Robeson, Paul - Voice of freedom: The complete Victor and HMV Recordings 14CD
Paul Robeson - African-American bass-baritone, stage and screen actor, All-American football player, lawyer and civil rights advocate - was an outspoken opponent of racism, colonialism and social injustice. A Rutgers graduate, scholar of world cultures and speaker of more than 20 languages, he worked tirelessly to break down political and racial barriers and build bridges between the peoples of the world. However, with the onset of the Cold War and the Red Scare after the Second World War, the political climate changed. The doors began to close for Robeson, concert halls and radio stations shut him out. In July 1950, the US State Department revoked the blacklisted artist's passport, preventing him from continuing his successful international career as a singer and actor. But international audiences continued to honor and demand him, and he found technologically advanced and effective ways to reach his listeners around the world.
Today, his remarkable voice and incomparable stage presence live on in recordings and films. This 14-CD edition is the first-ever release of his complete Columbia, Victor and HMV recordings from 1925 to 1947. All his American recordings have been painstakingly restored from the original master discs and tapes, and 25 studio recordings - as well as his complete historic New York and London concerts from 1958 - are presented here on CD for the first time. The 160-page, richly illustrated book, with essays by Shana L. Redmond and Susan Robeson, pays tribute to a cultural icon of the 20th century.