The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #77626   Message #1385906
Posted By: hilda fish
23-Jan-05 - 05:43 AM
Thread Name: Stories about Paul Robeson
Subject: BS: Stories about Paul Robeson
I saw a thing on television last night about Paul Robson and I remember my mother telling me she had met him and that he had sung in the old black theatre in Redfern which at the time wasn't a 'theatre' but a place where homeless, alcoholic and so on Aboriginal people used to doss down. It was an old and very ratty building. And the famous Paul Robson went there and sang to these people! A friend told me recently how he heard Paul Robson singing to a whole lot of workmen in the dug out ditch which was later to become the Sydney Opera House. He said it was amazing - all the workers who had never heard of him, and there he was singing his heart out to them. The whole worksite stopped apparently and was so still that Paul Robson's voice could be heard clearly right across the site, which was massive. For my friend it was one of the most memorable experiences of his life. Even knowing these stories I had no idea that he was so politically active, and so brave, until this documentary I saw last night. Ås a singer he was awesome, but as a human being he now seems to me to be beyond magnificent. Anyone got any more stories about this wonderful singer?