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Two interviews with American singer Paul Robeson during a visit to New Zealand in October-November 1960.
The first was recorded by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service for an article in 'The Listener' magazine [page 6, 14-20 November 1960]. It appears to have been recorded in a press conference and there are several breaks in the recording.
The second interview was recorded in the 1YA studio in Auckland. The interviewer is possibly Owen Jensen.
In the first interview, Paul Robeson talks about his favourite film role, "Proud Valley or "The Tunnel" a film he made in Wales, playing a miner. He says Wales feels like home to him now. "Showboat" is his second favourite, but he says apart from those two his films are all forgettable.
He talks about the five black keys on the piano and the types of music worldwide played using those notes, which he calls a 'universal language of music'. He plays the 'Skye Boat Song" and compares Hebridean and Chinese folk songs, Bach's chorales, and Bela Bartok's pentatonic compositions. He sings brief excerpts of some songs as examples and says he is writing a book on his theories.
He discusses his preference for 'folk' music and songs respected by their people. He says some composers seem to him to be arrogant and their works are romanticised.
He says his father was 'very African' - very patient and kind, while his mother was 'Indian'.
In the second interview he talks about starting singing in church as a child and then in a high school glee club as a teenager. He agrees he was self-taught as a singer. His speaking voice is the basis for his singing voice, and he sings and speaks some lyrics from a folk song to illustrate this point, as well as some lyrics from "Boris Gudonov".
He talks about the influence of folk songs on composers such as Bartok and Mussorgsky. He sings some lines of "Deep River" and compares them to Beethoven and Hebridean folk melodies.
He and the interviewer discuss how Maori and African music have been changed and how the essence of them can be retained. He talks about his love of blues music, saying Bessie Smith is greater than any operatic singer he knows, along with gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. He gives examples of Western European or German harmonies which have been applied to folk music around the world, but which can be easily taken out again.
He talks about singing songs he likes and audience reactions around the world. He says he has never been happier than he is singing the sort of folk songs that he is now.