Recording

Merry Christmas Tonight The Isles of Rhythm

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Although this was first recorded by Harry Belafonte (1956), known as the “King of Calypso”, his version did not use a Caribbean rhythm. Although Belafonte’s recording reached #12 in the U.S. in 1956, it was a #1 hit in England in 1957 and made the top 20 in England the following year. The song was later recorded as a Reggae piece by the German-based group Boney M in 1978. It is done here as a beguine, an Afro-French dance developed in Martinique and St. Lucia. While the dancers do not embrace, the dance depicts man’s pursuit of woman. The beguine is closer to the Creole rhythms of New Orleans than to Latin rhythms. The word beguine is a French term meaning “flirtation.” Cole Porter’s Begin the Beguine is a popular song with beguine in the title, although it is more like a rumba than a beguine.

Alexander Stellio’s band recorded many beguines beginning in 1929, making them possibly the first band to record beguines. This song has been recorded by a variety of artists, including Irish singer Frank Patterson, Tom Jones, Jim Reeves and Roger Whitaker.

Jester Hairston was born in 1901 in North Carolina, the grandson of slaves. His career included acting, arranging, and directing choirs for movies, television, and radio. He trained choirs for Broadway shows, which led him to Hollywood where he played a number of character roles in movies as well as providing music for movies. While arranging the music for the movie Carmen Jones (1954) he met Belafonte who starred in the movie. Hairston died in Los Angeles at the age of 98.

— Kevin Sanders, April, 2009