En el vídeo Billie Holiday interpretando `Strange Fruit', una bella canción-protesta sobre sucesos terribles y cruentos, los linchamientos de gente de raza negra que se sucedían en el Sur de los EE.UU. desde la abolición de la esclavitud y en unos tiempos en que aún regía la segregación racial. Las ejecuciones se excusaban en supuestos crímenes pero en realidad ni siquiera hacía falta ningún tipo de insubordinación al separatismo imperante o cualquier otro estúpido pretexto sino que eran muy apoyadas por una población blanca que a pesar de ser minoritaria aún era amplia y abiertamente racista. La canción fue compuesta por el letrista Abe Meeropol en 1939, una época en la que aún se practicaban linchamientos. En la letra se contraponen referencias a la belleza del paisaje del Sur estadounidense con imágenes de ejecuciones, el ahorcado descrito como extraña fruta que cuelga de un árbol. Su compositor era un profesor judío de origen ruso y afiliado al Partido Comunista norteamericano que, impresionado por la imagen de un linchamiento, escribió un poema titulado 'Bitter Fruit' [Fruta Amarga] que luego se convirtió en la canción que incluyó Billie Holiday en su repertorio y que usaba para cerrar sus actuaciones en un ambiente de quietud, silencio y penumbra.
`Strange Fruit' is a beautiful protest song about terrible happenings, alluding to the lynching of black people that were taking place in Southern U.S. since the abolition of slavery and in a time when racial segregation still ruled. The executions were mostly excused on alleged crimes but it didn't actually need any kind of stupid reasoning like subordination against separatism but instead were very supported by a white population that despite being a minority was still widely and openly racist. The song was composed in 1939 by Abe Meeropol at a time when the lynching was still practiced. In the lyrics references to the beauty of the South are opposed to images of executions, describing the bodies as strange fruit hanging from a tree. Its composer was a Jewish professor of Russian origins and member of the American Communist Party who, impressed by the image of a lynching, wrote a poem entitled 'Bitter Fruit' which later became the song that Billie Holiday included in her repertoire to close her performances in an atmosphere of stillness, silence and low lights.
`Strange Fruit' is a beautiful protest song about terrible happenings, alluding to the lynching of black people that were taking place in Southern U.S. since the abolition of slavery and in a time when racial segregation still ruled. The executions were mostly excused on alleged crimes but it didn't actually need any kind of stupid reasoning like subordination against separatism but instead were very supported by a white population that despite being a minority was still widely and openly racist. The song was composed in 1939 by Abe Meeropol at a time when the lynching was still practiced. In the lyrics references to the beauty of the South are opposed to images of executions, describing the bodies as strange fruit hanging from a tree. Its composer was a Jewish professor of Russian origins and member of the American Communist Party who, impressed by the image of a lynching, wrote a poem entitled 'Bitter Fruit' which later became the song that Billie Holiday included in her repertoire to close her performances in an atmosphere of stillness, silence and low lights.
