[.ca] Peace Arch Concerts

From Amazon.com:
From 1950 to '58, Paul Robeson was prevented by the U.S. State Department from traveling outside the country. The restriction extended to Canada, where passports aren't normally required of American citizens. Robeson gave four concerts during those years at the Peace Arch Park near Blaine, Washington, at the Canadian border. This CD presents the 1952 and '53 concerts at which Robeson (accompanied by solo pianists Lawrence Brown and Alan Booth) sang across the international boundary from the back of a flatbed truck. In addition to brief speeches by Robeson and union leader Harvey Murphy, the great singer/political activist mixes traditional fare, spirituals, and "Ol' Man River" with broadsides such as "Joe Hill" and the Chinese marching song "Chin Chin." The sound quality is imperfect but listenable, the occasion is historic, and Robeson is great. --Stanley Booth

Valuable recording:
What attracted my attention was the Chinese song sung by Robeson in this album. While I have no idea why Robeson called it "Chin Chin", I can tell it's actually the current anthem of Mainland China. The original name of the song is "March of the Volunteers" which was originally composed by Nie Er in 1935 as the theme song for the Chinese movie "Feng Yun Er Nu". Hence it was then chosen to be the anthem of Mainland China some 50+ years ago. This inspirational song about awakening the spirit has great significance to the Chinese people especially during the World War II. Like "Rose, Rose, I Love You", this is one of the few Chinese songs that were performed outside China decades ago. While the event of the Peace Arch concert is historic, the inclusion of this Chinese song is truly a valuable historic evidence that witnessed the cultural exchange of "West meets East". The recording in this CD is remastered but it still contains too much wow and flutter as well as background noise which I believe could be done better with today's technology.

• Peace Arch Introduction
• Opening Remarks by Harvey Murphy
• Paul Robeson's Welcoming Remarks
• Every Time I Feel the Spirit
• Inro to Joe Hill by Harvey Murphy
• Joe Hill
• Loch Lomond
• Intro. To No More Auction Block
• No More Auction Block
• Oh No, John
• Love Will Find a Way
• Ol' Man River
• Introductory Speech
• Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel?
• Go Down Moses
• Jacob's Ladder
• Theme from Beethoven's 9th
• Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes
• Joe Hill
• Oh Thou Silent Autumn Night
• Scandalize My Name
• Song of the Four Rivers
• Without Thee \oGaelic Folk Song\c
• Chin Chin \oChinese Marching Song\c
• Speech