Album cover of the great Harry Belafonte, found at "Calypso Music in Postwar America: Photographs and Illustrations, 1945-1960." (Abby Toms)

What do Harry Belafonte, Maya Angelou and the Andrews Sisters have in common?

They all took part in the calypso music craze that swept the country after World War II. An exhibit highlighting the influence of calypso music is currently on display in the Spurlock Museum at 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana. “Calypso Music in Postwar America: Photographs and Illustrations, 1945-1960” is a traveling exhibit and will remain at Spurlock until August 20.

The exhibit “focuses mainly on calypso as it became popular in the United States after World War II, but calypso itself is a much older musical form, originating in Trinidad,” said Beth Watkins, the education and volunteer coordinator at Spurlock.

Calypso is a mix of the influence of both the West African slave population and the French who controlled the land in the Caribbean, Watkins said.

“The lyrics are (usually) a commentary on political issues and current events,” she said. “That kind of got deluded when it became popular with songs in the United States ... There’s no mention of the political root that calypso had. That was very much stripped out for the American audience.”

The exhibit shows that calypso first took off in American after World War II for two major reasons: airfare got cheaper, thus allowing more travel to the Caribbean, and soldiers who had been stationed in the Caribbean brought the music back with them.

“In the ’50s it was hugely popular,” Watkins said. “For a while it was the popular form ... Some people were really worried that it was going to eclipse rock ‘n’ roll as the American popular music.”

The exhibit is full of calypso records, calypso movie posters and calypso song books. It even displays advertisements for calypso Broadway shows and nightclubs.

While many popular calypso names have been forgotten by modern music audiences, Watkins said “people who are familiar with Hollywood from the ‘60s and ‘70s are going to recognize names.”

Some names, however, are still well known today. Harry Belafonte’s calypso album was the first album in the U.S. to sell one million copies, and before she became a poet, Maya Angelou was a calypso dancer.

In addition, the influence of calypso brought about many stereotypes about the Caribbean.

“It’s interesting to look at the iconography and graphics of all these pieces, because it really shows how much Americans idealized the Caribbean,” said Watkins. “There’s a lot of very stereotypical tropical looking things like palm trees, big flowers, and people with straw hats. There are still calypso artists today, not only in the United States, but wherever Caribbean populations have moved ... It’s still definitely a part of the world music scene, just not as well-known here as it was 50 years ago.”

Calypso’s influence is still relevant for members of the CU community. Watkins said that a retirement home group came to the exhibit recently and recognized many of the pieces of the exhibit. Many remembered listening to the music in the ‘50s and one woman even told of going to the Caribbean on her honeymoon.

While calypso may not be at the forefront of the music scene today, Watkins highlighted its importance in the past: “It was a big part of American popular culture, maybe not for a very long time, and it did not endure at the same level of excitement, but it was still a huge part of our popular culture just 50 years ago.”