitar
  • Thelmo M. Porto – percussion
  • Nana – percussion
  • Dom Um Romão – percussion
  • Steve Thornton – conga, bongos
  • Brian Moore – keyboards
  • Michael Tobas – drums
  • Francisco Centeno – bass
  • Gloria Agostini – harp
  • Mauricio Smith – flute, saxophone
  • Hal Archer – flute, saxophone
  • Leopoldo Pineda – trombone
  • Jose Rodrigues – trombone
  • Howard Johnson – tuba
  • Danny Cahn – trumpet
  • Fred Jacobs – trumpet
  • Babe Clarke – alto saxophone
  • Larry Campbell – background vocals
  • Vivian C. Cherry – background vocals
  • Melvin Edmonston – background vocals
  • Babi B. Floyd – background vocals
  • Frank Floyd – background vocals
  • Lani Groves – background vocals
  • Milton Grayson – background vocals
  • Hilda Harris – background vocals
  • Pamela Kordon – background vocals
  • Yvonne Lewis – background vocals
  • Yolanda McCullough – background vocals
  • Randy Peyton – background vocals
  • Albertine Robinson – background vocals
  • Maeretha A. Stewart – background vocals
  • Gloria Turner – background vocals
  • Betty Volenec – background vocals
  • Arthur Williams – background vocals

Production notes:

  • Harry Belafonte – producer
  • Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson – vocal arrangements
  • Kurt Munkacsi – engineer
  • Vishek Woszczyk – mixing
  • Eric Meola – photography
  • Ed Lee – design

References

  1. ↑ AllMusic review
  2. ↑ Allmusic entry for Turn the World Around Retrieved November 2009.
  3. ↑ Blau, Eleanor (22 May 1990). "Henson is Remembered as a Man with Artistry, Humanity and Fun". The New York Times.
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