TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 - 1999

From TV Times

"One of the most crucial questions facing Western civilisation today is When will the Negro get his full social, political and economic rights? How far, in fact, is he along Freedom Road?"

Freedom Road was a forty-minute musical tribute to the American civil rights movement featuring fifteen songs with accompanying photographs and news reels.

Performers included Cleo Laine, Cy Grant, Madeline Bell (who had previously appeared in Black Nativity), Nadia Cattouse, Lucky McKenzie, Pearl Prescod, George Webb, and the Woodpeckers (a South African band), with Mike McKenzie as the musical director.

Days before the show went on air Rediffusion opened the studio at Kingsway for a public exhibition of some of the photos used in the show. The programme would go on to win three awards at the Berlin Television Festival in June, while the soundtrack from the TV show was released by on an LP by Fontana.

From Melody Maker

ASSOCIATED-REDIFFUSION'S "Freedom Road," from which these stills are taken, was a brave attempt to put across important facts and a militant message in musical

format.

A far cry from the "Black and White Minstrel Show" it proves that this company-and author -producer Elkan Allan - are prepared to commit themselves on a controversial subject.

Two cheers, then, for a meaningful production honestly tackled; the third is withheld because of musical shortcomings and speech and acting problems. Not all the commentators read their lines well, and the various non-American accents reduced the effectiveness of song and recitation. From this point of view, as well as several others, the American Madeline Bell had an enormous start on the rest of the artists. Her "Bourgeois blues" vied with Cleo Laine's marvellous "Strange fruit" and "Now" for the evening's honours. - MAX JONES.

It was repeated by Rediffusion on 17th November 1964.

FREEDOM ROAD

Associated-Rediffusion

5th February 1964