Before “World Music” became a popular musical genre on its own, there was Harry Belafonte.

Belafonte was born in Harlem, New York in 1927 to parents of Jamaican descent, and later lived with his grandmother back in Jamaica for eight years, absorbing the music and rhythms of the island, before moving back to New York as a teen. His dream of becoming an actor started promisingly when he was accepted to a prestigious drama class, where his fellow students included Marlon Brando and Sidney Poitier. But, like Barbra Streisand about a decade later, he found it difficult to secure acting gigs, and so turned to singing in nightclubs to pay the bills.

Belafonte enjoyed performing an audience-pleasing mix of musical theater numbers, pop, blues, humorous songs, and especially, traditional folk from around the world. It didn’t take him long to sign a record deal with RCA, although it took another three years before he achieved any real success. But when he did, the whole world took notice. Paying the bills would no longer be a problem.

In 1956, Belafonte released two albums. His eponymous sophomore effort reached #1, but the follow-up, Calypso, not only shot straight to #1, it stayed there for an incredible eight months, becoming the first long-playing album to sell over one million copies, and launching Harry Belafonte onto the worldwide stage. His music also kicked off a calypso trend in both music, film, and popular culture that would last for years, still going strong in 1962, prominently featured in Dr. No, the first James Bond film.

Belafonte’s cultural significance over the ensuing decades was less about the pop charts and more about his countless appearances on public television and as a goodwill ambassador across the globe, both for the performing arts and for civil rights.

So jump in the line, rock your body in time. Here’s all you need to know:

Very Best of Harry Belafonte An excellent single-disc compilation which covers all the big hits. Conveniently, there are also two-disc and three-disc sets in print depending on how much you want to delve. Come Mr. Tallyman, tally these bananas!

Now, if you’re talking to a fellow music geek and the topic of Harry Belafonte should arise, you will be fine and know all you need to if the least you’re familiar with are those big songs; however, if you want to explore further, his two live albums capturing appearances at Carnegie Hall are fantastic, not only for the performances, but also for the audience reactions and for an insight into the warm-hearted spirit and personality of Belafonte.

Let’s thrown in some Carnegie Hall:

This final selection is one of my favorite songs ever, by anyone.  Don’t know why, it just hits me right. It probably helps to have grown up as a military brat. Also, live performances are always fun when mistakes enhance the proceedings — the singers almost lose it towards the end, but just manage to hold on: