The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music [Box set] [Enhanced]

The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music [Box set] [Enhanced]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Decades after its conception, Harry Belafonte's enormously ambitious project has come to a rewarding fruition with the release of this lovingly produced and beautifully packaged collection. Between 1961 and 1971, Belafonte sought to create a comprehensive document of what he calls "African-matrixed music": "African rooted, Africa as origin, evolved from an original African form." The rough timeframe Belafonte follows begins with the arrival of blacks in America in the early 17th century and ends at the dawn of the recording age. Yet this five-disc set (with a bonus "making of" DVD) amounts to so much more than a musical history; it is, instead, a detailed sociopolitical history of the people who created this music and a journey following the evolution of black culture from the time that the diaspora left Africa for the New World.

Disc 1 offers tribal chants, shouts, and spirituals while the second disc explores the slavery era through the Civil War. Disc 3 looks at postwar sounds both urban and rural while the fourth disc crosses into the next century as the street cries and mountain hollers morph into folk ballads, gritty blues, and minstrel shows--the roots of popular music as we know it today. The final disc includes songs of work and songs of worship, the practical tools of survival for African Americans in troubled times. The sounds found across these discs are faithful re-creations featuring a large cast that includes the likes of Belafonte, Bessie Jones, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, and Joe Williams. The lovely 140-page hardbound book includes extensive notes and provocative essays, as well as stunning photos plus artwork by Charles White. To be sure, this is not easy listening and those looking for your basic "roots music" collection will be disappointed. Rather, this is really a fascinating exploration of the roots of roots music. --Marc Greilsamer

Tracks:

Ose Yie (Ashanti War Chant) - Asafoiatse Nettey
Sakadougou (Maninka Ballad) - Kandia
Ake (Yoruba Work Chant)
Kufidi M'Pala Bituta (Baluba) - Toko Mzobe
Ayilongo (Ghenya Boatmen) - Emanuel N'Suba
Oba Oba (Homage to a King)
Oaikoi (Harvest Ceremony)
Agiee Tatatale (Ga Play Song) - Betty Clotty and the African Children's Chorus
Aja Aja O (Yoruba Fable) - Betty Clotty and the African Children's Chorus
Falle-well Shisha Maley (Transitional Hymn)
Amazing Grace - Bessie Jones, Sorrell Booke
How Do You Do Ev'rybody? (Greeting Shout) - Ella Jenkins, Nannie McNeil
O, Lord, I'm Waitin' On You (Spiritual) - Valentine Pringle
Prayer (Spiritual) - Bessie Jones
Kneebone Bend (Prayer Shout) - Bessie Jones
Hark 'E Angel (Watcher's Shout) - Harry Belafonte
Yonder Comes Day (New Year Shout) - Bessie Jones
Goodbye Ev'rybody (Farewell Shout) - Valentine Pringle

Tracks:

Tombeau, Tombeau
Je M'en Vais Finir Mes Jours ("Madelaine" song)
Dans Un Brigatoire
Pour la Belle Layotte - William "Billy" Eaton
Fomme la Dit, Mo Malheure
Miche Banjo (Bamboula) - Robert Henson
Good Mornin', Good Mornin' ("John Canoe" processional) - J. Hamilton Grandison
All Roun' de Glory Manger - Ezerlene Jenkins, Joe Crofford
Mary, What You Call Yo' Baby? - Carrie Suter
Wonderful Councillor - Harry Belafonte
Follow The Drinking Gourd - Leon Bibb
Steal Away To Jesus
Meetin' Here Tonight - Joe Crofford
Many Thousan' Gone
The Colored Volunteer - Harry Belafonte
We Look Like Men of War - Earl Baker, Milt Grayson
Song Of The First Arkansas Volunteers (Glory Hallelujah) - Harry Belafonte
Free At Las' - Joe Crofford

Tracks:

Ol' Lady From Brewster (Children's Song)
Hallie, Come On! (Woman's Field Holler) - Miriam Burton
Run Squirrel, Whoa Mule (Game Song) - Thelma Drayton
Fox Chase (Mouth Organ) - Sonny Terry, Brownie McGee
Chickens Done Crowed (Sunrise Holler) - Valentine Pringle
'Way Go Lily (Children's Song)
Shine On (Graveyard Holler) - Ned Wright
Grey Goose (Ballad) - Bessie Jones
Pick A Bale O' Cotton (Hoe Down) - Sonny Terry, Brownie McGee
Li'l Gal, Li'l Gal (Game Song) - Bessie Jones
Go To Sleepy (Lullaby) - Harry Belafonte
I Got 'Em (Street Cry) - Valentine Pringle
Hambone, Hambone (Children's Pattin') - Tyrone Cooper
Watermelon Man (Blues) - Ned Wright
Fare Thee Well, Oh Honey (Blues) - Gloria Lynne
Blackberry Woman (Street Cry) - Lillian Hayman
Easy Rider Blues (Blues) - Joe Williams
Oh, Johnny Brown (Ring Game) - Sharon G. Williams
I Got 'Em (Street Cry) - Valentine Pringle
Black Woman (Blues) - Brownie McGee
Watermelon Man (Street Cry) - Ned Wright

Tracks:

Let The Deal Go Down - Godfrey Cambridge, Joe Crofford, Brownie McGee
Betty and Dupree - Joe Williams
Eas' Man - Leon Bibb
John Henry - Valentine Pringle
Boll Weevil - Harry Belafonte, Al Shackman
Stagolee - Cortez Franklin, Lennie Pogan
Joe Turner Blues - Gloria Lynne, Herman Foster
Honey Take A Whiff On Me - Ben Carter, Lennie Pogan
Go 'Long Muley
My Baby In A Guinea Blue Gown
Dat Liar - Milton Grayson
Finale

Tracks:

Ho Boys Cancha Line 'Em? - Valentine Pringle
Good Ir'n - Harry Belafonte
Go On Ol' Gator
Doncha Hear Yo' Po' Mother Callin'?
River Sounding Chant - Charles Colman, William Eaton
Nobody's Business Lord But Mine - Harry Belafonte
My God Is A Rock - Harry Belafonte
We Are Climbin' Jacob's Ladder
I Am So Glad - Harry Belafonte
I'll Never Turn Back, No Mo' (and excerpt from Dr. King speech) - Irving Barnes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Lord, I Don't Feel Noways Tired - Howard Roberts

Amazon.com

Decades after its conception, Harry Belafonte's enormously ambitious project has come to a rewarding fruition with the release of this lovingly produced and beautifully packaged collection. Between 1961 and 1971, Belafonte sought to create a comprehensive document of what he calls "African-matrixed music": "African rooted, Africa as origin, evolved from an original African form." The rough timeframe Belafonte follows begins with the arrival of blacks in America in the early 17th century and ends at the dawn of the recording age. Yet this five-disc set (with a bonus "making of" DVD) amounts to so much more than a musical history; it is, instead, a detailed sociopolitical history of the people who created this music and a journey following the evolution of black culture from the time that the diaspora left Africa for the New World.

Customer Reviews:

Classic.......2007-06-01

Valentine Pringle's "John Henry" and Cortez Franlkin's "Stagolee" is easily worth the price of admission.

shh - great sounds are heard in the quietist of moments.......2007-02-28

I am an average white guy in his forties who purchased The Long Road... when it first came out in'01. Please read the other reviews for facts, details and editorials... I am here to warn you. If you are prone to being emotionally effected by beautiful, soul piercing harmonies performed by a tribe of professional and basic folk then avoid this musical journey. If you hate tears of awe rolling down your cheeks every time you experience a number of songs especially from disc 2 and 5...while I'm listening, my eyes well up just in anticipation of hearing "We look like Men of war" or "All Round' de Glory Manger"... then steer away. Many of these tunes play in my head especially during particularly tough days at work. Play it LOUD or avoid at all costs.

American history, not just black history.......2005-12-28

My boyfriend gave me this collection last year. He's a musicanwith a deep love of all roots music. I'm black; he's white. We listened to this together and we both found it to be a revelation.
If you are looking for field recordings, this is not the collection for you. The sound is not quaint and tinny (although I love those recordings too). Instead, this is a collection that shows how 'black' music (that is, music from the African Diaspora to America) changed and grew over time, and produced sounds that we still hear today. The selection ranges from Louisiana Creole (the ancestor to today's Zydeco) to Civil War tunes (contrary to the information you'll find on the web and other places, not all black Civil War music was in dialect, and the marching songs are rousing in their patriotism and pride), to good-time music (the ancestor to hip-hop, R&B, and modern pop). The most disturbing piece is the slave sermon, which should probably be played in every classroom in America during discussions of the Revolutionary War, which is followed by a worship service similar to the types held by slaves in private, and acts as a good counterbalance to the prior piece.

My boyfriend and I found ourselves bonding over the Civil War music, as he is an avid bagpiper and very much into Celtic culture. We talked about the roles of Irish and black soldiers in the Civil War and what they had in common in terms of not being viewed as human by most of society. We also enjoyed hearing people like Brownie Magee, not on a fuzzy old recording, but in a living, vibrant fashion.

People who think that 'black music' is only for black people must also think only Italians should listen to opera and that Jimi Hendrix wasn't really a rock musician. This is _American_ music, and as such, should be in the collections of anyone interested in American history, 20th century music, or African-American culture. American music has had a variety of influences, and these recordings could help younger people and even a lot of adults become interested in music history, just as did 'Down From the Mountain'. In many ways, this music is more 'roots' music than anything in ' O Brother, Where Art Thou?', because it truly tries to go back to the source. As an anthropologist I might quibble over the inclusion of the African section without qualifying it as possibly being ahistorical (we don't actually know if those exact songs were sung in the time before slavery, but it's likely that are similar ones contemporary to the time), but other than that, I'm very happy. For once we have a music collection that does not focus solely on slavery and misery. There's a lot of joy and hope here, and a strong sense of reliance, which is perhaps the best trait that Americans have as a whole.

Bigger than just a "black thing".......2004-02-26

There are lots of reviews or word of mouth on this CD box set that, quite frankly, focuses on all the wrong things. To pigeonhole this box set a "must for black families" vastly understates the raw power and broad appeal of this collection. This box set is bigger than that; it's much more than just a quaint time capsule for blacks to listen to. It's fun, entertaining, and can go toe-to-toe with any of the best new music releases out there right now.

This music is basically the foundation of ALL popular music celebrated in the Western world today. Rock, Top 40 Pop, Salsa, Gospel, Blues, R&B, Hip-hop, Country, Bluegrass, they ALL owe an immeasurable debt to the music and culture brought over to the Western hemisphere by African slaves.

The collection starts with African chants and tribal music, and some of the instrumental and vocal arrangements could easily be from modern pop music. As it moves from the African black music experience over to the early Black American music experience, it's easy to hear how African music evolved in America to become the modern American pop, rock, hip-hop and R&B music we know today. People always mention how African music is the roots of pop, rock, soul and Afro-latin music, but this collection really drives the point home when you listen to old tribal music and hear beats and vocals that sound uncannily like those heard in today's modern music genres. There is no modern popular genre that doesn't owe a great debt to African-based musical sensibilities, and although we hear it said all the time, this box set actually illustrates the point better than a million articles and academic speeches ever could.

This collection is more than a history lesson or a source of pride for blacks. That almost makes it sound cold and academic. This collection has WARMTH and personality; it's great entertainment and just plain incredible music. Listen to it regardless of your race, political orientation, or ideology. Buy it and enjoy it because you love good music and want to hear the roots of it straight from the source, not just as a source of racial pride or as an acedmic study in music history.

A Must For Every Black Family.......2002-06-13

The Long Road to Freedom depicts a history of America's Africans in a masterful collection of music.

The Best of Harry Belafonte's Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music

Average customer rating:

The Best of Harry Belafonte's Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Buddha
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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