Music Monday: "Turn The World Around" - Harry Belafonte & the Muppets

Hey everyone, it's Music Monday!

Music Monday is a biweekly feature of this blog which will focus on a song from an international artist, be it a classic or a current hit.

The first Music Monday honor goes to Harry Belafonte and the Muppets. If you read this site long enough, it should become apparent that I LOVE the Muppets. Yes, I had to use all capitals. In addition to the lovable characters Jim Henson created, The Muppet Show featured many amazing artists that are still listened to today. From Elton John to Simon and Garfunkel, musical guest stars filled the show with notable performances but Harry Belafonte's "Turn the World Around" is one that really sticks out for me.

Though Belafonte technically isn't an international artist (he was born in New York), he's famous for popularizing Caribbean styles of music and his political and humanitarian activism makes him an international figure. It was this activism as well as his interest in Third World music that lead him to sing this African inspired track on the The Muppet Show. Henson's team created the African mask puppets especially for the clip and it's said that Jim Henson considered this production some of his best work.

This blog, in its least shallow form, focuses on how we can use media to experience, learn about and enjoy different cultures and places so I think Belafonte's joyous performance is a great way to kick things off.

Links Roundup

• Gadling offers a travel guide to the 2011 Oscar Movies. 

• Peter Lindbergh has put together a gorgeous photo campaign for IWC Schaffhausen starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Spacey and Matthew Fox among others. Called "Days in Portofino," the photos capture the glamour of the rich and famous on the Italian coast.

• Ticket applications for the London 2012 Olympics open this week (March 15).

• Newslite has a story on Japanese would-be tourists who can't afford to travel. To save cash, they're sending stuffed animals to go on the tours themselves (perhaps inspired by the gnome in Amelie?) Weird and adorable at the same time.

• In the same vein, Kermit On Tour follows my favorite amphibian on his travel around the US and other countries. Here he is in Amsterdam and you can check out the website for more:
  
  
   

• You can see more Muppets around the world in two unofficial fan videos for LCD Soundsystem songs. Kermit sings "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" in - where else - New York and also joins Cookie Monster and Animal in Brighton, England to perform "Dance Yrself Clean" in a more recently released video.

• National Geographic has satisfied the most whimsical part of me by building the floating house from Pixar's UP.