The Essay: Paul Robeson in Five Songs

Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: Paul Robeson in Five Songs: 3. The Canoe Song

Paul Robeson in Five Songs

3. The Canoe Song

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Paul Robeson in Five Songs, 3. The Canoe SongClose menu

Mathew Sweet unravels the complex threads of Paul Robeson's rendition of the Canoe Song.

Matthew Sweet unravels the complex threads of Robeson's evolving film stardom and politics in the imperial flag waver, Sanders of the River, and his rendition of the Canoe Song.

Paul Robeson and film should have been a perfect fit – the 20th century’s first black superstar had everything. Presence, voice and fierce screen intelligence that projected from the screen. British audiences adored him, ‘Our Paul’ they called him but for Robeson cinema was a constant betrayal of his political idealism and desire to escape the prism of race.  Matthew Sweet considers the confusing threads that make up the 1935 empire flag waver Sanders of the River, which still hummed to the astonishing power of Robeson’s voice in the Canoe Song.

It took several Hungarian impresarios, an Edwardian songsmith, a Polish Jewish genius of the Berlin cabaret scene and Paul Robeson to make Sanders of the River. A retrograde fantasy of British imperial rule in far-flung Africa, shot largely on the banks of the River Thames. But when Paul Robeson sang the Canoe Song audiences adored him as ‘our Paul’. Matthew Sweet revisits the contradictory ways Robeson, cinema and song intersected.

Producer: Mark Burman

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

The life and struggle of Paul Robeson through song.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Essay

Paul Robeson in Five Songs

3. The Canoe Song

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3